Janet Wong was born in Los Angeles, and grew up in Southern and Northern California. As part of her undergraduate program at UCLA, she spent her junior year in France, studying art history at the Université de Bordeaux. When she returned from France, Janet founded the UCLA Immigrant Children's Art Project, a program focused on teaching refugee children to express themselves through art.
After graduating from UCLA, summa cum laude, with a B.A. in History and College Honors, Janet then obtained her J.D. from Yale Law School, where she was a director of the Yale Law and Technology Association and worked for New Haven Legal Aid. After practicing corporate and labor law for a few years for GTE and Universal Studios Hollywood, she made a dramatic career change—choosing to write for young people instead. Her successful switch from law to children’s literature has been the subject of several articles and television programs, most notably an O Magazine article, a "Remembering Your Spirit" segment on "The Oprah Winfrey Show," and the Fine Living Channel’s "Radical Sabbatical."
Janet's poems and stories have been featured in many textbooks and anthologies, and also in some more unusual venues. Poems from Behind the Wheel have been performed on a car-talk radio show. "Albert J. Bell" from A Suitcase of Seaweed was selected to appear on 5,000 subway and bus posters as part of the New York City Metropolitan Transit Authority's "Poetry in Motion" program, and was later highlighted on the Hallmark Channel’s "New Morning" show. And, in April 2003, Janet was one of five children’s authors invited to read at The White House Easter Egg Roll.

Janet and her books have received numerous awards and honors, such as the International Reading Association's "Celebrate Literacy Award" for exemplary service in the promotion of literacy, and the prestigious Stone Center Recognition of Merit, given by the Claremont Graduate School. Janet also has been appointed to two terms on the Commission on Literature of the National Council of Teachers of English.

Janet currently resides in Medina, Washington, a suburb of Seattle, with her husband Glenn and her son Andrew.

Contacts

Email: janet@janetwong.com
Website: www.janetwong.com

Books

		ALEX AND THE WEDNESDAY CHESS CLUB Margaret K. McElderry Books/Simon & Schuster ISBN 0689858906 Third-grader Alex reluctantly joins the afterschool chess club and, much to surprise, loves playing chess; a picture book about trying new experiences, perseverance, and winning and losing.
		KNOCK ON WOOD: Poems about Superstitions Margaret K. McElderry Books/Simon & Schuster ISBN 0689855125 This collection of poetry for all ages is meant to stimulate multicultural and intergenerational discussions about good and bad luck. Did you know, for instance, that black cats are considered lucky by many people in England?
		APPLE PIE FOURTH OF JULY Harcourt ISBN 015202543X This picture book illustrated by Caldecott Honor medalist Margaret Chodos-Irvine asks what it means to be American, while it celebrates diversity and community spirit.
		YOU HAVE TO WRITE Margaret K. McElderry Books/Simon & Schuster ISBN 0689834098 This picture book will inspire reluctant writers to view their own everyday experiences as rich subject matter for stories and poems of their own.

Awards

• GOOD LUCK GOLD: Claremont Stone Center Recognition of Merit
• A SUITCASE OF SEAWEED: Claremont Stone Center Recognition of Merit, New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age
• THE RAINBOW HAND: POEMS ABOUT MOTHERS AND CHILDREN: Penn State/ Lee Bennett Hopkins Honor
• BEHIND THE WHEEL: POEMS ABOUT DRIVING: American Library Association Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers
• NIGHT GARDEN : POEMS FROM THE WORLD OF DREAMS: New York Times "Best Illustrated Book"
• THIS NEXT NEW YEAR: Nick Jr. "Best New Holiday Book"
• BUZZ: Los Angeles Times "Best Book of the Year"
• THE TRIP BACK HOME: APALA Asian Pacific Award for Literature
• GRUMP: Charlotte Zolotow Highly Commended Book
• APPLE PIE FOURTH OF JULY: Charlotte Zolotow Highly Commended Book, Texas 2x2 Reading List
• YOU HAVE TO WRITE: NCTE Notable, Bank Street College "Best Children’s Book"
• MINN AND JAKE: Bulletin for the Center of Children's Books Blue Ribbon Book
• KNOCK ON WOOD: POEMS ABOUT SUPERSTITIONS: Bank Street College "Best Children’s Book," Riverbank Review Books of Distinction finalist

Reviews

BEHIND THE WHEEL: POEMS ABOUT DRIVING
"Describes the thrilling freedom of the car and an emerging adult's awareness that, although she's traveled, her road still leads to home."
- Booklist

NIGHT GARDEN: POEMS FROM THE WORLD OF DREAMS
"Gentle language that evokes wonder and thoughtfulness..Children will enjoy capturing their own dreams after they have experienced these poems." - School Library Journal

THE TRIP BACK HOME
"A gentle celebration of family bonds...author and illustrator harmonize well, painting the patterns and flavors of rural life."
- School Library Journal

Presentations

Conference presentations for teachers and librarians
School assemblies and writing workshops (K-University)

Fun Facts

Ten Things You Might Not Know About Me:

1. I hate to throw things away.
2. My house is filled with a lot of "junk"—stickers, little plastic animals, odd keys, orphaned wheels, hundreds of kinds of paper.
3. I am not good at crafts, or building, or anything "technical."
4. I have been known to use duct tape on the hems of jackets and pants.
5. I use a lot of duct tape.
6. I love revising my work. When I revise, I usually am trying to make my work shorter.
7. I like to cut things.
8. My first high school job was going door-to-door selling knives.
9. I once killed a tree in my garden by pruning it too severely; a year after that, my husband called me "Prunella."
10. When I was four years old, I helped my mother in her beauty salon. One day, I cut the hair off all my dolls.