Chinese-American author Eva Chen urges kids to celebrate who they are in her new children’s book from

Eva Chen used her own experiences with racism as a child to write I Am Golden, a children’s book celebrating self-worth

She wants the book to spark conversations between parents and children and to encourage kids to see themselves as ‘good enough’ for being who they are

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I Am Golden, a new children’s story by Eva Chen, encourages children to celebrate who they are and where they come from.

Published: 4:15am, 3 Feb 2022Updated: 5:30am, 3 Feb 2022

Eva Chen’s three children, with their colourful outfits and big personalities, are the highlights of her Instagram account.

Family is important to Chen – a fashion editor turned Instagram fashion partnerships director and children’s book author – and they are the subject of her new book, I Am Golden.

Through Mei, a young girl learning to love herself at the centre of the story, Chen emphasises that who you are and where you come from is something to be celebrated, not just tolerated.

“People talk a lot about self-acceptance and self-awareness. And I always felt like, for kids, that was such a neutral term, when really what we want kids to do is celebrate self-love and celebrate who they are,” Chen says.

Eva Chen at the 2021 CFDA Fashion Awards in New York. Photo: Getty Images

Chen wants joyfulness to leap off the pages, which feature beautiful illustrations of Mei on her journey by Sophie Diao. She points to a moment where Mei is riding on a dragon “feeling uplifted and that she’s leaving behind all of that negativity to embrace who she is”.