Tuesday, May 12, 2026

Frozen Creator and Pasadena-Trained Illustrator Bring New Graphic Novel to Vroman’s

Jennifer Lee and LeUyen Pham discuss and sign As I Dream of You tonight, joined by Eisner-winning collaborator Gene Luen Yang

LeUyen Pham arrived in Pasadena decades ago as a young art student from Southern California, a scholarship winner at Art Center College of Design with 140 published books still ahead of her. Tonight she returns to the city where her career began — this time alongside the woman who wrote Frozen.

Pham and Jennifer Lee, the Academy Award-winning writer and director of Disney’s Frozen and Frozen 2, will discuss and sign their new young adult graphic novel, As I Dream of You, at Vroman’s Bookstore at 7 p.m. The conversation will be moderated by Gene Luen Yang, the MacArthur Fellow and National Book Award finalist who previously collaborated with Pham on the three-time Eisner Award-winning Lunar New Year Love Story.

The book, published May 5 by First Second Books, marks Lee’s first graphic novel. It tells the story of two teenagers, Franny and Sam, whose love is tested when a shocking accident blurs the boundary between life and death. Through lucid dreaming, the couple tries to hold on to each other — but the dream world carries its own costs.

Lee, who served as chief creative officer of Walt Disney Animation Studios from 2018 to 2024, has called the story her most personal work. “It is the most personal story I’ve written, inspired by my own experience as a young woman when the power of love and the shock of loss intertwined,” she said in a statement to People magazine. “I wanted the journey of As I Dream of You to be as visceral and real as every moment felt.”

Pham, who was born in Vietnam and fled with her family during the final days of the Vietnam War, grew up in Southern California before attending UCLA and then Art Center in Pasadena. She has illustrated more than 140 books for children and teens, including the Caldecott Honor book Bear Came Along. She described the project in a statement as defying easy categorization. “When the script for As I Dream of You showed up on my desk, I hadn’t known what to expect,” she said. “A romance? A supernatural thriller? A coming-of-age story? A heartbreaker? All of this — all of this and more.”

The book has received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, School Library Journal, and The Horn Book Magazine. Kirkus called it a striking and affecting exploration of love, loss, and the willingness to let go, according to the review.

Yang, who was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, brings his own deep connection to the graphic novel form and to Pham’s work. His American Born Chinese was the first graphic novel to win the American Library Association’s Printz Award. He and Pham won three Eisner Awards in 2025 for Lunar New Year Love Story, including Best Graphic Album—New and Best Publication for Teens. All three creators publish with First Second Books, an imprint of Macmillan.

The event is open to the public with RSVP at vromansbookstore.com. The hardcover edition of As I Dream of You is $27.99, and the paperback is $19.99. A purchase of the book from Vroman’s supports the store’s events programming, according to the event listing.

Vroman’s Bookstore, founded in 1894, is the oldest and largest independent bookstore in Southern California and hosts more than 400 free community events a year, according to the store. The bookstore is located at 695 E. Colorado Blvd. For information, call (626) 449-5320.

Pham’s last visit to a Pasadena stage carried different stakes — a scholarship interview that changed the course of her life. Tonight, the stakes are a story about what love costs and what it means to let go. The art she learned to make in this city is the art that tells it.