This interview originally appeared in the September/October 2025 Horn Book Magazine as part of the Publishers’ Previews: Fall 2025, an advertising supplement that allows participating publishers a chance to each highlight a book from its current list. They choose the books; we ask the questions.

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In The Nine Moons of Han Yu and Luli, a boy in ancient China and a girl in ­Depression-era New York City are linked across continents and centuries by a poem.

1. Did you write Han Yu’s and Luli’s stories in tandem or one at a time?

For the first complete draft, I wrote them in tandem. I felt this was the best way to weave together the connecting elements and give my editor, Anne Hoppe, my vision for the book as a whole. After Anne read it through and gave her initial feedback, she proposed moving forward by editing the stories one at a time. Thus began our ­journey of trading the stories back and forth. We worked this way for months before I put it all back together. It was an intense but magical process.

2. I can see this as a great chapter-a-day classroom ­read-aloud. Fan of cliffhangers?

I love a cliffhanger! I wanted readers to feel connected to both characters and timelines, so I spent a lot of time thinking about how to build interest and keep young people engaged with both Han Yu and Luli as the chapters alternate.

3. How can you see your own childhood taste in reading reflected in this novel?

I drew on themes I loved reading about when I was young: the love shared between family members, the strong relationships people can forge with animals, and how ­history can be a means of processing the world we are ­currently living in.

4. What is the most interesting fact about the Silk Roads you discovered in your research?

So much about the Silk Roads during the Tang dynasty fascinated me. I was intrigued by how the roads were not simply a vehicle for commerce but also a means to share ideas and philosophies, practice spirituality, and create art. Mountains were ­transformed into networks of caves that were then filled with paintings and carvings, mostly made by monks and travelers passing through. My particular favorite is the Maijishan Grottoes, which are simply stunning.

5. And what is the most unmissable place in New York’s Chinatown?

One place you have to visit is Chinatown Ice Cream Factory. My favorite flavors are almond cookie, green tea Oreo, and lychee rose. For the adventurous, try the durian!

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