Guardians of the New Moon by Eric Huang
We have a fantastic blog from author, Eric Huang, about the books and stories he grew up with. This blog may just inspire you to read books from around the world!
When I was six, Father Christmas left a copy of D’Aulaire’s Book of Greek Myths under the Christmas tree for me. I already had a book of Greek myths, but this one was different. The illustrations were bizarre! The spread depicting Perseus showed the sea monster attacking Andromeda as a big blobby worm with stalked eyes and a human mouth with lips. I was hooked! Guardians of the New Moon was inspired by a lifelong love of legends like the ones in D’Aulaire. But instead of a Mediterranean setting, the chapter book series takes place in the lands of East Asian lore I discovered through my parents and a holiday.
Baba’s bedtime stories
My dad told my sister and me Chinese folktales at bedtime. Whilst D’Aulaire introduced Perseus and Pegasus, I met the Jade Emperor and the Monkey King through Baba. A favourite tale he often retold was ‘The Great Race’, the lunar zodiac origin story. He cast us as racers who sometimes won, sometimes lost – and always unleashed chaos before saving the day.
Mama’s nine-tailed fox
My mom’s ancestral home in Shanghai was haunted by nine-tailed foxes. They lived in the attic and were spotted from time to time in their human form. One evening at dinner, my great uncle made a snide remark about them. As he maneuvered a piece of chicken into his mouth, it turned into a clump of grass!
The Lunar New Year
Growing up in the States, we celebrated our friends’ traditions. We had water fights on Dyngus Day, broke piñatas at birthday parties, made potato latkas for Chanukah. The holiday that brought everyone to my place was Lunar New Year. After eating dumplings and fish, we looked up our fortunes in Mama’s copy of Alexandra Mark’s Astrology for the Aquarian Age. The book matched lunar zodiac animals with Western astrological signs to reveal how Eastern and Western influences combined to guide the unfolding year for each of us.
Elements of all these things have made it into Guardians of the New Moon. Book 1, Ming and Miaow’s Great Race, reimagines the legendary race hosted by the Jade Emperor and introduces the protagonists. Ming is a fiery nine-tailed fox who can transform into a human girl. Miaow is a grumpy black-and-white temple cat who can dispel ghosts. Book 2, Year of the Rat, sees Ming and Miaow on an adventure to help Su the rat prepare for her inaugural year, while navigating the fury of a sea goddess whom they’ve unintentionally vexed.
I wrote these books to showcase the weird and wonderful magical creatures, legendary locations, and unpredictable divinities from East Asian legends. Just as D’Aulaire’s Book of Greek Mythology sparked my boyhood imagination, I hope Ming and Miaow’s adventures will inspire young readers to delve into the treasure trove of epic stories from around the world.
