Journalist, Author & Syndicated Columnist
Born in Sao Paulo to Korean parents, author Samuel Park is a dual citizen of Brazil and the United States. “I left Brazil at age 14 (for Los Angeles), so my Portuguese is pretty fluent, even though I don’t have any Portuguese-speaking friends,” says Park, 36. “But I watch Brazilian soaps obsessively every day! So I can understand the language as well as I did 20 years ago. My Korean, incidentally, is quite weak, and much worse than my Portuguese.”
For children’s author Ginger Rue, the best trips are the ones where she can spend time with her two young children. Based in Northport, Ala., Rue, 39, says the best vacation memory she has is of “seeing the unadulterated joy on my daughters’ faces when we took them to Disney World. I’ll always treasure that.” As for the worst? “When my younger daughter got a stomach bug during a car trip to Dallas,” she recalls. Rue’s latest book “Jump” (Tricycle Press, $15.99) chronicles the life of a high school Mean Girl who develops some empathy when she unexpectedly jumps into the bodies of some of the kids she has bullied. “Jump” hits stores on Sept. 14.