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Fu, Cherie

Little Messy Marcy Su

40 pp. | Little | November, 2021 | Trade ISBN 978-0-7595-5609-6 $17.99
(2) K-3 Illustrated by Julie Kwon. "Messy Marcy, your room is a sty! / Why can't you clean? Oh, why, Marcy, WHY?...Get yourself dressed, no mud stains allowed. / Please pick up your things, and make Mama proud." Wàigōng and Wàipó (Chinese for maternal grandpa and grandma) are coming today, so Mama wants Little Marcy to tidy up around the house. The girl complies by doing the laundry (leaving clothes scattered in her wake), vacuuming the floor (knocking over a lamp), and taking a quick bath (minor flood)--going above and beyond what her mother had asked. She is sure Mama will be impressed, but Mama, surveying the wreckage, appears to be speechless. With a sense of humor perfectly attuned to that of young children's, Fu tells this playfully relatable story. Her text follows consistent and clear rhyme schemes, including lines where Chinese and English words cleverly rhyme: "I'll start out by running the washing machine. / Mama will say, 'Your clothes! Hăo gānjìng!'" Kwon's cartoony illustrations, created in watercolor and colored pencil and digitally finished, are mostly full-bleed double-page spreads. They ­capture the lively and humorous moments in Marcy's messy home, welcoming readers to point out the details they notice along the way. A list of ­Chinese words is appended, ­including their English ­translations and pinyin (and a brief explanation of the latter).
Reviewer: Weileen Wang | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2021

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