In today’s society, very few people actively discuss the importance of children’s literature and writing specifically for young audiences. However, this is arguably the most important age range to get involved in reading. Whether it’s a short story about monsters, adventure or family, children’s books are what set the standard for reading later in life.
Susan Tan, an assistant professor at UMass Boston, graduated from Williams College and later earned her Ph.D from the University of Cambridge. In addition to her work in the English Department, she has written her own collection of children’s literature.
Tan chooses to write children’s books because, for her, it never really occurred to write anything else.
“I think this is partly due to my own love of reading as a child — I adored books and had great librarians who connected me to the stories I needed,” she said.
The magic of children’s writing stuck with her throughout her life. Tan added, “As an adult, I’ve never forgotten that sense of wonder and excitement I felt as a child when encountering a genre, trope or plot twist for the first time.”
While Tan’s appreciation for reading and writing is eminent in her adult years, she found reading on her own extremely difficult during her childhood. This experience fueled her passion for telling stories and want to extend that passion to a younger audience.
“I hope to write books that kids who are building reading confidence or struggling with reading are excited by, which encourage them to keep going and remind them that they are readers, regardless of whether they can read a text fully on their own,” Tan said.
Growing up as one of the only Asian American kids in her community furthered Tan’s desire to create and share stories for younger readers. Wanting to find books that affirmed her experiences, she said, “My desire to write has stemmed partially from my hope that no kid now will experience these same kinds of gaps. I want all children to be able to see themselves, in all their beauty and complexity, reflected in the literature they read.”
Tan’s latest book, “Ghosts, Toast, and Other Hazards,” follows the story of Mo — a Chinese American middle schooler who, along with her mother and little sister, has just moved in with her great-uncle in a small, white-dominated town following a traumatic family event. While struggling with her own racial identity and anxiety, Mo comes across the ghost of a 100-year-old circus elephant who is haunting her backyard. Setting out to discover the mysteries of the elephant, Mo uncovers forgotten, whitewashed histories of her new town and meets friends along the way, who help her overcome some of her internal struggles.
Although the book includes supernatural elements, setting it apart from her previous work, Tan said, “It, like all my work, centers around young people’s ability to make sense of their own worlds: to understand what’s going on around them, to take in emotional complexity, and to decide for themselves who and how they want to be.”
Taking inspiration from her own experiences as a child and an old town legend, Tan wanted to focus on the experience of not fitting in after moving somewhere new.
“At the time too, no one was really talking about things like microaggressions, and I had many encounters with casual racism that I didn’t know how to talk about at the time,” she said.
Tan believes that children’s literature is for everyone. “Children’s books can be just as complex, exciting, experimental and raw as any other kind of literature,” she said. “They can introduce young readers to new ways of thinking, can help young people practice empathy, and, crucially, can be powerful sources of self-affirmation for young readers.”
When asked the difference between writing for children versus writing for adults, Tan said, “In an adult book, you write a paragraph simply because it’s pretty, or you want to do something cool with point of view. You can be reasonably sure that your audience will stick with you through it. In books for kids, however, you have to grab their attention right away.”
She later added, “Most kids won’t hesitate to put your book down if you bore them, and honestly, I love that. It means you have to be really honest with yourself as a writer and figure out right away what’s important for your story. It also means you have to cut through noise and distractions to the crux of what makes your story special — you have to get right to the point and action.”
Tan is currently working on new projects in children’s literature, but is hoping to branch out to other genres, including an adult murder mystery story. While she looks forward to trying out new genres, children’s writing is where she will always return.
Check out Tan’s collection on her website, susantanbooks.com, and stay tuned for her future releases.
This article appeared in print on Page 11 of Vol. LIX Issue X, published Feb. 10, 2025.