Ginnie Lo Biography

(Virginia M. Lo)

Personal

Born 1983. Hobbies and other interests: Origami, mahjong, ethnic music, foreign films, bicycling, hiking, soccer.

Addresses

Office—Department of Computer and Information Science, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403-1202.

Career

Educator. University of Oregon, Eugene, assistant professor, then associate professor of computer and information science, 1985–.

A collaboration between Lo and her sister, artist Beth Lo, Mahjong All Day Long follows a family tradition of gathering together to play a popular Chinese game while younger family members keep busy and good food is served.

Writings

Mahjong All Day Long, illustrations by Beth Lo, Walker & Co. (New York, NY), 2005.

Also author of technical papers. Contributor to professional journals, including Network Journal, IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems, and Journal of Telecommunication Systems.

Sidelights

Ginnie Lo took time out from her job as associate professor of computer and information science at the University of Oregon to collaborate with her sister, ceramicist and educator Beth Lo, on a children's book. In Mahjong All Day Long Lo draws on memories from her childhood to create the story of a Chinese-American family enjoying an all-day game of mahjong. Her text, paired with Beth Lo's illustrations created by staining and glazing images onto porcelain plates, finds the elders in the family intent on their game while JieJie and her little brother watch. Not understanding the game, the children toy with the set-aside mahjong tiles, but as the years pass they grow older and come to understand the game, ultimately sharing it with their own children. A Kirkus Reviews critic commented that Beth Lo's use of "alternating red and black pages" creates a book that is "visually arresting," and noted Lo's inclusion of several Chinese words and their meanings. In Booklist Jennifer Mattson maintained that the Lo sisters' work, while less sophisticated than some picture-book efforts, "speaks directly to kids," and praised the work for its usefulness in school classrooms and its "intergenerational themes." Josephine Bridges noted in the Asian Reporter that "early readers and their grown-ups can share this story whether or not they play mahjong."