Top 40 Jenny Han Quotes

It’s important for Asian American kids to see themselves in stories and to feel seen. They need to know that their stories are universal, too, that they, too, can fall in love in a teen movie. They don’t have to be the sidekick; they can be the hero.

I think, generally, romantic stories end with people together. But I’d like a story that ends, like, hopefully but not necessarily neatly.

I always think about race as a part of one’s identity, not the whole of one’s identity. You don’t want it to be the defining characteristic of a character. There has to be more.

I think most girls have that moment when boys they’ve known their whole life see them in a different way.

I write diverse books because the world we live in is diverse, and I want my books to reflect that truth.

There’s something so delicious about holding onto a secret; it’s something just for you.

Sometimes readers want some escapist fun, to get lost in the story. But light-hearted romantic stories can and should star all kinds of girls.

Even as a full-grown adult, it can still feel destabilizing when your family goes through changes.

I think that, oftentimes, what people say is, ‘We need an actress who’ll be able to greenlight a movie,’ and my counterargument to that is always that, when it comes to a teen movie, you have very few people who can greenlight a movie.

It’s far too rare an experience for Asian American girls to see themselves in media.

My sister is my very favorite person, and I dedicated ‘To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before’ to her.

Sometimes you don’t know what a book is about until you are finished with it and you’re talking about it.

It’s fairly common to get something optioned but really rare to actually see it become a movie.

I like to read non-fiction on my e-reader, but as for fiction, I usually like to have a copy to keep at home.

When I sold my first middle-grade novel in 2005, it wasn’t that common to put an author photo on the back flap, but 24-year-old Korean-American me insisted. I wanted Asian girls to see my face. And more than that, I wanted them to see what is possible.

When you write something by hand, there’s a sort of intimacy that is just intrinsic to that act. You don’t get to delete something in the same way, where it’s like it was never there.

College applications are such a huge part of senior year, yet often times you never see characters in books actually do work.

When I finished ‘P.S. I Still Love You,’ I truly was done with the series. I kept saying the books were two halves of a heart. But I suppose time and space had made me nostalgic, because my mind kept drifting back to Lara Jean and Peter, wondering what they were up to.

When you handwrite something, you’re writing your most raw, pure thoughts. If you want to change it, then you have to mark it out, and people can see you laboring over that thought. I think even the act of hand, pen, and paper is much more intimate than with a computer screen.

I try to be measured and thoughtful about what I put out there because I know a lot of young people follow me on Twitter, and I take that seriously – which is why I don’t exclusively tweet about cookies and ‘Game of Thrones’ and YA.

A tweet in an article can feel more permanent and louder than a tweet on Twitter.

The most joyful part of writing, for me, is when I am 90% there, and suddenly the story clicks into place, and things finally start to make sense.

‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’ is about how, as a young woman, everyone gets that moment of being in bloom, but nobody really appreciates it.

I always know what time it is.

I think that if a writer doesn’t use her voice, be it in her writing or online or in real life, then what is the point of having one?

I don’t think kids of color should have to search far and wide to find books that reflect their experience.

I don’t think you ever love anything as passionately as you do when you’re a teen. You remember the books you read as a young person your whole life. I feel so lucky to write for young adults.

My name is Jennifer, and when I first went to school, my kindergarten teacher called me Jenny, and from then on, I was Jenny.

The American girl doesn’t look just one kind of way – not in 2018, not ever.

Food is a way to explore culture and ground the story in a specific time and place. I still remember the meals and snacks from my first novel, ‘Shug’: pork chops and applesauce and Coca-Cola and peanuts, which are very Southern. When a character has roots elsewhere, food is a way to connect with home and another culture.

The feedback for ‘P.S. I Still Love You’ has been pretty amazing. To have written this story about this family with Asian-American characters and be so embraced is really incredible for me as a writer as well as a person of color.

I think that sometimes we put undue pressure on stories featuring people of color, and I hope we get to a point where it’s not such a rarity to see a person of color be the hero of a story, so that it can just be a story and not have to carry so much weight.

I really love to write about food, crafts, and fashion, so those details will always be a part of my books. I think they inject stories with color and flavor, providing a tactile experience.

The books you read as a young person are books that stay with you forever. I think that is the biggest privilege of writing for young people. You feel like you can help shape somebody.

My whole life, as an adult as well, I’ve been attracted to stories about young people. This period of time is so fertile – there’s a million things that are happening, a million firsts, and to be able to witness that and record that is a privilege.

Every choice leads you somewhere, but it might not be where you truly want to be if the decision is based on someone else. It could lead to regrets and what-ifs, but that doesn’t mean you wouldn’t still have valuable experiences.

We learn so much about the world by what we take in through movies and TV and books – we learn who’s worthy of having their story told.

Just like Lara Jean in my book ‘To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before,’ I used to write letters to boys I was in love with – letters full of emotion and longing and also recrimination – but they were for my eyes only.

I might just be the luckiest girl ever.

Teenage years are all about crushes: crushes so deep you wanted to inhabit the other person, be inside their skin, see the world through their eyes.