Author Michele Wong McSween is here for AAPIHM to discuss her children’s book series, Gordon & Li Li, the challenges of trying to learn Mandarin later in life, and reconnecting to her culture.
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More about Michele Wong McSween
She’s a former fashion designer and creator of Gordon & Li Li. She is a native Californian, but has lived in New York City for the past 26 years and currently lives in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
Growing up as a fourth generation Chinese-American, Michele never learned to speak Chinese, so making sure her own boys were exposed to the language and culture became a priority for her.
After enrolling them in early-learning Mandarin classes, Michele looked for first word Mandarin books that were easy to read, engaging, modern, and most importantly, were books that they’d want to cuddle up with at bedtime.
When Michele realized what she wanted didn’t exist, she created Gordon & Li Li to introduce her children to the joy of learning Mandarin Chinese and to foster a deep appreciation for their heritage and culture.
More about Gordon & Li Li
Michele created Gordon & Li Li, two panda cousins, Gordon (from Brooklyn, NY) and Li Li (from Beijing, China), who learn basic Chinese and English words, building their bilingual vocabulary. The books streamline the learning process through the utilization of colorful, engaging imagery with the words written in English, pinyin, Chinese characters, and phonetic Mandarin pronunciations, making learning fun and approachable for any child/family who wants to open the door to second language education.
Michele self-published her first three books, Gordon & Li Li: Words for Everyday (2008), Gordon & Li Li: Count in Mandarin (2010), and Gordon & Li Li: Learn Animals in Mandarin (2010). In 2017, Scholastic, Inc. acquired these titles and released them under the title: My First Mandarin Words with Gordon & Li Li (2018), earning the #1 spot over multiple years on Amazon for Children’s Chinese Language Books. The Gordon & Li Li franchise continues to grow, introducing additional books to the series, including Gordon & Li Li: Colors in Mandarin, Gordon & Li Li Celebrate the Chinese New Year (2nd Edition), as well as two coloring/activity books, Learn Animals in Mandarin and Celebrate Chinese New Year.
The latest installment to Michele’s series of books is, Gordon & Li Li: All About Me (2025), which teaches basic anatomy terms, continuing the journey of early education.
This also sparked the idea for an educational app: Gordon & Li Li: Learn Animals in Mandarin, in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.
You can find her books at https://gordonandlili.com/
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