12 Quick Questions for John Cho

Why did you choose to write a book for that age group?Twelve is at an age when I was moving around quite a bit, and I felt like I was a new kid in school every six months. The constant in my life was books. I relied on them very heavily to combat loneliness and feel that there was some kind of stability in my life. I never really saw someone that looked like myself on the cover of those books that I was reading. I thought it would be just a little Christmas gift for a 12-year-old me.

What’s the first book you fell in love with?The first book that meant a lot to me personally was Little House on the Prairie. I very, very clearly saw my own family, who are immigrants, in the Ingalls family that were traveling all over America alone. So I drew very conscious parallels between my family and theirs. I think that was the first series of books that meant a lot to me personally.

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Do you remember what it felt like to immigrate to the U.S. at age 6?
It’s a curious experience to immigrate as a kid, because on the one hand you’re very adaptable, and on the other, you’re not emotionally developed enough to know, to admit, that things are difficult. So certain things seem easy to you because, for instance, you can get the language easier than your parents. But on the other hand … you’re unable to identify things that make you feel unstable, and things that are emotionally difficult can sort of slip right past you until many years later. It’s a mixed bag. In some ways I’m still kind of figuring it out — what that experience was and how it defined my life.

Is there an important life lesson, then, that you want to teach your own kids?
I don’t know that I consciously teach my kids [ages 10 and 15] a lot of stuff. The thing that I try to do most with them is to make them feel loved and safe, and then we’ll go from there. But In terms of what immigration has taught me, I think the lesson of immigration for me — and maybe I do teach it to my kids — is probably [that] you have to empathize with all human beings. You don’t know what their lives have been like up until the point you meet them.

Are we ever going to see Harold and Kumar back together again?
That would please me. I don’t know. I’m not aware of any solid plans, but we talk about it from time to time, and if there’s an opportunity, perhaps. I think some of the rights issues are a little thorny, but the creators and Kal [Penn] and I are keen. We’d love to do one. It would be real fun to do one after all these years, as we’re almost AARP members ourselves.

Cho and Kal Penn starred in the 2004 comedy, “Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle.”

New Line/Everett Collection

You’re actually already eligible for AARP membership. Speaking of, did you have a big celebration last year for your 50th?
I forget, sometimes [that] I’m 51 this year. In our house, all birthdays are kid birthdays. It’s all cakes for them and whatever they want to eat and handmade cards. It’s my favorite.

Do you think about aging, and does it give you pause?
Sure. In some ways, this age is a very strange place to be when you have kids and aging parents. You’re taking care of both sides of your family. Raising the kids, you’re seeing the beginning of one life, and closer to the end on the other end. So, yes, you’re in a position where you’re forced to reflect on your body and other bodies and also spirits and also the longevity of life, of spirit. I have all the thoughts, all the time, because you’re forced to. Being this age, you’re seeing it all and you’re in the nexus of all these lives.

What do you do to relax and feel grounded?
If I’m feeling anxious — it almost always does something for me in a good way — is to go outside, feel the wind, look at the trees … It sounds so simple, but it works for me. Everyone, if you have a park near your house, go to the park and spend half an hour there. It’ll do you good.