"John Quinn's recollections and dramatic drawings create a portrait in text and line of a surprising urban wetlands. A valuable edition to volumes on New Jersey". -- Anne Galli, Director of Environmental Education, Hackensack Meadowlands Development Commission.
From backpack to bicycle and now on a motorcycle, but still on a budget, the author, a compulsive traveller, embarks on a journey East from England with Mongolian intentions. In possession of a good sense of direction, a vague sense of balance and no sense of proportion; this particular trip is financed by modest winnings from an uncharacteristic appearance on a TV game show. Riding a bargain eBay purchase Kawasaki KLR 650 and travelling solo into places beyond the guide book. A daily diary of achievements and mistakes incurred in a transient lifestyle, with mixed emotions from overawed to just plain bored, and making the best of decisions made while trying not to reflect on the alternatives. This is a refreshingly honest, thought provoking, humorous and informative account based on a lifetime of first hand encounters, anecdotes, wisdom and occasional alcohol induced inspiration. Offering an unavoidable wealth of experience which takes the reader with him, as the journey twists and turns on the road which the author hopes will lead him to greener grass.
Building on the success of the Journey Prize-shortlisted title story, the stories of How Does a Single Blade of Grass Thank the Sun? present an updated and whimsical new take on what it means to be Canadian. Lau alludes to the personal and political histories of a number of young Asian Canadian characters to explain their unique perspectives of the world, artfully fusing pure delusion and abstract perception with heartbreaking reality. Correspondingly, the book’s title refers to an interview with Chinese basketball star Yao Ming, who when asked about the Shanghai Sharks, the team that shaped his formative sporting years, responded, “How does a single blade of grass thank the sun?” Lau’s stories feature the children and grandchildren of immigrants, transnational adoptees and multiracial adults who came of age in the 1990s—all struggling to find a place in the Western world and using the only language they know to express their hopes, fears and expectations.