Rose Kent is an author and mom to four kids: two adopted and two birth children, all of Korean ancestry. Her first children’s novel, Kimchi & Calamari (HarperCollins publishers) introduces wisecracking Joseph Calderaro, a fourteen-year-old Korean adoptee in an Italian family in New Jersey. A social studies essay on ancestry is the spark that sets Joseph off on a crash course of self discovery, while at the same time he wrestles with middle school romance, angst and annoying parents.
Can you tell us how Joseph, the adopted main character in Kimchi & Calamari came to be?
Like most writers, I’m drawn to material that I care about, and certainly that applies to adoption. I didn’t realize it at the time but the seed to Joseph’s story was planted when Connor, my third child, arrived from Korea. New Beginnings, the adoption agency I worked with, really made me aware of the mixed feelings that adopted children often experience. Adoption is a true joy and blessing – and I felt that so deeply, but it involves a primal loss for the child. I remember holding Connor in my arms and worrying how he would cope later, especially during puberty, a natural time for such reflection. I knew I couldn’t spare him from hurt and grief, but I wanted him to know that I “got it”— that I understood that who he was as a person didn’t begin the moment he arrived in America.
So while Joseph’s story is all his own, Kimchi & Calamari came from a place where I wanted to reach out to Connor and Theresa, my adopted kids, as well as other adopted kids. I love that old proverb that says children need to know their roots to develop their wings. And it isn’t just adopted kids needing this knowledge; all kids do. Many kids visit my website, www.RoseKent.com, and share their struggles to figure out their places in this world. Joseph jokingly calls himself an “ethnic sandwich,” and I think many kids today feel sandwiched in their lives for many reasons: ethnicity, divorce, conflicting friends, pressure in academics and sports, etc. Nobody cruises through adolescence without hitting some bumps in the road.
Your book is chockfull of humor. Is it influenced by your real life and family?
I have a wacky, absolutely wonderful family, and our experiences certainly mix into the writer’s pot and help me to keep it real, as my kids would say. Still Joseph’s situation is his and his alone. It’s mostly the feelings I tap into. You can’t turn your family into characters. They wouldn’t be happy campers, and it wouldn’t work. Readers are too smart for that. But I will admit that I borrowed Connor’s nickname as a baby and gave it to Joseph. (With permission from Connor, of course.)
Does the book have a message for adopted children?
Above all, Kimchi & Calamari is a coming-of-age tale about a kid discovering himself. I want adopted children to understand that it’s normal to have mixed emotions about their life stories. Young people have a right to learn about their origins, even the parts that are sad. Who we are as people is an amazing combination of nature, how we are nurtured, and our own special individuality. Wanting to grasp all this is an important part of growing up.
How has your view of multicultural adoption changed since you wrote the book?
My children have opened my eyes and ears to the way adoption is a constant strong presence in their lives. (I’m a writer so to me, adoption is as an ever-present character in the story.) I get this sense from the many adopted children who write me as well. Multicultural adoption is complex and influenced by so many factors including social values, economics, and policy. Yet adoption is also local, about one child. One situation.
What hasn’t changed is that I still have a profound sense of respect for all involved in adoption who try to do the right thing, whatever that may be, and who are there for children who need help sorting out issues. And kudos especially to the social workers and agencies who serve all in the adoption triage. We are lucky to have you.
What kind of response has Kimchi & Calamari been getting from readers?
I am blessed to have wonderful readers who have supported the book and put it onto state award winning lists in numerous states. Kimchi & Calamari is also now available in paperback, thanks to demand from readers, teachers, librarians, and those in the adoption community. The paperback edition has an interview with me in the back in which I talk about adoption and adopted kids.
What advice would you offer writers who want to tap into personal experience in their writing?
Get what I call a Nike attitude about writing: Just do it! Good writing is about honesty and coming to terms with your own truths. Journal and capture the experiences and emotions of your life on paper, whether you turn it into fiction or not. We all have stories and they are all worth telling. Tell yours. And I would appeal in particular to adoptees. We need your perspective. Adopted kids really need your books!
Are you working on a new book?
Always. Rocky Road (Knopf publishers) comes out on June 9, 2010. This book features Tess Dobson, an artistic girl who moves to upstate NY along with her mentally challenged mom and deaf little brother. The Dobsons use the last of their savings to open up an ice cream shop in a rundown area in the dead of winter. It is a story of love and survival -- and ice cream. Lots of mouth-watering ice cream!
Thank you for visiting.Thank you for giving me this opportunity, and providing this forum. As an adoptive parent I know that I’m better for listening to others address adoption-related topics, and it’s terrific this blog is here for us.
Kimchi & Calamari
Author: Rose Kent
Rose Kent turned to kids for help in writing this novel—her own kids, since all four have Korean heritage and two are adopted. She and her family live in Niskayuna, New York, where they have frequent flyer points at Korean restaurants and Italian bakeries. This was her first novel.
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