I read about half of this book as part of a book group for The Equity Project at the college where I work.
Hong's pain and anger at dealing with her AsI read about half of this book as part of a book group for The Equity Project at the college where I work.
Hong's pain and anger at dealing with her Asian American identity in a racist culture were intense and left a big impression on me. The scene that stood out the most was the one in which she was accosted in public by a guy mocking her--her white friends focused much more on their own reactions than on supporting her.
It spoke volumes to me about the phenomenon of white guilt and hopefully taught me something about how to be a real ally if I witness a situation like that....more
Jason Chin's stunning and detailed watercolor illustrations perfectly complement Andrea Wang's text in this picture book ab2022 Caldecott Medal Winner
Jason Chin's stunning and detailed watercolor illustrations perfectly complement Andrea Wang's text in this picture book about fitting in, shame, loss, and understanding your family history.
A young girl feels disgusted and embarrassed when her family stops to pick watercress out of a ditch, but when she learns some of her mother's family history in China--their starvation and the loss of her mother's brother--she begins to connect with her family and feel pride in them.
I was impressed with how deep this story was for a picture book. Very emotional and beautifully done.
I especially loved the page where the girl begins to change her opinion: "I take a bite of the watercress and it bites me back with its spicy, peppery taste. It is delicate and slightly bitter, like Mom's memories of home." The left page shows the girl eating the watercress with a look of curiosity and openness on her face, while the right page shows her mother holding the picture of her family in both hands, absorbed in the weight of her memories.
(Although I read this book with my 2-year-old, it wasn't really her thing at this point. Older kids would understand it better.)...more
Lily Reeves moves from California with her mom and sister Sam to Sunbeam, a fictional town in Washington state, to live with 2021 Newbery Medal Winner
Lily Reeves moves from California with her mom and sister Sam to Sunbeam, a fictional town in Washington state, to live with her grandmother (whom she calls Halmoni, the Korean word for grandma). There, she starts seeing a tiger that no one else can see. Her Halmoni tells her stories from Korean folklore about tigers, and some stories that she says are true. Halmoni tells her never to trust them; however, it turns out that this tiger may know the only way to cure Halmoni of a fatal illness.
I liked the overall theme of this book--that stories are powerful and letting them out can be healing, in a sense--but the plot didn't really hook me and neither did the characters. Maybe I am not a fan of magical realism.
(view spoiler)[In the story, it turns out that the tiger Lily is seeing might literally be Halmoni's mother, who left her when she was young to work in the United States. All of this was pretty thick with metaphor. Lily doesn't want to be a "QAG" (Quiet Asian Girl) stereotype, and she finds her voice a bit more over the course of the book (i.e. becomes more tiger-ish).
Maybe because of that, it was hard to pick out exactly what the metaphor was for, though. Later on in the story (or was it in the author's note at the end? I can't remember), there are references to a story about how Tiger and Bear both wanted to become human, so the gods (or somebody) let Bear become a human woman as she fit the perfect self-sacrificial personality, whereas Tiger was too fierce.
It could be that it bugged me that the author only seems to lay out the possibility of two types of women--the "perfect," quiet stereotype who never speaks up for herself and the aggressive, fierce one who harms other people in the pursuit of her own interests (like Halmoni's mother, who abandoned her, or like Lily when she puts mud in her friend's pudding).
I guess maybe the metaphor itself is about how it's hard for women to find balance? I don't know.
It's possible I don't really "get" magical realism--I think it's an attempt to keep the reader questioning whether the magical elements are "really" happening or not, but I wanted to see more action from the tiger, or some kind of resolution between the tiger and Halmoni. If the theme is supposed to be that hearing stories is healing even when the person involved is not going to get better physically, then I wanted a bigger payoff where Halmoni told more about her actual life story and felt better emotionally or something.
This was also a hard story for me to hear because I lost my grandma whom I was close to seven years ago now, and it still hurts. I think I was hoping for some real magic in this story, like that even if it didn't save Halmoni's life, there might be some less subtle magic that was passed on to Lily or Sam. Maybe that was what the author intended with Sam's hair stripe and Lily getting Halmoni's necklace, but yeah, I just felt like there was something that fizzled.
It was kind of too much for me while they were with Halmoni dying in the hospital. I cried big time listening to that, but it didn't feel healing to me. Just left me depressed.
The ways in which Lily ran into the tiger didn't really work for me, either. Why would the tiger come to her trap just because she put it there? Magical realism probably doesn't need to be believable, but it took me out of the story that it was so convenient to contact the tiger. The metaphor of finding the tiger at the library later made sense, but also was way too convenient, other than having to break in.
Which leads me to the library. Maybe the Newbery committee liked it that a number of scenes had a library as the setting, but I felt like the library depicted was super lame, and as a librarian, it left me halfway between an eye-roll and an "ouch." The way the author described the library made it sound like it was well on its way to becoming irrelevant--just an old repository for books with a fusty old man librarian. The kids try to inject life into it by planning... a bake sale? Really? This town seriously needs to raise its taxes for libraries.
Like some other readers, I agree that Sam's lesbian relationship with Jensen from the library was tacked-on. It was obvious to me that the author was alluding to it earlier on in the story, but through Lily, at the end, we get clubbed over the head with the Big Reveal. It seems odd to me to try to be more inclusive to LGBT people by creating a super-forced revelation that OMG! Someone is gay! It might not have been obvious to Lily, but I think including the fact that Sam was interested in girls from the get-go would have been way less forced. Is Sam being gay part of the metaphor of her being tiger-ish (i.e. different) and having the white stripe in her hair? I don't know, but it felt like too much, too late in the book. (hide spoiler)]
The audiobook narrator was good, but Sam's nasal, condescending voice really bugged me, especially because my daughter's name is also Lily. So whenever Sam said, "Lily," I think my brain felt like a bratty teenager was accosting my toddler, lol.
Also, I don't speak Korean, but it really took me out of the story that the narrator pronounced "Halmoni" as "Harmony." There's even a part in the book where Lily is telling her friend that "It's not Harmony, it's 'Har-mo-ni.'" I could hear a difference in the stress in that scene, but not for most of the book. When I looked up the word on Forvo, an online pronunciation dictionary with native speakers, it sounded like the Korean "L" is a little bit more towards the English "R" sound than our "L" is, but it's definitely more like an "L" than an "R." Do Korean Americans pronounce "Halmoni" as "Harmony"? Someone more qualified than I am will have to comment on that, but for me it was a major distraction in the audiobook experience....more
Virgil Salinas isn't like the rest of his family. He's quiet where they're loud (they even call him "Turtle," which he hates)2018 Newbery Medal Winner
Virgil Salinas isn't like the rest of his family. He's quiet where they're loud (they even call him "Turtle," which he hates), he's artistic rather than athletic, and he loves animals whereas his mother won't think of letting certain ones (particularly dogs) in the house. He desperately wants to be able to talk to Valencia Somerset, a Deaf classmate, but he just can't figure out what to say. He goes to see a self-styled psychic his age, Kaori Tanaka, to try to find answers. Whenever he visits her, he takes a long way around to avoid walking past the home of the local bully, Chet Bullens.
The way that these characters' stories collide over the course of one day kept me turning pages (or... swiping, I guess). I could understand some reviewers' criticisms that the characters weren't very fleshed-out, but I don't think the characters in themselves were what made this book so good. I'm not sure those reviewers really got what the book is about.
For one thing, the book follows a classic hero's journey motif, almost to the letter in its case. Whether the author intended it or not, this formula fits thousands of cultural stories and, although it can be seen as cliche, it's become cliche because it absolutely works and people love it. Disney uses this formula on purpose because of how effective it is in plotting a good story--and they make billions of dollars because of it.
Virgil, with the same name as a Greek hero t'boot, gains supposedly supernatural aid from Kaori Tanaka, goes off on a neighborhood journey to seek her help again (with the bully as "threshold guardian," grandma as "mentor," etc.), literally falls into an abyss (in the form of a well), and carries his transformation and new spiritual knowledge back out with him. I loved it that the author accomplished this on such a small scale (a neighborhood) and over the course of a day.
It was also interesting to experience what was happening through four different viewpoint characters. The author deftly switched between them and wove together themes in the different characters' experiences so well, like when she foreshadowed Chet's snake bite by having Valencia consider what she knew about snakes. Since the timeline was so tight, I didn't feel like there was any wasted space in this book. Everything that the author mentioned had a purpose--nothing was a coincidence, which was one of the main themes of the book.
Ultimately, I think this book would appeal to those who like a good plot and also to spiritual seekers. I loved it that the author really respected the reader and her characters in this. She never told the reader what to believe about the Universe, God, etc., she just presented the story as a series of coincidences (or *were they*?? Lol) Valencia thought about God and prayed to a saint, Kaori believed she was the reincarnation of a couple of different people (although the author made all of that a little tongue-in-cheek in Kaori's case; she put a wry sense of humor into all of that), and Virgil had his grandma's stories to sustain him in the well.
I could find something to identify with in each of the characters' belief systems, even Kaori, whom I thought was a little wacky. I don't believe in the Zodiac, but there's a part of me that I think wants to a little bit, because I thought it was hilarious that Valencia was a Scorpio and Virgil was a Pisces--those are mine and my husband's signs and some of Kaori's comments definitely fit us too.
One little thing I noticed that tripped me up a bit was that Kaori's sister's name was Gen. I lived in Japan, and as far as I'm aware, Gen is a boy's name. But maybe it could have been short for something else, or her American family didn't care about gendered naming conventions in Japan. Who knows....more
I picked up this book for the Kindle after reading about it in the New York Times.
Lucy and Sam are Chinese-Americans (though they don't know where theI picked up this book for the Kindle after reading about it in the New York Times.
Lucy and Sam are Chinese-Americans (though they don't know where their family is from), who set out to bury their Ba's corpse after their Ma is already gone. They live in the American West during the time of the Gold Rush. The middle sections of the book deal with the events that led up to losing their mother, then how their parents met from their father's perspective, before concluding with what happens to Lucy and Sam five years after their father's burial.
(view spoiler)[There were a lot of surprises in this book surrounding the characters and I liked the structure of the book for that reason. It surprised me that Sam turned out to be a girl and that we gradually came to understand that their mother hadn't died, but had left the family after giving birth to their dead brother.
In the beginning of the book, it had seemed like Ba was just a brutal, good-for-nothing abuser who emotionally twisted Sam into being his substitute son, but by the end of the book, it seemed more like that had been something that happened to Sam psychologically due to knowing that their mother had abandoned them.
It also helped to see that there was a good side to Ba, at least from Ba's perspective, and that Ma wasn't an entirely innocent character as the story unfolded.
Part of me kind of predicted that Lucy would become a prostitute since her Ma emphasized that beauty is a weapon, etc., and after burying Ba and ending up in the town of Sweetwater, Lucy realized that there would never be any real future for her in the states since society treated her like an outsider no matter what.
It did surprise me, though, that she became one to save Sam, in exchange for the gold man forgiving Sam's thievery, and that she then lashed out at Sam to push her to get on a ship back to China, which they had planned to do together. (hide spoiler)]
All of that added up to a huge adventure for these characters that highlighted the important reminder that people of color are still treated like this in the U. S. today--as though they are not American unless they're white enough (which is ironic, because indigenous people are the real Americans)! For Lucy and Sam, this caused a feeling that no real place was their "home"--not China, which only their mother remembered, nor the hills where they were born yet never accepted.
It was fascinating and refreshing to read a western story from the perspective of people who built much of the West, but don't receive much credit for it.
The title poses a question, suggesting the answer that a lot of the hills are gold, but that gold is only accessible to certain people--people who are already accepted by society and who make the laws to keep others down and out....more
The book was okay--I appreciated that the author put effort into historical details about Seattle, but some of the writing was annoying, specifically The book was okay--I appreciated that the author put effort into historical details about Seattle, but some of the writing was annoying, specifically the repetition of the pattern towards the beginning that went something like "It was an x. An x that blah blah..." (not to mention that "Oai dekite ureshii desu" (better transliteration, imo) actually means "I'm glad to see you/meet up with you," not "How are you today, beautiful?")
Ford included a lot of nuances of Chinese culture, I'm guessing since that is part of his background, but the Japanese-American characters seemed more cookie-cutter. Editors needed better eyes for typos, and better language-checking (there was another point when Japanese was used, but was missing a letter; can't remember where that happened). Wasn't sure that the romance was realistic given the characters' ages either.
All nitpicking aside, I did enjoy reading this. It was a fun historical fiction novel. Props and congratulations to Jamie Ford for writing a first novel, getting it published, and making lots of money....more
Being fairly young and not terribly hip, I didn't know who Ben Fong-Torres was before picking up this book. It was given to me by a friend.
That said,Being fairly young and not terribly hip, I didn't know who Ben Fong-Torres was before picking up this book. It was given to me by a friend.
That said, I enjoyed it a lot and found the way that he wrote down his memories to be refreshingly chronological, clear, and unpretentious. I've read a few memoirs recently that really jump around or try too hard to pull off some crazy literary feat, and this is not one of them--it reads like what it is, a memoir written by a journalist.
I found the story of Fong-Torres' family, from how his parents came over from China to how things came full-circle when he finally was able to visit their villages as an adult, to be an interesting, well-flowing read. Anybody interested in the history of northern California, the Chinese-American experience, or rock and roll should check it out....more
Hubby just had this dish for the first time when we went down to Uwajimaya in Seattle a week ago. So, I couldn't resist checking out this children's bHubby just had this dish for the first time when we went down to Uwajimaya in Seattle a week ago. So, I couldn't resist checking out this children's book from the library. A little girl helps her mother prepare bee-bim bop, then the family sits down to eat. Park writes of the preparation with a catchy rhythm and a great rhyme scheme, and includes a recipe with other information in the back.
I think I'm going to hang onto this one until we get a chance to try making it at home....more
A Japanese-American girl tells the story of how her mother, Aiko, and her father, John, met while John was in the U. S. Navy stationed in Yokohama, JaA Japanese-American girl tells the story of how her mother, Aiko, and her father, John, met while John was in the U. S. Navy stationed in Yokohama, Japan. John wanted to marry Aiko, but there was one problem--he'd never even eaten a meal with her! He wanted to have dinner with her, but first he had to learn to eat with chopsticks--and when he finally asked her to dinner, she had to learn to eat with forks, knives, and spoons. Neither one of them had an easy time of it, but they persevered.
In this story, kids can see that even adults have to be brave in order to learn new things, especially when it comes to caring about someone from another culture. Allen Say's simple ink and watercolor illustrations give readers a glimpse of authentic Japan and show the awkwardness of re-learning to eat as an adult with gentleness and humor. Young readers will enjoy the adults in the story having trouble learning to eat and making a mess, and parents, even if not from different countries, will appreciate the difficulties that John and Aiko go through to meet in the middle culturally.
This is a good picture book about a little girl getting ready for a new baby sibling adopted from Korea. She counts down the days and nights while herThis is a good picture book about a little girl getting ready for a new baby sibling adopted from Korea. She counts down the days and nights while her mother hops a plane to Korea to pick up the baby, her father and grandfather get her room ready to share, etc.
It seems like a good book to share with children who are about to become an older brother or sister through adoption, but I did find it a little confusing since I started with the assumption that it was the little girl who was getting adopted, and not that she was waiting for an adopted baby....more
This is another great book on the Japanese-American Internment experience I read for my children's literature class. At the Minidoka internment camp iThis is another great book on the Japanese-American Internment experience I read for my children's literature class. At the Minidoka internment camp in Idaho, "Shorty"'s dad works with other adults to build a baseball field and provide the camp with some entertainment--and hope. Once Shorty is out of the camp after the war, he's gained some sports skills and wins the respect of his classmates....more
Wow, what a powerful picture book. It's 1972, and Laura Iwasaki and her family go to visit her grandfather's grave at the site of the former Manzanar Wow, what a powerful picture book. It's 1972, and Laura Iwasaki and her family go to visit her grandfather's grave at the site of the former Manzanar Relocation Camp one last time before they move to the East Coast. Colorful paintings of the family's visit alternate with black and white ones from Grandfather's time. A moving story, and a good resource to help explain the Japanese Internment to kids....more
Since I've also read Grandfather's Journey, it was really neat to see another part of Allen Say's family story, this time about his mother and father.Since I've also read Grandfather's Journey, it was really neat to see another part of Allen Say's family story, this time about his mother and father. Having lived in Japan as a European-American, I can't imagine what it would have been like for a Japanese-American to return there after having grown up in the U. S. in the 1930's. After reading Say's mother's story, I think she was pretty brave to have stayed there. Even though it's historical, I think it would be a good read for anybody experiencing reverse culture shock (well, and for her it wasn't even reverse since she was born in America!)
I'd be interested to know what happened to people like that during WWII--I imagine things must have gotten worse for them just as they did for Japanese-Americans in the U. S. It must have been so painful to want to be accepted, but to be rejected as a foreigner in one's own country, on either side....more
Remarkable book about a girl named Katie Takeshima and her Japanese-American family, especially her sister Lynn.
Although I wo2005 Newbery Medal Winner
Remarkable book about a girl named Katie Takeshima and her Japanese-American family, especially her sister Lynn.
Although I would be hard-pressed to believe that the actual author was a child if I didn't know otherwise, Katie's voice comes close. Simple, short sentences, elegant imagery without using huge words.
While the story touches on racism, that's not the focus, although it very easily could have been. Katie's family moves to a town in Georgia where there are only 30-something people of Japanese ancestry, including them. Naturally they encounter barriers and some racism, but there are also white people who are kind to them. Other sad things happen to Katie's family, but there's forgiveness too. The narrative is very balanced, and the focus is more on family dynamics than it is on the family's race. Books about racism are important and have their place, but it's also refreshing to read books about American minorities as who they are--normal people who happen not to look like me.
Katie learns not to dwell on cruel words she said in a moment of despair. So, as well as forgiveness of other people, the author emphasizes forgiveness for oneself and one's negative emotions. That was probably the most significant part of the book.
I could identify with the grief process of going through a family member's things after death--at first, everything seems important, then as you let go, you can let the stuff go too. The author describes to a T the feeling of someone being there, then incomprehensibly gone. Very powerful. I cried....more
The watercolor paintings in this book are really amazing. Very realistic art--we really get a sense of going back and forth1994 Caldecott Medal Winner
The watercolor paintings in this book are really amazing. Very realistic art--we really get a sense of going back and forth from Japan to America.
As a family historian, I thought it was awesome that Mr. Say wrote down his grandfather's story, but it was a little too simple and meandering for me. I wanted to know more about the historical context--was it WWII that he was referring to? I can't tell just from the clothing. Still, I loved it for the art.
This is kind of irrelevant, but I also wondered how the author's last name came to be Say--if it were Japanese it would be spelled Sei, and having lived in Japan that's not a last name I've heard. In the story, it sounded like his mother got married in Japan--maybe she married a Chinese businessman or something? I'd be interested to know more about that. (UPDATE: Wikipedia has more info on him. Apparently his father was Korean and his last name was originally spelled Seii. I'm guessing Allen probably got tired of having to explain how it was pronounced)....more
When I first opened this book to a random spot and read a few sentences, the prose seemed stilted and I thought it would be difficult to get through tWhen I first opened this book to a random spot and read a few sentences, the prose seemed stilted and I thought it would be difficult to get through the whole book. Eventually, though, I decided to give it a chance.
This book is written in the unusual first person plural point of view, depicting the collective experience of Japanese picture brides who came to the U. S. in the early twentieth century, from their journeys away from their homes to marrying and children to their betrayal by the U. S. government during WWII. It works as a sort of collective memoir, but I found it hard to get through as a story since there is no one character to attach to.
It's a good introduction to how most Japanese people first came to the U. S. and the suffering that innocent people of Japanese ancestry endured at the hands of our government (and some of their neighbors). I'd also recommend James Michener's Hawaii (section five of the book) for more of a story-like history about the Japanese immigrant experience in that part of the U. S....more
It's hard to know what to say about Mirikitani's poetry--beautiful imagery that deals with some harsh issues.
I lived in Japan for a year, so I've becoIt's hard to know what to say about Mirikitani's poetry--beautiful imagery that deals with some harsh issues.
I lived in Japan for a year, so I've become curious about the Japanese American experience. It's difficult for me to comprehend the racism against Japanese people in America, since while I was living in Japan, everyone around me was Japanese, so that was just normal to me. I'm white, but I was never treated with anything but kindness by the Japanese people. I guess that is why the history of the internment during WWII, brought to vivid life and feeling by Mirikitani's poems, is enough to break my heart for these lost children of the Japanese diaspora. I know we were at war, but the racism just sickens me.
Some of the feminist stuff I don't resonate with as much (such as the poem "Jealousy"--generalizations about men and women that just seem like fuel for women who want to be angry about something), but if you are interested in Japan at all, Mirikitani is an important poet to read....more
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