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Dumpling Days: A Novel
Pacy and her family are spending a month over the summer in Taiwan. Pacy is excited to see her grandparents and other relatives, and eager to eat as many different kinds of dumplings as she can. But she’s also wary: her mother has signed Pacy and her sisters up for art classes with other Taiwanese American children. Pacy has been called a “Twinkie” in the past by Chinese American kids who think she’s too “white.” During weeks spent in bustling Taipei with their mother’s relatives, and in a country village with her father’s, Pacy and her sisters are immersed in family, food, and culture. The unfamiliarity of everything from language to public bathrooms makes Pacy appreciate how hard it must have been for her parents when they came to the United States. But in the art class, Pacy is frustrated. The kids don’t tease her, but the girl sitting next to her is determined to be the best in the class—a position Pacy is used to holding when it comes to art. Grace Lin’s latest novel about Pacy, first introduced in The Year of the Dog (Little, Brown, 2006), followed by The Year of the Rat (Little, Brown, 2008), is another sparkling, lively offering, but not without depth as Pacy comes to fully embrace being both Taiwanese and American. ©2012 Cooperative Children’s Book Center
CCBC Age Recommendation: Ages 7-10
Age Range:
PreK-Early Elementary (Ages 4-7)
Grades 3-5 (Ages 8-10)
Format:
Novel
Subjects:
Art and Artists
Families
Identity
Taiwanese and Taiwanese Americans
Travel
Vacations
Diversity subject:
Asian
Publisher:
Little, Brown
Publish Year: 2012
Pages: 261
ISBN: 9780316125901
CCBC Location: Fiction, Lin