Ai-Ling Louie

Ai-Ling Louie was born in New York City in 1949. She grew up in the suburbs of New York and went to public schools in Oceanside. Her mother was the first Chinese-American teacher hired by the New York City Public Schools. Her father was hired by a tap and tool company on Long Island as a machinist and its first non-white employee. She grew up hearing amazing stories from her parents and their friends. After she graduated from Sarah Lawrence College, she became an elementary school teacher and children's librarian. Her first book, Yeh-Shen, A Cinderella Story From China, is a folk tale passed down from her grandmother. It is one of the oldest written Cinderella stories in the world and pre-dated the European Cinderella. Ms. Louie noticed there weren't many children's biographies about Asian Americans. She began a series called Amazing Asian Americans. Vera Wang, Queen of Fashion was the first, followed by Yo-Yo & Yeou-Cheng Ma, Finding Their Own Way and Astronaut Kalpana Chawla. Patsy Mink, Mother of Title 9. Ai-Ling Louie's latest book and ebook is The Last Generation, A Memoir. It is the story of her family from their immigration as Chinese American pioneers in the 1880's to the present day and includes her "adopted uncle" the famous horticulturalist Lue Gim Gong. See more at dragoneagle.com.