The Children’s Book Review | March 8, 2015
Hardcover: 24 pages
About Jade Stars: The Great Race: How the Chinese Zodiac Came to Be
Jade Stars: The Great Race: How the Chinese Zodiac Came to Be puts a modern spin on an age-old Asian tale that has been passed down from generation to generation. In the Chinese lunar calendar, a different animal represents each year in a 12 year cycle. People born under a particular year identify with that animal’s personality traits, strengths, weaknesses and compatibility with the other animals. Although many have heard of the Chinese Zodiac, the details of why those 12 specific animals are included in that order are not widely known.
To celebrate his birthday, the Jade Emperor has organized a Great Race and invited all of his favorite animals to compete for a place of honor in the heavens. The Jade Stars must use their talents, wits and determination to race to the finish and earn their place in the lunar calendar. Read along as they overcome obstacles, outsmart their competitors and form unlikely alliances in their quest for eternal glory.
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About the Authors
Stacey Hirata: Born “Yonsei” (a 4th generation Japanese-American), Stacey was raised in San Francisco, California. Exposed to an eclectic mix of cultures and customs at a very young age, social diversity and global awareness became a key creative influence through her childhood.
Stacey discovered early in her career a knack for finding creative ways to entertain kids and adults alike. Dabbling in tour and travel, event planning and even TV news media for a few years Stacey eventually found her calling in the video games and digital entertainment industry. For over 20 years Stacey led the marketing, brand and creative teams for hundreds of video games including pop culture brands Pac-Man and Guitar Hero. Stacey first met her co-author Charles when she was hired as VP of Marketing at RedOctane, the creators of the billion dollar brand Guitar Hero.
Stacey and her husband, Ford, became parents when they welcomed twins Kennedy and Ryder into the world. They recognized the importance of integrating “play” into their children’s development, instilling in them the principle that even learning can be fun. Stacey’s children served as her inspiration behind the creation of Mini Magellan and Jade Stars, her answer to finding the vital balance between entertainment and education while encouraging kids to explore beyond the horizon and to reach for the stars.
Charles Huang: Charles was born in Taiwan the same year his wife, Lillian, was born in Shanghai. They are the proud parents of two daughters, Kaylan and Charley. Together, Charles and Lillian raise their daughters to be good global citizens and it is this mission that serves as the core of Mini Magellan.
Charles’ belief in promoting global consciousness in youth also manifests in other endeavors. For instance, he launched the Huang Scholars Program at his alma mater, the University of California at Berkeley, where he got his degree in Asian Studies. The Huang Scholars Program is a two summer program which sends students to study language and work at internships in China.
Charles has been entertaining kids and adults now for over 15 years. As a co-founder of RedOctane, he co-created the Guitar Hero video game franchise, which went on to become the fastest video game to reach $1B in sales and has also exceeded $5B of total revenue to date. When he is not building entertainment or hardware products, Charles serves on the Berkeley Foundation Board of Trustees.
About the Illustrator
Jerome Lu was born in Mountain View and raised in the Bay Area by a family of wild monkeys. Even when he was a small chimp, they could see that he believed every crayon in the box had magical powers, and he would transform blank pages into colorful, fantastic worlds filled with monkeys, ninjas, robots and all his craziest dreams. His wild monkey relations soon recognized his artistic talent and nurtured it with a diet of Skittles and Corn Nuts. They made sure his art education included Saturday morning cartoons and ABC After School Specials. Now that Jerome has grown up to be a big monkey, they are quite proud that his childhood creativity has never diminished. In fact, it has grown, and he is working on his biggest art project to date: constructing a 20-story ultimate monkey ninja robot.