Drawing Snakes and Adding Legs and Other Stories: Ancient Wisdom for Modern Children

By Hannah Ong Haskell

In this series of 16 short stories, you are invited to listen to the conversations between brothers Luke and Charlie, their grandmother who they fondly call Amah, and their Ma and Pa. Join Luke and Charlie at their dinner table, follow them into their living room, and into their bedroom at bedtime. Enjoy learning Chinese idioms and proverbs with them and read how ancient wisdom is woven seamlessly into the fabric of a modern family; bringing this three-generation bi-racial family closer together. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Outskirts Press
• Release date: Dec 16, 2023
• ISBN: 9781977271303

Hannah Ong Haskell

As a first-generation Chinese born overseas, Hannah Ong Haskell still feels close affinity for her roots. Growing up with Chinese history, legends, and fables, these stories kept her connected to her heritage. But that is no longer the case for the generations after her; the books she grew up with are long gone. Seeking to create a connection to their Chinese roots for her grandchildren, grandnephews, and grandnieces, Haskell wrote these 16 short episodic stories in the life of a modern family. In each vignette, Haskell weaves in a cheng yu (‮&(‬语), a traditional Chinese idiomatic expression, a legend or a fable that relates to a life lesson in modern times. The author does so without ever being pedantic. It is her hope that generations after her will enjoy these short stories and connect with their rich heritage and keep it alive. And because ancient wisdom is timeless, and stories are universal, it is also the author’s hope that this collection of short stories will be of interest and delight to children of other cultures and traditions. The author currently resides in Portland, Oregon, with her husband and orange cat.

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Drawing Snakes and Adding Legs and Other Stories

Ancient Wisdom for Modern Children

All Rights Reserved.

Copyright © 2024 Hannah Ong Haskell

v2.0

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

The opinions expressed in this manuscript are solely the opinions of the author and do not represent the opinions or thoughts of the publisher. The author has represented and warranted full ownership and/or legal right to publish all the materials in this book.

This book may not be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in whole or in part by any means, including graphic, electronic, or mechanical without the express written consent of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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Cover Illustration by: Lena J. Rappaport. All rights reserved - used with permission.

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PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Dedication

To my grandchildren

Joel, Annie, and James

And to my grandnephews and grandnieces

Bella, Jana, Martin, Eli,

Gideon, Camille, Dave, Dean, Darrell, Neal, Glen, Nick,

Sam, Sidney, Szymour,

Matthew, Kai,

Rafa, Reanna, Zach, Samantha, Cameron,

Maddie, Emma, Bailey, Christopher,

Ethan, Havii,

Lena, Jonah, Lexi, Kyan,

and Lucas

Yin shui si yuan

When drinking water, think of its source.

Acknowledgement

No book is the work of one person. I am deeply grateful to my friends at the Pacific Wonderland Poets (Beaverton, Oregon) for their feedback in helping me finetune this series of short stories.

Amanda Giles, thank you for field-testing the stories with your students.

Randa Cleaves Abramson, thank you for carefully and graciously editing my work. Not even one punctuation went unnoticed.

Special thanks go to my niece, Lynnette Li-Rapaport, for setting up a Go-Fund-Me account that made this book you are holding in your hands a reality. And for her zany out of the box suggestions that made this a unique, one-of-a-kind children’s book, illustrated by various artists from our own family and friends.

I don’t have words to express my deep gratitude to all the Go-Fund-Me generous donors for your faith in me and this work without so much as seeing it. I am not even personally acquainted with most of you, but I give you my sincere thanks.

Author’s Note

These sixteen short stories took less than half a year to write. But they are more than sixty years in the making. My parents are long gone, but I want to thank them for surrounding me with Chinese children’s books when I was growing up. Histories, fables, contemporary stories – they were my constant childhood companions. My love for stories was further nurtured by our father telling us stories of warriors and heroes from ancient China – on evenings when the electrical power was