In Grace Lin’s books, Asian and Asian-American children go on adventures big and small, encountering everything from dim sum to enchanted kingdoms. Since she began writing and illustrating for children in 1999, Lin has published more than 20 books, all featuring characters of color, most of whom share her Chinese heritage. Her latest novel, “When the Sea Turns to Silver,” published Tuesday.

But Lin, whose parents are from Taiwan and only more recently began identifying as Taiwanese rather than Chinese, didn’t always embrace her Asian roots, she said. In the small town in upstate New York where she grew up, she and her family were some of the only Asians in the area. Read more