Celia’s Robot, a mix of science fiction, reality, and pure imagination, follows the story of 10-year-old Celia, whose busy parents give her a robot to help her clean her room and organize her life. The playful concept stemmed from Margaret Chang’s own experiences as a mother with a demanding professional career, and her desire to entertain and educate children and adults dealing with a similar situation.
Chang tells us: “When I wrote a story about parents who were not paying enough attention to their daughter, I wanted them both to have careers that were real passions. Dad had to be a computer scientist so he could make the Robot. I made Mom a musician, not a career you can set aside, return to, or retool, but a passion, and one in clear conflict with taking the time to raise a child.”
In the years after graduating from Scripps College, Chang earned a master’s degree in library science, worked as a college reference librarian and private school librarian, and wrote several children’s books with her husband, Raymond, all while raising a daughter and keeping house. Similar to the characters in her latest book, Chang pursued her passions in career and family, and did her best to maintain the balance; inevitably, she found this difficult.
She gives an example: “My husband came home from Williams College commencement years ago to tell me about an inspiring speech given by Neil Simon, the playwright. ‘Follow your passion,’ Simon told the graduates. Feeling that my passions—writing and raising a daughter—were sometimes mutually exclusive, I answered, ‘But what if your passions conflict?'”
This question has been integral to Chang’s life, and she says that she has not always maintained an equal balance of the worlds of family and career. Through her continued desire to strike equilibrium, she has found they need not be mutually exclusive.
While studying at the Center for the Study of Children’s Literature at Simmons College in Boston to earn her graduate degree, Chang’s balancing act was impressive:
“I reminded myself of priorities: my family’s health and mine came before coursework, coursework came before library work and housework.” Despite the hectic schedule, however, during this time, Chang describes herself as “happier than I’d been in many years, full of energy, and quite disciplined.”
It seems the pursuit of many passions at once allowed her to feel fulfilled and motivated her in all aspects of her life. “Of course, I felt conflicted,” she says, “and there were many times I felt I could have done more for my daughter, many times I resented the constraints motherhood put on my freedom. But overall, my daughter was my first priority. I created Ingrid and Alex Chow, the parents in Celia’s Robot, out of my conflict and resentment. As they pursue their passions, they forget their daughter’s needs—until they almost lose her. Though they both change their focus, Ingrid actually changes her work by giving up touring with a quartet to play in a community orchestra. I gave her enough wiggle room so it wasn’t an absolute either/or change.”
Chang’s desire for exploration never left her, and in 1990 she discovered yet another career passion: teaching children’s literature to undergraduate and graduate students, an avenue that she found to be incredibly fulfilling. “I really loved being immersed in
the world of children’s literature and sharing that world with students.” Throughout her life, Margaret remained open to new experiences and new ways in which to share her passions with those around her.
She additionally co-authored multiple books with her husband, converging aspects of her professional and family life by doing so. She has also learned to incorporate her personal battles into her written pieces. “I decided to write about the family I knew, a wife and husband of different races, each with an absorbing career, raising a biracial child in a community with very few Asians.”
Celia’s Robot directly confronts the difficulties that families face in the working world, but maintains a playfulness and curiosity about the subject that reminds us all to keep an open mind and an optimistic spirit. And although we cannot all have robots to help us clean our rooms and make the balance easier, the story Chang tells reminds us to keep a light spirit, a sense of humor, and seek innovative tools for balancing our worlds.