A Dragon's Guide

Joanne Ryder has her own ties to Laura Ingalls Wilder. She helped edit West from Home: Letters of Laura Ingalls Wilder, San Francisco, 1915. Already in love with the city, Ingalls’s letters introduced Ryder to the 1915 San Francisco World’s Fair, providing the perfect backdrop for Winnie and Miss Drake’s adventures. In her storied career, Ryder has published more than seventy books and received numerous awards for her nature writing and poetry.

"I was born in San Francisco's Chinatown in 1948, but grew up in a black neighborhood. During elementary and middle school, I commuted to a bilingual school in Chinatown. So I did not confront white American culture until high school. Approaching that culture as an outsider, I have been fascinated by all its aspects — from its great novels to its children's literature, comic art, and science fiction. Thus, I am able to pursue the figure of the 'stranger' both in my studies and my writing.

"While I was in high school, I discovered and began writing science fiction. At 18, my first short story was published — I was paid a penny a word by a science fiction magazine.…