Grace Lin — Teacher's Choice Author 2026

Grace Lin is one of roughly one hundred authors whose work was selected by the Montessori-certified teachers at Creative Minds Montessori for the 2026 Teacher’s Choice list — 120 books chosen across four reading stages, from first lap-reads to first chapter books. The selected book was chosen for how precisely it meets children at a real developmental moment. This recognition cannot be bought: no author or publisher paid to appear on our lists, and we take no commission on any book sale.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0

About Grace Lin

Grace Lin is a Newbery Honor winner (Where the Mountain Meets the Moon) and Caldecott Honor artist whose books braid Asian-American family life into every reading level; her TED talk on 'windows and mirrors' reshaped how classrooms build libraries.

Lin planned to illustrate fairy tales until she noticed no one in them looked like her; she rebuilt her career around the books she'd needed as a child, and Ling & Ting brought that mission to easy readers.

Also by this author: Where the Mountain Meets the Moon · A Big Mooncake for Little Star · Dim Sum for Everyone!

Official website: gracelin.com

Selected for the 2026 Teacher’s Choice list

Cover of Ling & Ting: Not Exactly the Same!

Ling & Ting: Not Exactly the Same! Read-to-Me, Read-by-Me · I Can Read This Myself

Part of The Best Children’s Books by Age, chosen by the teachers at Creative Minds Montessori in Frisco, TX.

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  <p style="margin:0;font-size:14.5px;line-height:1.55;color:#333;">The Montessori teachers at Creative Minds selected <em>Ling &amp; Ting: Not Exactly the Same!</em> for their 2026 Teacher&rsquo;s Choice list &mdash; <a href="https://creativemindsmontessori.com/resources/authors/grace-lin/" style="color:#66853a;font-weight:600;">read their review</a>.</p>
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<p>The Montessori teachers at <a href="https://creativemindsmontessori.com/resources/authors/grace-lin/">Creative Minds Montessori</a> selected <em>Ling &amp; Ting: Not Exactly the Same!</em> as one of their 120 Teacher&rsquo;s Choice books for 2026.</p>