Family
Meet THE LINS!
Dad (back), Mom (middle), Lissy, Grandma, Grandpa, Ki-Ki (front) Dog, Pacy, Cat (very front), Mouse
PACY: illustrator, author, middle sister
Grace never knew her "real" name was Grace until first grade (Lissy and Ki-Ki found out much sooner than she did). On the first day of school, her teacher asked her what her name was. When Grace replied, "Pacy Lin!" the teacher smiled and said, "No, now you're a big girl-- you don't go by the name Pacy anymore." She looked on her roster and then said, "Your real name is Grace." And in an instant, after years of parents and grandparents (basically the whole family), calling her Pacy, she turned into Grace and has been Grace ever since.
MOM: flower-show-judge, gardener, mother
Grace's mom is cursed (or blessed?) with her name. Her parents (Grace's grandparents) named her Lin-Lin. Then she married Grace's dad, Jer-shang Lin. So now her name is Lin-Lin Lin. Most people don't believe her, and once a store wouldn't accept her check because they didn't believe it was her real name. When she signed report cards, Grace, Lissy, and Ki-Ki used to have a hard time convincing the grade school teachers that was her name also. It's a long-standing joke in the family.
DAD: doctor, golfer, father
Grace's dad likes to play golf. He also likes to watch professional golfers on TV. Live broadcast golf tournaments are exciting. They are so exciting that Grace's father falls asleep in his easy-chair every time he watches one. Whenever someone turns off the TV while he is snoring in front of a golf game, he suddenly wakes up and says, "I was watching that!"
LISSY: chemist, older sister
When Grace was a baby, before Ki-ki was born, Lissy was really jealous of Grace. One day, Mom and Dad took the kids to visit their aunt. Grace soon fell asleep, so Mom tucked her into one of the bedrooms and then left to gossip with the family. Soon she heard the baby crying. She went to the bedroom and found it locked. Mom did however hear Lissy laughing and Grace crying even louder. By this time, everyone was crowding around the bedroom door to see what the commotion was about. Grace's mother looked through the keyhole and saw Lissy jiggling the bed so that Grace was bouncing. The louder the baby cried, the louder she laughed. The entire family laughs about this now.
KI-KI: web designer, manager, younger sister
Before Ki-Ki was born Grace's parents sat Lissy and Grace down and told them there was going to be a new baby in the family. Grace remembers that they seemed very serious. She wondered why. Babies were kind of cute, but Grace really didn't care (hey, she was four). So the next day the entire family, including the grandparents, sat in the living room trying to find a name for the new baby. There were piles of books all over the floor, encyclopedias and novels. Grace couldn't read very well so she would just point out random words like radio and building and ask if they were good names. At least they were better names than what Lissy wanted to name her, which were the names Garbage and Poop.
GRANDPA: doctor, grandfather
Most traditional Asians are not known for their romantic gestures. This was seen when Grace's grandparents went on a bus tour of Europe with 100 other Asians. The tour stopped at an Italian village where a flower vendor eagerly approached, confident of selling many roses. Grace's grandfather bought his wife a red rose from the vendor. But he was the only one. Unfortunately for the vendor, Grandpa was the only person in the group willing to part with his money for a pretty flower.
DOG: canine, pet
Grace has never had a dog. Her sister has never owned a dog. Her mother never owned a dog. In fact, her entire family has never had a dog. Sorry. Grace once had a goldfish named Sushi, but it died.
CAT: feline, pet
CAT: feline, pet. Grace has never had a cat. Her sister has never owned a dog or a cat. Her mother never owned a cat. In fact, her entire family has never had a cat. Sorry. Grace once had a goldfish named Sushi, but it died.
MOUSE: rodent, pest, pet?
This is the mouse that has lived with the Lins for as long as anyone can remember. Every spring the family catches it, using a new, improved mousetrap. And every winter, it comes back to say they wasted their money. Grace thinks cats have so many lives because they eat mice... mice must have a thousand. At least the one in the Lin family does.
GRACE: author, illustrator, queen of dessert
Grace is an author and illustrator of many children's books. This whole website is all about her and her books. Hope you haven't come to the wrong place!
SASQUATCH: Alex, video guy, husband
In 2010, Grace married a Sasquatch. Here are some facts you might might not know about Sasquatches: The native habitat of a Sasquatch is Montreal, Canada. Not Toronto or Vancouver, because Sasquatches are Montreal snobs. The strange grunts and gibberish the Saquatch speaks is actually French. Sasquatches are allergic to tree nuts but not peanuts, because peanuts are a legume. It's a mystery that Sasquatches know what a legume is. Sasquatches don't exist. That's just a man in a gorilla suit!
RAIN DRAGON: Hazel Maisy, crazy Maisy, hazelnut, baby
In 2012, Grace and the Sasquatch had a baby girl. Since she was born in the Year of the Water Dragon, Grace nicknamed her Rain Dragon, even though it did not rain the day she was born. Rain Dragon's favorite things to do are to sleep, eat and make sure her parents do not get more than three hours of sleep at a time.
In 2001, Grace married a wonderful man named Robert Mercer. Sadly, Robert was stricken with cancer and passed away in 2007.
During his illness, Grace and Robert organized a fund raiser called Robert’s Snow: For Cancer’s Cure. It was inspired by the book they had written together when Robert was first told he had cancer.
For the fund raiser, Grace and Robert bought 150 flat wooden snowflakes and asked their children’s book illustrator friends if they would paint them. The friends said yes, so Grace and Robert sold all the painted snowflakes on eBay and gave the money to the hospital for cancer research. They made almost $100,000!!
Robert’s Snow: For Cancer’s Cure was so successful that they did it again with a book featuring the snowflakes, called “Robert’s Snowflakes.” This time the auction made over $100,000!!
Unfortunately, after that, Robert’s health began to fail and he and Grace could not organize the the fund raiser anymore. Upon his death, Grace, regretfully, decided to end the fundraiser.