R: Writers, like curators, do a lot of looking. What was it like for you to tell the story of Emmy’s grandmother, her Nainai, in their “special place” at the museum?

S: The idea of looking was an important one for my grandmother and me. She used to take me to museums and simply ask, “What do you see?” From a very young age, I learned to take my time with art, to trust my eyes and to ask myself how what I saw translated into emotion. Telling the story of Emmy and her Nainai drew right on these memories and was a lovely, emotional revisiting of my early art experiences. As a child, museums were such a haven for me. It was incredibly special to be able to return to these memories and bring them to the story of Piece by Piece.

R: What was your collaboration with illustrator Justine Wong like?

S: Collaborating with Justine was wonderful. We had the chance to be together in the house and create together — just us, within the space. First, we each took some time on our own: I wandered around and wrote little story fragments and she walked around and sketched. We then came back and compared our notes. Looking at the house through Justine’s eyes helped me to be more playful with the space. I imagined Emmy within the house and artwork in a more visual, magical way.

R: Piece by Piece is also a story of a father-daughter relationship. What does it mean to tell this story of Emmy and her dad connecting over their cultural heritage and his feelings as an immigrant?

S: I know from my own experiences that sometimes stories of immigration can get lost in families. My dad is an immigrant and really wanted to be “American.” He never spoke Chinese to us when we were growing up and rarely spoke about his memories of coming to America. It wasn’t until I was older and I began asking questions that we really spoke about his childhood and what it felt like learning English and adjusting to a new culture and place. I think about this a lot as an adult. In Piece by Piece, I wanted Emmy to connect with her father in this way. It was important to me that art became a way to facilitate this connection: Through looking around the museum, both Emmy and her father reveal important parts of themselves and learn new things about each other. This moment of connection shows them how similar they are and how much they share.

R: Having written several books, what have you come to understand about children and their capacity for growth?

S: I think children possess the same incredibly nuanced capacity for growth as adults. And of course, sometimes, children can far surpass adults in their abilities to learn, change, grow and be flexible. One idea I’m committed to in my writing is that children do see the adult world, picking up on the larger social complexities, as well as the complexities and nuances that arise in personal relationships. I believe that rather than shielding kids from hard feelings or ideas, we should give them spaces to feel and explore their emotions. In Piece by Piece, I loved the idea that a museum could provide this kind of safe, transformational space.