Skip to main content

Auntie Yang's Great Soybean Picnic

By
Auntie Yang's Great Soybean Picnic
by Ginnie Lo
illustrated by Beth Lo

New York : Lee & Low Books, 2012.
unpaged picture book, autobiographical

Mama wanted the cousins to "grow up as close as four soybeans in a soybean pod." This meant that they often visited each other to share the traditions of their native Chinese culture. All the parents had come to the United States to get an education at various universities. They had been unable to return to China due to war. During the visits the children were given Chinese lessons as well as lessons in watercolor painting and paper-folding. The parents played mahjong endlessly and the kids played outside. During one weekend excursion the families discovered fields of soybeans - something the parents greatly missed from their growing up years. They found the farmer who let them pick some and they had a soybean feast like you wouldn't believe! This discovery led to a new family tradition blending their past with their present life, the Great Soybean Picnic. As the years went by more and more Chinese families from the area were invited and the event grew larger and larger.
What a wonderful book about families keeping traditions alive and growing! And it is based on the creators' real-life story! I love the illustrations!
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dude, That's Rude! (Get Some Manners) by Pamela Espeland & Elizabeth Verdick

By
If there's one book today's kids need to read, it is Dude, That's Rude! (Get Some Manners) . The authors provide a fun format for teaching etiquette to children. They discuss proper behavior at home, at school, at other people's homes and in public places. The information is completely up-to-date with cellphone manners and netiquette included. Fun, cartoony illustrations are on practically every page giving the book great visual appeal. This book is perfect for boys and girls in the fourth grade or older. WARNING: Bodily functions are discussed.
Post a Comment
Read more

Faces of the Moon by Bob Crelin

By loo
Faces of the Moon by Bob Crelin Illustrated by Leslie Evans Charlesburg; 2009; unpaged Faces of the Moon is a short nonfiction book that describes the different phases of the moon and why the moon appears like it does on certain nights. This book is short and sweet so even the youngest of moon lovers will enjoy it. The layout is simplistic and easy to follow. I don’t know much about the moon so I found it very interesting.
Post a Comment
Read more

Review: The Factory

By
The Factory By Catherine Egan New York, NY : Scholastic Inc., 2025. Fiction. 306 pages.  Thirteen-year-old Asher Doyle has been invited to join the Factory, a secretive research facility in the desert which ostensibly extracts renewable energy from the electromagnetic fields of its young recruits. But Asher soon realizes something sinister is going on. Kids are getting sick. The adults who run the Factory seem to be keeping secrets. And the extraction process is not only painful and exhausting, but existentially troubling. Asher makes a handful of new friends who help him with an investigation that turns into a resistance, which turns into...a cliffhanger! The Factory is a page-turning sci-fi with multidimensional characters, an intriguing plot, and refreshingly straight-forward writing. Egan weaves in detail about climate crises and social unrest, making the story's dystopian setting feel rich and plausible. With its sophisticated themes and accessible storytelling, I would recomm...
Post a Comment
Read more