Educators will find value in this valiant effort to share a foreign culture with American children.
As Shao Ming hunts for her mother’s beloved wok, she embarks on a mouthwatering journey through her village.
On Zhong Qiu Jie, or the Mid-Autumn Festival, Shao Ming is tasked with delivering her mom’s wok to her uncle’s house. On her way, she stops to watch the parade. Shao Ming is “mesmerized by the huge dragon” and, in her daze, loses track of the wok. Devastated, she scours the neighborhood, inadvertently going on a foodie adventure. First, Shao Ming samples mapo tofu, a spicy Szechuan dish of pork and tofu at a local restaurant. Then, she shares a pot of tea with an elderly man to “calm [her] heart” and lunches on steamed crabs dipped in soy sauce—a Shanghainese specialty. At her last stop, a dim sum restaurant, the chef tells Shao Ming to go home, saying that her mother would “be sadder to have lost you than to have lost the wok.” While the story is an enjoyable vehicle for insight into Chinese culture and cuisine, the stiff prose (apparently literally translated from the original Korean) is not picture-book friendly. Thankfully, lively and colorful illustrations bolster the book, vividly capturing life in a rural Chinese village. Noh doesn’t skimp on minutiae. Everything from stir-fried veggies and dim sum delicacies to painted teapots and popping firecrackers is drawn to delicate detail.
Educators will find value in this valiant effort to share a foreign culture with American children. (cultural, culinary notes) (Picture book. 4-9)Pub Date: May 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-939248-23-7
Page Count: 38
Publisher: TanTan
Review Posted Online: March 5, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2017
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Visually accomplished but marred by stereotypical cultural depictions.
Ellis, known for her illustrations for Colin Meloy’s Wildwood series, here riffs on the concept of “home.”
Shifting among homes mundane and speculative, contemporary and not, Ellis begins and ends with views of her own home and a peek into her studio. She highlights palaces and mansions, but she also takes readers to animal homes and a certain famously folkloric shoe (whose iconic Old Woman manages a passel of multiethnic kids absorbed in daring games). One spread showcases “some folks” who “live on the road”; a band unloads its tour bus in front of a theater marquee. Ellis’ compelling ink and gouache paintings, in a palette of blue-grays, sepia and brick red, depict scenes ranging from mythical, underwater Atlantis to a distant moonscape. Another spread, depicting a garden and large building under connected, transparent domes, invites readers to wonder: “Who in the world lives here? / And why?” (Earth is seen as a distant blue marble.) Some of Ellis’ chosen depictions, oddly juxtaposed and stripped of any historical or cultural context due to the stylized design and spare text, become stereotypical. “Some homes are boats. / Some homes are wigwams.” A sailing ship’s crew seems poised to land near a trio of men clad in breechcloths—otherwise unidentified and unremarked upon.
Visually accomplished but marred by stereotypical cultural depictions. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Feb. 24, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6529-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2014
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