Writing about the wonder years

Novelist Jenny Han brings along delightful tales in Cebu visit

Text by Fiona Patricia S. Escandor
Photo by Zeke Sullano

CLOSE to 200 fans showed up for her book signing event in Cebu recently. They were mostly teens, with flower bands on their hair and Post-Its on her books, and all giddy with excitement for being able to finally meet her, the one who made them gush over Josh and Peter, made them choose between Conrad and Jeremiah, and relate to them with delightful tales of growing up.

Popularly known for her Summer Trilogy, novelist Jenny Han was invited and hosted by National Book Store for signing events in Cebu and Manila last June 21 and 22, respectively. It gathered 500 fans in Manila, with some who camped out the mall the night before, and then roughly 200 in Cebu, including a local book club ready with a tarp in hand.

“I’m really interested in that period of a person’s life,” said Jenny, who has written works for both children and teens, and holds a postgraduate degree in writing for children from the New School in New York City. “It’s a time of discovery, a time of firsts, a time you don’t really forget, and which everyone goes through. It’s just naturally compelling. There are a lot of stories in that time and I think people remember (those stories) very clearly.”

Debut story

Jenny debuted with Shug, a coming-of-age tale set in junior high, and followed it with Clara Lee and the Apple Pie Dream. Together with her best friend Siobhan Vivian who she met in grad school, she has also co-authored teen books Burn for Burn and Fire for Fire.

What ultimately made Jenny a favorite in the young adult scene was her Summer Trilogy that began in 2009 and is comprised of The Summer I Turner Pretty, It’s Not Summer Without You, and We’ll Always Have Summer. Her latest work, another YA novel, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, was released this year.

Growing up in Richmond, Virginia, Jenny describes her own childhood and teenage years as having spent it reading and writing all the time. “I was reading a lot and I was involved in the Asian-American group in my school. I also baked a lot, that’s why in my stories there’s a lot of baking going on,” she said.

Influences

Some of the authors Jenny enjoyed reading back then were Judy Blume, Margaret Mitchell, Pat Conroy and Stephen King. “When I was growing up there wasn’t much young adult literature available,” she said. “You kind of went straight from The Baby-Sitters Club to Stephen King.”

But perhaps what greatly influenced her writing YA was her all-time favorite, To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. “It’s an adult book with a young voice,” Jenny said. “Just because it’s a young narrator doesn’t mean it can’t be a story with depth and beauty.”

Similarly, Jenny’s works are also in first-person narrative. “It’s more intimate. You’re in a character’s head and there’s no distance between you,” she said.

Eight years and nine books later, Jenny said that what has kept her going as a writer is the opportunity to capture a moment and a culture, and then cited her dismay at how some publishers are revising old stories nowadays.

She said, “Changing typewriters to computers so kids today will get it—(the story) loses that moment, it loses a snapshot of the time the story was written.”

And to her, that’s what matters—to capture and share a tale. Jenny said, “I don’t like to write and feel like there’s a moral to it. I’m not there to teach a lesson. I’m just there to tell a story. Whatever you glean from it, I’ll be happy you got something out of it.”