Contemporary Authors

1. Running through sprinklers https://lccn.loc.gov/2017005310 Kim, Michelle (Filmmaker), author. Running through sprinklers / Michelle Kim. First edition. New York : Atheneum Books for Young Readers, [2018] 209 pages ; 22 cm PZ7.1.K583 Run 2018 ISBN: 9781481495288 (hardback)9781481495295 (paperback)

• Hapaness Media - http://www.hapanessmedia.com/about/

  About Hapaness Media:

  Hapaness Media is multidisciplinary, multimedia company owned by writer-actor-director-producer Michelle Kim. Its mandate is to tell stories that cross cultures and languages by using a variety of media.
  About Michelle Kim:

  Michelle Kim was born in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada to a human-rights-lawyer father of British descent and a fashion-designer mother of Korean descent. Educated in the public school system’s French Immersion and the International Baccalaureate programs, she went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts in Canadian Studies at the University of British Columbia, where she started working as a journalist for the student newspaper as well as started acting in short films.

  Upon graduation, Michelle moved to London, England to work as a journalist for BBC Radio Five Live and BBC World Service. Michelle then returned to Vancouver to pursue a career in the film industry.

  Michelle has acted in and produced several films including In No Particular Order (dir. Kristine Cofsky), which premiered at the 2012 Vancouver International Film Festival; Terry Miles’ Cinemanovels (dir. Terry Miles), which premiered at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival; the Korean-language film Sarangi Museoweo (dir. Rain Jung); The Goodbye Girl (dir. Amber Ripley), which recently was won the 2012 NSI Drama Prize; and Lost Lagoon (dir. Rob Leickner), which won the Tony Lee Williams Award for Outstanding Canadian Feature Film at the 2013 Reelworld Film Festival in Toronto.

  Recently, Michelle has forayed into directing. She wrote, co-directed (along with Rob Leickner), and acted in The Tree Inside. The film has played at the Vancouver Asian Feature (where it won the “Audience Award for Outstanding Canadian Feature” award) the Northwest Filmmakers’ Film Festival in Portland (where it won the “Favourite Narrative Feature” award), LaFemme Film Festival in LA, the Local Sightings Film Festival in Seattle, and The Green Film Festival in Seoul. She is currently working on her next feature film, a Korean-language film, set during the 90s in Seoul.

  In addition to her film work, Michelle writes novels. Her first, Running Through Sprinklers, is published by Simon & Schuster/Atheneum.
  Leave

Kim, Michelle: RUNNING THROUGH SPRINKLERS
Kirkus Reviews.
(Feb. 15, 2018): From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2018 Kirkus Media LLC http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Kim, Michelle RUNNING THROUGH SPRINKLERS Atheneum (Children's Fiction) $16.99 4, 17 ISBN: 978-1-4814-9528-8
Best friends forever, Sara Smith and Nadine Ando navigate the end of a friendship when Nadine skips a grade and Sara is left behind.
Sara Smith is a biracial (half-white, half-Korean) seventh-grader in her final year of middle school. She and Nadine (who is also biracial, half-white, half-Japanese) have been inseparable for years. Cul-de-sac neighbors in a suburb of Vancouver since childhood, the girls have never considered separation before. They are two halves of the same person. Sara often reflects on the differences between the races of their parents and describes how this affects family life. In Sara's family, her mother is Korean; in Nadine's, her mother is white. The pain of possibly losing her trusted sidekick creates strong emotions as the school year begins, which leads to regrettable behavior. The girls' younger siblings play significant roles, and there's a subplot of a missing classmate. As the school year progresses, Sara's internal dialogue gradually awakens emotional truth and personal growth as she learns from her mistakes. Occasionally, author Kim's descriptiveness wanders past typical narration, serving more as a witness for readers rather than helping them emotionally experience the moment. In the end, Sara is wistful, recognizing the place her childhood best friend will always have in her life.
Readers get a ringside seat to the rite of passage of feeling true sadness for the first time in this story for readers readying to move up to YA. (Fiction. 10-14)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Kim, Michelle: RUNNING THROUGH SPRINKLERS." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Feb. 2018. Book
Review Index Plus, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A527247993/GPS?u=schlager&
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sid=GPS&xid=b51c2721. Accessed 16 July 2018. Gale Document Number: GALE|A527247993
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Running Through Sprinklers
Publishers Weekly.
265.10 (Mar. 5, 2018): p72+. From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2018 PWxyz, LLC http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Running Through Sprinklers
Michelle Kim. Atheneum, $16.99 (224p) ISBN 978-1-4814-9528-8
Sara and Nadine have been best friends as well as neighbors in their Vancouver suburb for most of their lives. Sara is sure they will always be close, but her dreams for a perfect new school year are shattered when Nadine reveals she is skipping a grade and heading to high school, something she has kept from Sara. At the same time, Daniel, a boy who plays baseball with Sara's brother, goes missing. As the community reels, Sara is determined to help find Daniel, a quest she hopes will keep her close to Nadine. But both girls are changing and growing apart; Sara hangs out with Jen, Nadine's sister, which makes Nadine pull away more. Kim fills this honest coming-of-age story with small yet treasured memories from Sara and Nadine's friendship, conveying the depth of their connection and the uncertainty that change brings. Both girls are biracial; Nadine is half white, half Japanese, and Sara's Korean identity is a particularly well-integrated part of the story. Kim's debut deftly explores the complexities of friendship and growing up, as well as the satisfaction that comes through self-discovery. Ages 10-up. Agent: Sam Hiyate, Rights Factory. (Apr.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Running Through Sprinklers." Publishers Weekly, 5 Mar. 2018, p. 72+. Book Review Index Plus,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A530430350/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS& xid=0024f80b. Accessed 16 July 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A530430350
3 of 5 7/16/18, 12:22 AM

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Running through Sprinklers
Sharon Rawlins
Booklist.
114.13 (Mar. 1, 2018): p64+. From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2018 American Library Association http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
Full Text:
Running through Sprinklers. By Michelle Kim. Apr. 2018. 224p. Atheneum, $16.99 (9781481495288). Gr. 4-7.
In this appealing Canadian debut set during the Gulf War, Sara, almost 12, is devastated when her best friend, Nadine, waits until school starts to tell her she's skipping a grade, leaving Sara behind. Sara schemes to maintain their friendship, enlisting Nadine's help in a search for Sara's brother's missing baseball teammate. But Nadine increasingly ignores her, and Sara stops studying and starts hanging out with a girl she used to dislike. Nadine's sister, Jen, also rejects Sara for not pulling her weight in the science project they're doing together. Stung, Sara lashes out at everyone and rashly runs away. Both Sara and Nadine are biracial--Sara's half Korean, and Nadine's half Japanese. The novel is full of familiar middle-grade experiences, like school dances, secret crushes, and amusingly awkward advice by Sara's Korean mom. The plot can be predictable at times, but Saras feelings of betrayal and confusion ring true. She learns a valuable lesson that, though friendships evolve and change is inevitable, she's resilient and unbreakable.-- Sharon Rawlins
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Rawlins, Sharon. "Running through Sprinklers." Booklist, 1 Mar. 2018, p. 64+. Book Review
Index Plus, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A532251016/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS& xid=fccf0de4. Accessed 16 July 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A532251016
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KIM, Michelle. Running Through
Sprinklers
Bridgid Gallagher-Sauter
School Library Journal.
64.2 (Feb. 2018): p80. From Book Review Index Plus.
COPYRIGHT 2018 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/
Full Text:
KIM, Michelle. Running Through Sprinklers. 224p. S. & S./Atheneum. Apr. 2018. Tr $16.99. ISBN 9781481495288.
Gr 5-8--Sara and Nadine have been inseparable since the age of one, when they both moved to a cul-de-sac in the brand-new suburb of Surrey, Canada. Now 12 and about to start seventh grade, Sara's idyllic childhood is shattered when Nadine skips ahead to high school and leaves Sara to complete her final year of primary school alone. Sara spirals into depression, jealousy, and anger as she struggles to regain her lost friendship and discover who she is without the person who defined her the most. Written in limited first-person point of view, the book reads more like a progression of impressionistic and emotionally charged vignettes than a traditional linear novel. The stream-of-consciousness flashbacks to Sara's early childhood that pepper the narrative lend an oddly dreamy, nostalgic tone to the work. Due to this style, the pacing is inconsistent and the plot is underdeveloped. The novel relies heavily on Sara's angst for her lost friend and her ensuing interactions with Jen, Nadine's little sister. Other subplots are brought up quickly and resolved too conveniently or dismissed with a life-goes-on resolution. Many of these threads, including the disappearance of a neighborhood boy and sexual harassment and stalking by a classmate, are disturbing and need more attention than they are given. A highlight of the novel, however, is Sara's strong relationship to her family and her Korean heritage. The book may find an audience in mature middle grade readers who enjoy emotionally driven, slice-of-life fare. VERDICT Purchase where nostalgic, realistic reads are popular with students.--Bridgid Gallagher-Sauter, The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Gallagher-Sauter, Bridgid. "KIM, Michelle. Running Through Sprinklers." School Library
Journal, Feb. 2018, p. 80. Book Review Index Plus, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc /A526734040/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS&xid=ca89d6c4. Accessed 16 July 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A526734040
5 of 5 7/16/18, 12:22 AM

"Kim, Michelle: RUNNING THROUGH SPRINKLERS." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Feb. 2018. Book Review Index Plus, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A527247993/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS&xid=b51c2721. Accessed 16 July 2018. "Running Through Sprinklers." Publishers Weekly, 5 Mar. 2018, p. 72+. Book Review Index Plus, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A530430350/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS&xid=0024f80b. Accessed 16 July 2018. Rawlins, Sharon. "Running through Sprinklers." Booklist, 1 Mar. 2018, p. 64+. Book Review Index Plus, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A532251016/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS&xid=fccf0de4. Accessed 16 July 2018. Gallagher-Sauter, Bridgid. "KIM, Michelle. Running Through Sprinklers." School Library Journal, Feb. 2018, p. 80. Book Review Index Plus, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A526734040/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS&xid=ca89d6c4. Accessed 16 July 2018.

• Kore
  http://kore.am/michelle-kims-running-through-sprinklers-on-growing-up-and-growing-apart/
  Word count: 1330

  Michelle Kim’s ‘Running Through Sprinklers’ On Growing Up and Growing Apart
  Lilly Nguyen
  Apr 16,2018
  Michelle Kim (Photos Farrah Aviva, Simon & Schuster)Michelle Kim (Photos Farrah Aviva, Simon & Schuster)

  Growing up is tough.

  It’s even tougher when you’re 12 and your best friend skips a grade and goes off to high school, leaving you behind to pick up the pieces of what you thought was going to be forever.

  That’s the premise of Michelle Kim’s debut novel “Running Through Sprinklers.”

  In it, Nadine Ando and Sara Smith have known each other their whole lives. They’re best friends and as far as Sara is concerned, they might live at separate houses and have different names but they might as well be the same person. Then, summer ends — and a friendship that was supposed to last forever is ending. In its place, Sara discovers what it means to grow up and that change might not be as bad as it seems.

  Kim grew up in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada, and later moved to London, England, to work for BBC. Kim’s career began with writing, but shifted to acting and filmmaking after her initial deal with a Canadian publisher fell through. She moved to Vancouver when she began to seriously pursue a career in film and acting. Her first feature “The Tree Inside” was released in 2015. Kim worked on short films “Red Moon” and “In Waiting.”

  She later transferred these experiences into her novel, which she had abandoned for years. From conception to publication, it took 15 to 18 years for “Running Through Sprinklers” to come into existence.

  It’s really a coming-of-age story. What theme do you personally think it reflects of middle school and that period of your life?

  Loss is a big one. [My debut feature] “The Tree Inside” was also about loss and how to deal with that. A heartbreak and friendship, family, love. I just wrote it, I didn’t think too deeply about it. It was such a joy to remember what it was like being a kid, and I really wanted to do something about that particular area — you know, the West Coast, the suburbs, and how multicultural it is. I just really wanted to have the fact that [Sara and Nadine] were Asian, for it to be so normalized in a book.

  In fact, my editor and I intentionally decided not to italicize any of the Korean words, even though they’re not in the Merriam-Webster dictionary and whatnot, even though that’s the normal standard. We decided to not italicize any of those words so that it is normalized in the story, and that everything just blends together.

  Sara’s Korean Canadian, and then Nadine and Jen are Japanese Canadian, yes?

  Yeah.

  So, why do you think representation is important in literature and other forms of media?

  Well, because it’s actually what’s happening. It’s just a reflection — art should reflect what’s going on in society and in our society, especially where I’m from, it’s incredibly diverse. I’m half-Korean. It’s a different pool of issues.

  Have you had any kids read it? Have they given you any feedback on how they feel about it?

  Yeah, I did! [A friend of mine] had a daughter in grade 12. So, I gave her a copy to her kid and then she says her daughter liked it and I thought, “Oh, well, she’s just being nice.” And then, her daughter strolls in. She was like, ‘This book is my life! I was up crying in my room to my friend at night. It was the best book I’d ever read!’ It was such a gift because that was really unexpected, to hear that at all, and it really meant a lot.

  How have older audiences responded to “Running Through Sprinklers?”

  I think a lot of women my age have been liking it because it takes them back to that time period. I don’t know if you can tell, but it sort of ends up being in the ’90s, there’s some things about it that hint that it’s the ’90s. There’s also this nostalgic vibe to it — I had a friend describe it as “half-Asian ‘The Wonder Years.'”

  What do you want the people to leave the book with having felt, or learned or experienced from reading it?

  I want people to remember the importance of female friendship, remember their childhood, remember their best friends, their current best friends, their former best friends and remember they’re meaningful. A friend of mine told me about a quote that was something along the lines of: “One day, you went out to play with your friends but you didn’t realize it was gonna be the last time.”

  What do you ultimately want to achieve with the book? Any personal goals you want to have met with the novel?

  It was such a struggle to get this book out there. I’m just grateful that it’s actually published. I didn’t actually celebrate that much until I held the hardcover in my hands because it’s been a really tough journey to get it out into the world. The fact that it’s just out there is enough for me.

  I’ll make another plan, a new dream, a new goal. I should probably write something else. I might try to write something else because I’m actually just looking forward to writing again. It’s funny, I feel like a writer spends so much time agonizing over getting published and they forget that the best part was the writing.

  Do you have any advice for aspiring writers? What have you learned from this experience?

  I think one of the biggest things is that you shouldn’t put too much pressure on it.

  I think my journey is a bit of an example, where when I was really focusing on the book and agonizing over it, it wasn’t really working. But when I moved onto film, there was more lightheartedness around the book when I didn’t put that much pressure on it or myself. So I think that of course there’s dedication, you have to actually put the hours in, but I think a big one is — I learned this from Elizabeth Gilbert — you don’t want to rely on your creativity to make money.

  You start to make different choices and think about how you’re going to make a living out of this. I think it goes back to do it for the pure joy and because you enjoy writing, and then whatever happens, happens. For me, I wrote this book in little bits every once in a while – it wasn’t linear. Like, I wrote some scenes from the end in the beginning.

  You don’t have to write a book in a linear way.

  Any new projects on the horizon?

  Oh yeah, I’m working on a film that is set in Korea, and it’s during the Asian economic crisis of the late ’90s, and I’m doing that and I have a few ideas for another book. I think most people have a book in them to write, I feel like everyone should and if you’re lucky, you can write more. I mean, I tried it!

  “Running Through Sprinklers” is available for pre-order and will be released on April 17. You can see more of Kim’s work at hapanessmedia.com or follow her on Twitter.
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• Quill and Quire
  https://quillandquire.com/review/running-through-sprinklers/
  Word count: 880

  Running Through Sprinklers

  by Michelle Kim
  Krista Kim-Bap

  by Angela Ahn

  Navigating the ups and downs of friendship is never easy – particularly when on the cusp of adolescence. Two debut novels give voice to the experiences of girls growing apart from their BFFs. And both stories are enriched by vivid depictions of Korean-Canadian family life.

  In Angela Ahn’s Krista Kim-Bap, the eponymous fifth-grader has always been “the Korean girl” at school. This has never before got in the way of her friendship with red-headed, bespectacled Jason. That’s about to change, though, as a group of new, cool girls threaten to pull her into their circle. To make matters worse, Krista has to come up with an idea for a class project focused on her family’s heritage at a time when fitting in, rather than standing out, matters more than anything.

  Glimpses into aspects of Korean culture are revealed honestly and effectively, especially when Krista experiments with eye tape to make her “regular Korean eyes” appear larger. When her fearsome grandmother goes so far as to suggest taking Krista to Korea for double eyelid surgery, readers will cringe while remaining sympathetic toward Krista’s desire for external approval: “It was the first time my grandmother had ever liked the way I looked. Of course, it was the first time I didn’t actually look like myself.” Krista’s mother redresses the balance with a slightly heavy-handed tirade against false beauty standards.

  Ahn’s writing style is direct, verging on heavily expository, and tension sometimes slackens, with several chapters ending on a flat note. Krista’s best friend, Jason, also remains slightly under-realized. Apart from a few physical details, and the fact that he likes kimchi, we don’t learn much about him or his own family life.

  But if the storytelling is at times simplistic (the moralizing ending may strike more sophisticated readers as a little too pat), Krista Kim-Bap nevertheless offers an accessible story that will open younger readers’ eyes to an under-represented perspective in Canadian kidlit.

  Geared toward a slightly older audience, Michelle Kim’s Running Through Sprinklers features Sara, another Korean preteen growing up in Vancouver’s suburbs. Sara’s best friend, the high-performing Nadine, lives across the street. Part Japanese, Nadine knows what it’s like to be half-Asian in the West. The lives of Sara and Nadine practically blend into one; in Sara’s words, “It’s the way my shoes line up at their front door, the way my favorite snack sits on their kitchen table after school, the way I can still smell her house on my clothes when I come home.”

  So the news that Nadine is going to skip a year and go straight into high school hits Sara hard. Her reactions – from fury to resentment to despair – are cast against another developing storyline involving the disappearance of a local boy, a subplot which feels slightly overplayed for thematic echoes without ever being fully resolved.

  The brunt of Sara’s emotional upheaval is caused by the loss of her friend. Older readers may find this more akin to a first heartbreak: “I know deep down that I will be forever alone because my best friend has left me. Things will never be the same and I will never find another friend so true and honest and pure in a way that matches all those parts of me that are true, honest, and pure.”

  Kim isn’t afraid to show the flaws in her character’s response: Sara attempts to get back at Nadine by becoming friends with Nadine’s younger sister. Sara’s also fickle with her own younger brother and, at her lowest point, launches into a cruel outburst directed at her mother.

  At the heart of both books lies a painful realization: becoming your true self sometimes means learning to separate from those around you. Fortunately for young readers, novels such as these may help ease the sting of this lesson.

  Reviewer: Trilby Kent

  Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers/Simon & Schuster Canada
  DETAILS

  Price: $22.99

  Page Count: 224 pp

  Format: Cloth

  ISBN: 978-1-48149-528-8

  Released: April

  Issue Date: April 2018

  Categories: Children and YA Fiction

  Age Range: 10+

  Reviewer: Trilby Kent

  Publisher: Second Story Press
  DETAILS

  Price: $11.95

  Page Count: 176 pp

  Format: Paper

  ISBN: 978-1-77260-063-6

  Released: April

  Issue Date: April 1, 2018

  Categories: Children and YA Fiction

  Age Range: 9–13

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• Vancouver Sun
  https://vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/michelle-kim-becomes-triple-threat-with-new-surrey-set-y-a-novel
  Word count: 1041

  Michelle Kim becomes triple threat with new Surrey-set Y/A novel

  Dana Gee
  Updated: June 18, 2018

  Author Michelle Kim. Farrah Aviva / PNG
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  Do you remember your first best friend? You’re hopefully smiling right now thinking about that person.

  It’s that relationship that is at the heart of Michelle Kim’s new debut middle-school novel, Running Through Sprinklers.

  “Your relationships are your world when you are a kid. I just wanted to write something about the first best friend you ever had and how that is almost like your first love,” said Surrey’s Kim, who works as a director and actor.

  A thoughtful, sweet and funny antidote to today’s social-media malaise, the story is told through tween Sara’s eyes. She and her besty, Nadine, met when they were one-year-olds living in the same cul-de-sac in North Surrey. They became inseparable, that is until they finished Grade 7 and Nadine skipped a grade ahead, leaving a devastated and suddenly untethered Sara trying everything she could to hold onto Nadine and their ice-cream-eating, sprinkler-running, hamster-holding times together.

  Sara even uses the search for a missing boy they kind of knew as a ploy to keep Nadine near.

  “I’m using the disappearance of that poor kid as a ploy to keep my best friend around, but I never said I was a great person,” says Sara.

  Running Through Sprinklers, by Michelle Kim. Submitted / PNG

  The idea to write about the power and depth of friendship first came to Kim while she was a University of B.C. student sad after a breakup.

  “I was heartbroken and my mom took me to some deli on 10th and there was a table of four women next to me who were elderly and they were all thanking each other for helping each other when their husbands passed away and I just realized, ‘Wow.’ In the end your girlfriends are there for you. ‘Wow, I should probably not focus so much on this guy.’ Then I started to think about my friends throughout the years, so I just kind of wanted to write about that,” said Kim, who wrote her first draft 12 years ago at age 26.

  A quintessential coming-of-age story, Running Through Sprinklers is also a kind of love letter to the still-wood-covered Surrey of the early 1990s.

  “It was nice to write about Surrey,” said Kim. “I just wrote this book for myself. I wrote it for the joy of almost remembering how amazing it was to be a kid. To bring myself down memory lane and, yeah, life was simpler. Growing up in the suburbs was a pretty good time.”

  It was also a multicultural time. Both Sara and Nadine are biracial, with one Asian parent each. Kim herself, like Sara, is half-Korean.

  “I thought the way we and our siblings looked was totally normal. I truly believed everyone everywhere had one Asian parent and one white parent,” says Sara, reflecting on her early years in the cul-de-sac. “I grew in a completely mixed environment. Surrey in the 1990s was really multicultural. I wanted to write something where this was normalized.”

  Kim’s road to published author is an interesting one. After UBC she worked as a journalist in London for BBC Radio Five Live and the BBC World Service.

  She then decided that acting was something she wanted to do. That morphed into filmmaking. She most notably wrote, co-directed and starred in the feature film, The Tree Inside. In 2015 the film played at film festivals around the world and won audience-choice awards at the Vancouver Asian Film Festival and Portland’s Northwest Filmmakers Festival.

  But while she was busy working in TV and film, the novel always lingered in her mind waiting for her to pull it all together. There were fits and starts and notes and pages written, however, her novel never got the final treatment until Kim came upon the idea to apply the traditional structure of a film to her literary idea. Once she did that, Kim said the story had a shape and pace.

  “I imagined kids reading it like they were watching it on film. It took a shape. I think that is how the experience is going to be for kids as kid-lit progresses. You would just sit down and be done in like three hours,” said Kim, who also has sights on turning the novel into an actual film.

  “I would love to make this into something. Use some of my film skills,” said Kim, who is working on a film about a female Korean taxi driver in Seoul in the 1990s during the Asian economic crisis.

  Published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers, an imprint of the famed Simon & Schuster publishing house, Running Through Sprinklers has many positive reviews and is on library bookshelves. While that’s great news for Kim, what Kim enjoys are some of the anecdotal stories she is hearing.

  “I actually know a couple of women who sent this to their childhood friends from that age who they haven’t talked to in years. I thought, ‘Wow, that was a good way to connect with them,’ ” said Kim. “That was pretty cool.

  “I think all women still have that 12-year-old within. You know that girl before s–t got complicated.”

  Kim will be doing in-store book signings at the following locations:

  Saturday, July 7

  Chapters Metrotown, Burnaby

  11 a.m.-1 p.m.

  Saturday, July 14

  Indigo Park Royal, West Vancouver

  12:30-3:30 p.m.

  Saturday, July 28

  Chapters Pinetree, Coquitlam

  11 a.m.-1 p.m.

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