Clear and Bright A Ching Ming Festival Story

In this story about the Ching Ming Festival, or Tomb-Sweeping Day, a young girl and her Chinese-American family come together to share memories of the past over a delicious feast.

In the spring, Lily and her relatives gather for the Ching Ming Festival to honor their beloved ancestors. The day is full of joy and community, but also reverence and remembrance. As Lily zips between playing Chinese checkers with her cousin and helping her grandparents prepare a delicious meal for the family, a second narrative unfolds to reveal the sacrifices her great-great-grandpa had to make to settle in America. 

Both a tale honoring the efforts of the first Chinese American immigrants and a story of a family coming together, Clear and Bright is a celebration of Chinese heritage, cultural tradition, and the ancestral love that spans generations.

Teresa M. Robeson is the author of award-winning Queen of Physics and Two Bicycles in Beijing. She was born in Hong Kong, raised in Vancouver, and is currently based in southern Indiana. Clear and Bright won the Silver Prize in the 2020-2021 Astra International Picture Book Writing Contest.

William Low is an award-winning landscape painter and children’s book illustrator originally from the Bronx, NY. He has illustrated many picture books, including The Sinking of the Vasa, Chinatown, and the New York Times Best Illustrated Book Old Penn Station. He also teaches at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City.