More About Tina Cho (She/Her)
Languages: English
Tina Cho is a Korean American kindergarten teacher by day and an award winning author by night and weekends. She’s represented by Adria Goetz of KT Literary.
Tina writes both fiction and nonfiction picture books as well as middle grade novels and the occasional work-for-hire. Most of her books showcase her passion of writing diverse stories and/or faith-based stories so that kids can see themselves in books.
She’s a member of SCBWI, writes for The Grog Blog writing blog, and is a member of Kidlit for Growing Minds, a nonfiction group of authors. After living in South Korea for 10 years, Tina, her husband, and two kids moved to Iowa during the pandemic. When she’s not teaching or writing, Tina likes to read, play piano, and watch K-dramas on Netflix.
You can find Tina online at:
Tina’s strengths are…
Tina’s strengths include the craft of story both fiction and nonfiction, analyzing the big picture and themes, character development, sentence structure, using poetic devices, adding in cultural details in a seamless way, and looking at manuscripts from a teacher and student’s perspectives.
Tina can help with revising and line editing and is great with grammar.
What Tina is looking for…
Tina is looking for a mentee who is serious about working on the craft of writing, someone who can take advice and constructive criticism well and work hard.
She's especially looking for someone who writes diverse stories, loves children, and wants to make a difference in the publishing world.
A Note from Tina:
“I hope you'll think of yourself as a writer/author, put in the hard work and effort to learn the craft and business of writing as well as have fun and enjoy your passion. I can't wait to read your polished manuscript as well as learn more about you, to see if we'll be a good fit. Thank you for considering me as a mentor!”
Tina’s Picture Books
Tina writes in other markets. To view her full catalog, please visit her website.
RICE FROM HEAVEN: THE SECRET MISSION TO FEED NORTH KOREANS, written by Tina Cho and illustrated by Keum Jin Song (Little Bee Books 2018)
MY BREAKFAST WITH JESUS: WORSHIPPING GOD AROUND THE WORLD, written by Tina Cho and illustrated by Guy Wolek (Harvest House 2020)
KOREAN CELEBRATIONS: FESTIVALS, HOLIDAYS, AND TRADITIONS, written by Tina Cho and illustrated by Farida Zaman (Tuttle 2019)
THE OCEAN CALLS: A HAENYEO MERMAID STORY, written by Tina Cho and illustrated by Jess X. Snow (Kokila/Penguin Random House 2020)
* JLG Gold Standard Selection
* 4 starred reviews from Kirkus, SLJ, Booklist, & PW
* Freeman Book Award Honorable Mention
* Selected to be in Pottery Barn’s Conscious Kids Diversity bundle of books
Tina’s Upcoming Picture Books
GOD’S LITTLE ASTRONOMER, written by Tina Cho and illustrated by Marta Álvarez Miguéns (PRH Waterbrook 2/20/2024)
AND a second book in the series, GOD’S LITTLE OCEANOGRAPHER (PRH Waterbrook 2025)
If Tina created a Visual Wish List, it would be made up of…
*Unless otherwise stated, the below serves as a wish list only. Each mentor is excited about the opportunity to find a manuscript they can’t stop thinking about. Please apply if you think you’d be a good fit.
Diverse and creative stories like…
I WANT TO BE SPAGHETTI, written by Kiera Wright-Ruiz and illustrated by Claudia Lam
LULI AND THE LANGUAGE OF TEA, written by Andrea Wang and illustrated by Hyewon Yum
THE TRAIN HOME by Dan-ah Kim
TWELVE DINGING DOORBELLS: AN EVERY-HOLIDAY CAROL, written by Tameka Fryer-Brown and illustrated by Ebony Glenn
FEDERICO AND THE WOLF, written by Rebecca J. Gomez and illustrated by Elisa Chavarri
Great characters like in…
ALWAYS ANJALI, written by Sheetal Sheth and illustrated by Jessica Blank
AMY WU AND THE PATCHWORK DRAGON, written by Kat Zhang and illustrated by Charlene Chua
STACEY’S REMARKABLE BOOKS, written by Stacey Abrams and illustrated by Kitt Thomas
Lyrical language like…
EYE’S THAT WEAVE THE WORLD’S WONDERS, written by Joanna Ho with Liz Kleinrock, and illustrated by Dung Ho
WATERCRESS, written by Andrea Wang and illustrated by Jason Chin
OWL MOON, written by Jane Yolen and illustrated by John Schoenherr
Heartfelt stories like…
WORDS TO MAKE A FRIEND: A STORY IN JAPANESE AND ENGLISH by Donna Jo Napoli and Naoko Stoop
GRANDPA’S SCROLL, written by Ginger Park and Frances Park, and illustrated by Kim Dong Hoong
HOW WE SAY I LOVE YOU, written by Nicole Chen and illustrated by Lenny Wen
HAIR LOVE, written by Matthew A. Cherry and illustrated by Vashti Harrison
Nonfiction stories like…
FUAJA SINGH KEEPS GOING: THE TRUE STORY OF THE OLDEST PERSON TO EVER RUN A MARATHON, written by Simran Jeet Singh and illustrated by Baljinder Kaur
FOOTPRINTS ACROSS THE PLANET by Jennifer Swanson
GOODNIGHT RACISM, written by Ibram X. Kendi and illustrated by Cbabi Bayoc
MY PIANO, written by Jen Fier Jasinski and illustrated by Anita Bagdi
Faith-based stories like…
I KNOW I AM, written by Dorena Williamson and illustrated by Dana Sanmar
LITTLE MOLE FINDS HOPE, written by Glenys Nellist and illustrated by Sally Garland
SOMETHING: ONE SMALL THING CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE, written by Natalee Creech and illustrated by Pablo Pino
Tina is a good fit for…
Fiction stories
Nonfiction stories
Diverse stories
Faith-based stories
Lyrical stories
Heartfelt stories
Tina is not a good fit for…
Rhyming stories
Animal Characters
Stories including death
Who can apply to Tina? BIPOC, Unagented AND Agented authors only.
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