(2) K-3 Having recently emigrated from Hong Kong to America, young Jun starts school with a few English words and phrases (e.g.hello, thank you, I don't know, toilet) written on her palm. Nevertheless, she faces misunderstandings and struggles to comprehend a new language and culture. At the bus stop, unable to understand a question about her name, she responds with, "Th...ank you." Filling out a "Let's Get to Know You" worksheet in class, she answers each question, "I don't know." Despite her loneliness, Jun finds solace in her lunchbox, which is filled with her favorite Chinese foods, including bao, dumplings, and bok choy. After a difficult first four days for Jun, classmate Rose makes a friendly overture at lunch on Friday, which leads to sharing food with a small group of kids. Jun invites her new friends to her home, symbolizing the beginning of new connections. With its spare text (most of which is speech-bubble dialogue), the story is primarily conveyed through Mo's sensitively drawn, sometimes paneled illustrations, which vividly depict Jun's emotional state. Warm colors represent her cherished memories of home and the eventual feeling of belonging; cool tones mirror her initial fear and anxiety. This debut picture book captures an immigrant experience, highlighting the impact of small gestures of kindness and celebrating the unifying power of food across cultures and languages. A glossary of written and conversational Cantonese phrases in the story and a labeled illustration of Jun's lunchbox contents are helpfully appended.

Reviewer: Weileen Wang | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2024

(2) 4-6 Phoenny, a thirteen-year-old Chinese American girl, is ecstatic to return to SCCWEE (Summertime Chinese Culture, Wellness, and Enrichment Experience) -- Camp Squee for short. It is sure to be another awesome summer with her best friends, the Squad. However, new (and initially unfriendly) campers arrive who aren't as familiar with Chinese language and culture as the Squad is; their extra numbers cause the friends to be split into different groups. Suddenly, Phee is unsure about the summer, even as she unpacks her sewing machine and shares handmade, eye-catching costumes with her friends. Nightly camper meetings lead to honest and transformative conversations about what it means to be Chinese; for example, some newcomers are adoptees living in white families with different perspectives on identity and culture. Then, internet trolls post nasty social media comments that threaten the camp, and Phee feels fragile and afraid. Wang's tightly woven plotting and lively dialogue paint a rich portrait of the ups and downs of middle school friendships, social awkwardness, and a desperate desire to belong. Add in a few crushes, lots of hilarious camp hijinks, and an ingenious solution to the troll problem, and you have an excellent companion to Kelly Yang's Front Desk series (Front Desk, rev. 7/18, and sequels) and Grace Lin's Pacy Lin series (The Year of the Dog, rev. 3/06, and sequels).

Reviewer: J. Elizabeth Mills | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2024

(2) K-3 In this heartfelt tale, young Angie becomes a vital bridge between her Cantonese-speaking dad and their new home in Canada. She frequently aids her father in navigating various situations, such as ordering meals and crafting signs for his janitorial job. Soon, Angie identifies a business opportunity--creating English signs for the Chinese-speaking business owners in their neighborhood. Her initial projects include a sandwich board for Ms. Fong's canteen and a stern warning sign for the recalcitrant customers of Ms. Lim's shoe-repair shop. However, a hurdle arises when the laundromat owner, Mr. Chu, voices dissatisfaction with Angie's work. This hiccup morphs into a golden moment, as her father speaks with Mr. Chu in his language (Hakka), unveiling linguistic knowledge that surprises Angie and strengthens their bond. This narrative gracefully illustrates the ties that bind a community and positions language as a potent tool that can both separate and unify people, transforming potential misunderstandings into opportunities for growth, collaboration, and even humor. The story is brought to life with cartoon-style art and bilingual dialogues, represented through simplified Chinese characters and italicized English, offering readers a rich, multicultural experience. This tale presents a hopeful perspective on immigrant life, vividly portraying resilience, a spirit of community, and the enduring bond of family, making it a poignant and uplifting read. An author's note explains the story's linguistic context, highlighting the presence of different Chinese languages with some linguistic similarities.

Reviewer: Weileen Wang | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2023

(3) PS Mia and her uncle Eddie walk through their Chinatown neighborhood to the Big Wok for dim sum. On the way--ten blocks in all--they encounter one giant panda, two stone lions, and so on, up to ten red lanterns. As Mia enjoys dim sum, she counts in reverse ("...nine fried wontons, eight shumai, seven tofu-skin rolls..."). The text is printed in both English and Chinese and ends with notes about each object's significance in Chinese culture. Hu's bright, cheerful digital illustrations of a child whose smile never wavers invite the reader to notice and enjoy the many special elements of Mia's neighborhood. A guide to the numbers one to ten in Chinese and sources are appended.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth

(3) PS In this bilingual book, handsome animal-shaped kites fly across the page, back and forth against a watercolor sky. English text and "simplified Chinese" characters describe the actions of each kite: "a crab moves sideways beneath the clouds"; "a tiger pounces across the sky." The final two pages list the fourteen animals and their significance in Chinese culture. The digital watercolor art is particularly effective; each pictured kite is "built" with layers of color that mimic the three-dimensional structure of an actual kite.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth

(4) K-3 Translated by Carissa Duan. Illustrated by James Yamasaki. In the English/Chinese bilingual edition (Chinese translation not evaluated) of an original fable, a hungry ghost in Beijing sets his sights on a plump little boy. The clever kid convinces the ghost to follow a recipe for "boy dumplings" ("1 chubby boy, 10 pounds stinky garlic..."), which requires many distracting errands for supplies. Ghoulish watercolor illustrations occasionally veer into garish territory.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(3) K-3 Amazing Chinese Inventions series. Illustrated by YongSheng Xuan. In bilingual editions of these original tales (Chinese texts not evaluated), the clever Kang brothers tackle various challenges: eating hot food (Chopsticks), scaring birds from their rice fields (Kites), salvaging their mother's botched cooking-contest entry (Noodles), and saving face at school (Paper). Bold images, reminiscent of traditional Chinese cut-paper designs, illustrate the tales. An author's note provides brief history of each invention. Recipe/activity appended. Review covers these Amazing Chinese Inventions titles: The Story of Chopsticks, The Story of Kites, The Story of Noodles, The Story of Paper.

Reviewer: Kitty Flynn

(3) K-3 Amazing Chinese Inventions series. Illustrated by YongSheng Xuan. In bilingual editions of these original tales (Chinese texts not evaluated), the clever Kang brothers tackle various challenges: eating hot food (Chopsticks), scaring birds from their rice fields (Kites), salvaging their mother's botched cooking-contest entry (Noodles), and saving face at school (Paper). Bold images, reminiscent of traditional Chinese cut-paper designs, illustrate the tales. An author's note provides brief history of each invention. Recipe/activity appended. Review covers these Amazing Chinese Inventions titles: The Story of Chopsticks, The Story of Kites, The Story of Noodles, The Story of Paper.

Reviewer: Kitty Flynn

(3) K-3 Amazing Chinese Inventions series. Illustrated by YongSheng Xuan. In bilingual editions of these original tales (Chinese texts not evaluated), the clever Kang brothers tackle various challenges: eating hot food (Chopsticks), scaring birds from their rice fields (Kites), salvaging their mother's botched cooking-contest entry (Noodles), and saving face at school (Paper). Bold images, reminiscent of traditional Chinese cut-paper designs, illustrate the tales. An author's note provides brief history of each invention. Recipe/activity appended. Review covers these Amazing Chinese Inventions titles: The Story of Chopsticks, The Story of Kites, The Story of Noodles, The Story of Paper.

Reviewer: Kitty Flynn

(3) K-3 Amazing Chinese Inventions series. Illustrated by YongSheng Xuan. In bilingual editions of these original tales (Chinese texts not evaluated), the clever Kang brothers tackle various challenges: eating hot food (Chopsticks), scaring birds from their rice fields (Kites), salvaging their mother's botched cooking-contest entry (Noodles), and saving face at school (Paper). Bold images, reminiscent of traditional Chinese cut-paper designs, illustrate the tales. An author's note provides brief history of each invention. Recipe/activity appended. Review covers these Amazing Chinese Inventions titles: The Story of Chopsticks, The Story of Kites, The Story of Noodles, The Story of Paper.

Reviewer: Kitty Flynn

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Qin Leng. A boy is puzzled when the dog his family adopts doesn't respond to even the simplest commands. It turns out that Norman is neither untrained nor stupid; he "speaks" Chinese! So off the family heads to Chinese-language school. There are lessons here--about patience and intercultural understanding--but they're very lightly worn; the casual line of the ink-and-color illustrations reinforces the story's warmth.

Reviewer: Roger Sutton | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2014

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Aya Padrón. With attractive illustrations stylistically recalling traditional woodblock prints, this captivating and informative alphabet book in verse gives a Chinese word--simplified and traditional Chinese characters, Romanized form (Pinyin), and tone--for every letter of the English alphabet. Each poem explains what the Chinese word means, while smaller text gives some cultural background; the words can be heard on the publisher's website.

Reviewer: Sian Gaetano

(1) 4-6 Eight vignettes in graphic-novel format bring Liu's childhood in 1970s China to life. Much will seem the same, but the particulars make all the difference. Author and illustrator together give an unvarnished, intimate account of a real childhood: plain-speaking, rough-hewn, and down-to-earth. While the book's time and place are very different from our own, there's not a hint of sentimentality or exoticism. Timeline. Glos.

Reviewer: Roger Sutton | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2012

(3) PS Despite their subtitles, these are not the number and color books one might expect. Instead, these are simple stories, with texts in English and Mandarin Chinese, that include colors and numbers and thus nod quietly to their conceptual underpinnings. The final spread in both books provides English-language readers with an explanation of Mandarin's tonal subtleties and assistance with pinyin pronunciations. Review covers these titles: A Nest in Springtime and Summertime Rainbow.

Reviewer: Viki Ash

(3) PS Despite their subtitles, these are not the number and color books one might expect. Instead, these are simple stories, with texts in English and Mandarin Chinese, that include colors and numbers and thus nod quietly to their conceptual underpinnings. The final spread in both books provides English-language readers with an explanation of Mandarin's tonal subtleties and assistance with pinyin pronunciations. Review covers these titles: A Nest in Springtime and Summertime Rainbow.

Reviewer: Viki Ash

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Huy Voun Lee. Jasmine's grandfather (agong) uses storytelling to introduce her to calligraphy. After Agong dies, Jasmine begins teaching her younger brother the same way. Attractive cut-paper illustrations cleverly incorporate Chinese characters into the objects they represent; thus, the stylized character for "horse," for example, becomes part of the horse image. Brief notes about Chinese art and food, as well as Mandarin pronunciation, are appended.

Reviewer: Martha Sibert

(4) K-3 Lin is upset about losing her pet dragon. As the search progresses, readers learn how to write Chinese characters, which are then incorporated into the cleanly composed digital illustrations in crisp lines and vibrant colors. The mishmash of clichés (ping-pong playing, the Great Wall), some errors (girl with boy's hairstyle) in the imagery, and lack of a pronunciation guide are drawbacks.

Reviewer: Roxanne Hsu Feldman

(3) PS Children at play are shown in elegant cut-paper collage, while a simple text counts from one to ten: "Five carry. / Six pull. / Seven tiptoe." Included are Chinese characters for the number and the verb; the verbs contain either the "hand" or "foot" symbol as part of the character. Not an introduction to the language, the book is instead a brief look at the inherent logic within Chinese characters.

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(4) K-3 A crane and a clam, engrossed in their own locked combat, are scooped up by a passing fisherman for his dinner. This story, and five others adapted from Chinese proverbs, portray timeless truths and are presented here in both English and Chinese. Although the language is at times stilted, the accompanying cut-paper illustrations are striking and effective. Brief notes on the proverbs are appended.

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