Grace Lin Books in Order
Explore Grace Lin books in order, with short summaries, series notes, reading paths, and tips on where to start with her work.
Last updated: June 7, 2026
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Publication Order
35 books
The Ugly Vegetables
by Grace Lin
1999
A girl wishes her mother’s garden grew pretty flowers like the neighbors’ yards, not strange Chinese vegetables. When harvest becomes soup, the whole neighborhood discovers beauty, flavor, and community.
Dim Sum for Everyone!
by Grace Lin
2001
A young girl’s family visits a bustling dim sum restaurant, choosing dumplings, buns, tarts, and more from rolling carts. The simple story celebrates sharing food and learning a beloved dining tradition.
Kite Flying
by Grace Lin
2002
A family shops for supplies, builds a dragon kite, and sends it into the wind together. Simple text and colorful art introduce the Chinese tradition of kite making and flying.
Okie, Dokie Artichokie
by Grace Lin
2003
Marklee the monkey wants to welcome Artichoke, his new giraffe neighbor, but constant banging from below makes him feel rejected. A Christmas mix-up reveals the truth and turns misunderstanding into friendship.
Christmas Carols
by Grace Lin
2004
This holiday package pairs Grace Lin’s warm illustrations with familiar Christmas songs for young children. Families can sing along while following a child’s seasonal celebrations across the small board books.
Fortune Cookie Fortunes
by Grace Lin
2004
After dinner at a Chinese restaurant, Pacy wonders whether her family’s fortune-cookie messages might come true. Everyday moments turn magical as she watches each prediction unfold in its own way.
Robert's Snow
by Grace Lin
2004
Robert, a small mouse who has never seen snow, sneaks outside after wishing on a bright star. When he gets lost, a familiar holiday visitor helps him find his way home.
The Twelve Days of Christmas
by Grace Lin
2004
Grace Lin brings the traditional carol to a small board-book format for little listeners. Bright, child-friendly holiday art makes each gift in the song easy to follow and count.
Robert's Snowflakes
by Grace Lin
2005
This art-filled winter collection gathers snowflake creations and poems connected to a cancer research fundraiser. It offers young readers a gentle mix of seasonal beauty, hope, and community care.
The Year of the Dog
by Grace Lin
2005
Pacy, called Grace at school, hopes the Year of the Dog will help her find friends and her talent. Family stories, school moments, and Taiwanese American traditions shape her funny search for identity.
Lissy's Friends
by Grace Lin
2007
New at school and shy, Lissy folds an origami bird who becomes her first friend. When her paper friends drift away, she finds the courage to connect with a real classmate.
The Red Thread
by Grace Lin
2007
Inspired by the Chinese belief in an invisible red thread, this adoption fairy tale follows a king and queen searching for the child tied to their hearts. It’s gentle, symbolic, and tender.
Bringing In the New Year
by Grace Lin
2008
A Chinese American family sweeps, decorates, makes dumplings, and joins the noisy joy of Lunar New Year. This bright read-aloud introduces holiday customs through one child’s busy day.
The Year of the Rat
by Grace Lin
2008
Pacy’s lucky Year of the Dog gives way to change when her best friend moves away. As she faces prejudice, jealousy, and new beginnings, she keeps working toward her dream of making books.
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon
by Grace Lin
2009
Minli leaves her poor village to seek the Old Man of the Moon and change her family’s fortune. Her quest blends dragons, folktales, and hard choices about gratitude and home.
Ling & Ting: Not Exactly the Same!
by Grace Lin
2010
Twin sisters Ling and Ting look alike, but haircuts, dumplings, magic tricks, and silly moments prove they are their own people. Six brief chapters make this a warm, funny choice for new readers.
Thanking the Moon
by Grace Lin
2010
A Chinese American family gathers under the night sky for the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival. Lanterns, mooncakes, tea, and secret wishes introduce young readers to a quiet celebration of family and gratitude.
Dumpling Days
by Grace Lin
2012
Pacy travels to Taiwan with her family for a month of relatives, art class, and new foods. Feeling both familiar and out of place, she tries to understand what home and identity mean.
Starry River of the Sky
by Grace Lin
2012
Runaway Rendi works at a remote inn where the moon has vanished and the sky seems to cry. A mysterious storyteller helps him face old anger and uncover the village’s hidden connections.
Ling & Ting Share a Birthday
by Grace Lin
2013
Ling and Ting share a birthday, but that doesn’t mean they do everything the same way. Cakes, wishes, gifts, and a birthday secret make this early reader sweet and funny.
Ling & Ting: Twice as Silly
by Grace Lin
2014
Ling and Ting are back with jokes, imaginary games, and six stories that lean into their shared silliness. The twins plant cupcakes, test mind reading, and keep showing they’re not exactly alike.
Ling & Ting: Together in All Weather
by Grace Lin
2015
Ling and Ting move through winter, spring, summer, and fall in six short stories. Their small adventures give beginning readers practice with seasons, friendship, and the twins’ funny differences.
When the Sea Turned to Silver
by Grace Lin
2016
When soldiers kidnap Pinmei’s beloved grandmother, the shy girl sets out with mysterious Yishan to find the Luminous Stone. Their journey through folklore and danger asks what stories can save.
A Big Mooncake for Little Star
by Grace Lin
2018
Little Star helps Mama bake a giant mooncake and promises not to touch it, but midnight nibbles are hard to resist. Her snack becomes a playful origin story for the moon’s phases.
Circle! Sphere!
by Grace Lin
2020
Manny, Olivia, and Mei blow bubbles with different-shaped wands and wonder what shapes will appear. The playful board book turns a summer activity into an easy first lesson about circles and spheres.
Mulan
by Grace Lin
2020
Before she becomes a legendary warrior, Hua Mulan races to save her sister Xiu from a poisonous spider bite. A quest with the Jade Rabbit pulls her through myth, magic, and enemies who fear a prophecy.
The Last Marshmallow
by Grace Lin
2020
After playing in the snow, Olivia and Mei have two cups of cocoa and three marshmallows. Deciding how to share the last one fairly becomes a tiny lesson in division.
Up to My Knees!
by Grace Lin
2020
Mei plants a sunflower seed and watches it grow from her toes to her knees and beyond. Simple comparisons help toddlers explore height, time, and informal measurement through a garden story.
What Will Fit?
by Grace Lin
2020
At the farmers market, Olivia wants one thing that will fit just right in her basket. Each try teaches young readers about space, size, and how objects fill a container.
I Am an American
by Grace Lin
2021
This picture book biography follows Wong Kim Ark, born in San Francisco to Chinese immigrant parents, as he fights for recognition as an American citizen. His Supreme Court case becomes a clear, kid-friendly entry into birthright citizenship.
Maya Lin
by Grace Lin
2022
This chapter-book biography introduces Maya Lin, the artist and architect who designed the Vietnam Veterans Memorial as a college student. Young readers see how she trusted her vision and kept going.
A Beautiful House for Birds
by Grace Lin
2023
Olivia paints a birdhouse with a stripe pattern, then makes a mistake that changes the design. The board book turns colors and problem-solving into an inviting first look at patterns.
Chinese Menu
by Grace Lin
2023
Grace Lin serves up the history, myths, and legends behind favorite Chinese and Chinese American foods. Organized like a menu, the collection turns dishes, drinks, and chopsticks into bite-sized stories.
Once Upon a Book
by Grace Lin
2023
On a dreary day, Alice steps into a book and travels through deserts, oceans, skies, and space. Her imaginative journey celebrates the pull of stories and the comfort of coming home.
The Gate, the Girl, and the Dragon
by Grace Lin
2025
Jin, a restless stone lion spirit, kicks the Sacred Sphere through the Old City Gate and tumbles into the human world. To fix his mistake, he needs help from a girl and a would-be dragon.
Where should I start?
For folkloric middle-grade fantasy: Where the Mountain Meets the Moon → Starry River of the Sky → When the Sea Turned to Silver → The Gate, the Girl, and the Dragon.
For autobiographical realistic fiction: The Year of the Dog → The Year of the Rat → Dumpling Days.
For new independent readers: Ling & Ting: Not Exactly the Same! → Ling & Ting Share a Birthday → Ling & Ting: Twice as Silly → Ling & Ting: Together in All Weather.
For picture-book read-alouds: The Ugly Vegetables → Dim Sum for Everyone! → Bringing In the New Year → A Big Mooncake for Little Star.
For toddlers and math talk: Circle! Sphere! → Up to My Knees! → What Will Fit? → The Last Marshmallow.
Author bio
Grace Lin was born in New Hartford, New York, and grew up in upstate New York with her parents and two sisters. Her family was Taiwanese American, and she has said that she and her sisters were among the only Asian children at their elementary school. That feeling of being both visible and unseen runs through many of her books.
At first, she did not plan to be a writer.
As a child, Lin dreamed of becoming an ice skater. What she did have, though, was a habit of drawing. Those drawings became the path she followed to the Rhode Island School of Design, where she studied illustration and graduated in 1996. After school, she worked in design, made postcards of her art, and kept trying to break into children’s books.
Her first book, The Ugly Vegetables, grew out of childhood memory: a girl watches her mother grow Chinese vegetables while the neighbors grow flowers. The book set the tone for much of Lin’s work. It is warm, funny, food-filled, and interested in the small ways families carry culture into everyday life.
Then came picture books like Dim Sum for Everyone!, Kite Flying, Bringing In the New Year, and Thanking the Moon. These books are often simple enough for young children, but they also give families and classrooms an easy way into Chinese and Chinese American traditions without turning the story into a lecture.
Lin also writes for older readers. Her Pacy novels, beginning with The Year of the Dog, follow a Taiwanese American girl who is trying to understand friendship, family, school, and what it means to be herself. In Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, Starry River of the Sky, and When the Sea Turned to Silver, she moves into fantasy, mixing original adventure with stories inspired by Chinese folklore.
Those books brought wider attention. Where the Mountain Meets the Moon received a Newbery Honor, Ling & Ting: Not Exactly the Same! received a Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor, When the Sea Turned to Silver was a National Book Award finalist, and A Big Mooncake for Little Star received a Caldecott Honor.
She kept making books for very young readers, too. The Ling & Ting early readers turn twin sisters into funny, distinct characters for kids just starting to read on their own. Her Storytelling Math board books use bubbles, gardens, baskets, marshmallows, and birdhouses to show toddlers that math is part of play.
That range is part of the fun.
Lin has also spoken often about diversity in children’s books, including the need for children to see both themselves and others on the page. She co-hosts the Book Friends Forever podcast with editor Alvina Ling. She lives in Northampton, Massachusetts, with her husband, daughter, and a changing number of chickens.
Edited by
Software engineer whose passion for tracking book recommendations from podcasts inspired the creation of MRB.
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