Hosted by the USC U.S.-China Institute in collaboration with the Southern California Chinese School Association (SCCCS), this book talk is designed specifically for K–12 educators and curriculum designers. Livia Blackburne explores how storytelling does something more than tell a good story. It can change how students relate to language, culture, and their own identities. In recognition of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, this program also celebrates the histories, cultures, and contributions of AAPI communities in the United States.
Blackburne will draw on her book Bing's Cherries, a modern Chinese American tall tale inspired by Ah Bing, a real Chinese immigrant who helped cultivate the beloved cherry variety in Oregon. The book serves as a jumping-off point for thinking about what stories can do in the classroom, especially in settings like weekend Chinese school where time is short and the stakes feel high.
The session will be delivered in both English and Mandarin!
At the heart of the session is a simple but powerful idea: when students have the chance to tell their own stories, something shifts. They find words for experiences they've never quite named. They build confidence. They connect what they're learning to who they actually are. Blackburne will share strategies for helping students reflect on their lives and express those reflections with specificity and emotional honesty.
The conversation then moves outward from personal stories to family stories, community histories, and the cultural narratives that shape how we see the world. How do those bigger stories get made? Who gets included, and who gets left out? Blackburne will explore how helping students understand how stories form, not just what they say, can open up real critical thinking and cultural inquiry. For heritage language classrooms in particular, this kind of integration, where language instruction and cultural understanding happen in the same lesson, can be genuinely transformative.
The session closes with a look at myth: not ancient mythology specifically, but the collective imagination that communities use to envision what's possible. Teachers will leave with concrete, classroom-ready activities that help students research underrepresented histories, write their own cultural and family stories, and imagine futures that reflect who they are and where they come from.
The first 25 registered K–12 educators will receive a free copy of Bing's Cherries, a beautifully illustrated book designed for classroom use. This program is sponsored by the USC U.S.-China Institute and the National Consortium for Teaching about Asia.
👉 Register here
4:00-4:20pm - Opening
4:20-4:55pm - Presentation by Livia Blackburne
4:55-5:15pm - Q & A - Discussion Groups
5:15-5:30pm - Closing with the resources package
Featured Speaker: 
New York Times bestselling author Livia Blackburne wrote her first novel while researching the neuroscience of reading at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Since then, she’s switched to full-time writing, which also involves getting into people’s heads but without the help of a three tesla MRI scanner. Her YA books include Rosemarked (A YALSA Teens Top Ten Nominee), Disney’s Feather and Flame, and Clementine and Danny Save the World (And Each Other) (A Junior Library Guild selection) as well as the picture books Dreams to Ashes (An Orbis Pictus Honor Book) and I Dream of Popo, which received three starred reviews and was on numerous Best of Year lists. She is Chinese American and lives in southern California with her husband and daughter.