A Persistent Vine (Botanical Tales: The Maligned Creeper)

2013 Winner of the Silver Moonbeam Children's Book Award For Picture Book ('All Ages' Category). During Japan's Heian period, a time characterized and marked by a focus on aesthetic pursuits, an imperial magistrate retires early to cultivate rare and delicate plants on an abandoned property. In his enthusiasm, he may have underestimated the power of nature and its ability to foil human attempts to shape it. The story borrows its format from traditional tales to explore the contemporary dilemma posed by invasive species, as well as the timeless question of man's relation to the natural world.

Han Tran has a doctorate in Classics from UC Berkeley and is currently a lecturer at the University of Miami at Coral Gables. Her area of expertise is in classical and world myth, as well as ancient religions. She has also previously taught at The Ohio State University and the University of Oregon. Her deep interest in distilling knowledge and making it accessible to a young audience has led her to collaborate with Montessori school director, Christinia Cheung. Ms. Cheung directs a Bay Area bilingual school educating children from 3 months of age to 18 years, where she has seen first-hand a vital need for books that both treat subjects in greater depth but that are also designed with the aim of leading children to become more reflective and more aware of the world, of the past, and of others. This collaboration between Dr. Tran and Ms. Cheung reflects a belief in the power of storytelling as a way of engaging the mind while encouraging thoughtfulness and personal responsibility.