APPLE PIE 4TH OF JULY by Janet S. Wong ~ Culture 5

APPLE PIE 4TH OF JULY by Janet S. Wong

Author: Janet S. Wong

Title:  Apple Pie 4^th of July

Illustrator: Margaret Chodos-Irvine

Publisher:  Harcourt, Inc.

Publication Date: 2002

ISBN:  015202543X

Plot Summary

A Chinese American child fears that the food her parents are preparing to sell on the Fourth of July will not be eaten.

Critical Analysis

Oh, the disdain of a tween! The unnamed girl in Apple Pie 4^th of July oozes frustration over the way her parents insist on cooking Chinese food for their family market on a very all-American holiday: “Chow mein! Chinese food on the Fourth of July? No one wants Chinese food on the Fourth of July, I say” (Wong). The story continues with the tween girl’s frustration with the prepared Chinese food going stale and with customers coming in to purchase forgotten - but needed - 4^th of July items: ice cream, ice, matches, etc. After the 4^th of July parade, the young girl stands proudly behind the takeout counter as she helps her parents serve the Chinese food that she previously thought no one wanted.

Throughout the day, Father hints that there is something distinctively Chinese in 4^th of July festivities: “Fireworks are Chinese, Father says, and hands me a pan full of sweet-and-sour pork” (Wong). After a hard day’s work in the market, the Chinese-American family move to the roof of their building to watch those Chinese fireworks go off high above the skyline. Again, the young girl is proud of her Chinese heritage and accepts that she can enjoy an American holiday and her family’s culture.

According to the title page and the book jacket, illustrator Margaret Chodos-Irvine watched many parades to inspire her printmaking artwork in Apple Pie 4^th of July. Her bold colors on a white background make the details pop off the page. The three Asian Americans in the story – Mother, Father, and their daughter – are depicted with Asian facial features and hairstyles: narrow eyes and black hair. The setting of the story is in a modern city and the family owns a convenience market and Chinese takeout restaurant. At the end of the story, the reader learns the family lives above the market where they enjoy the 4^th of July fireworks from their rooftop. Chodos-Irvine’s fireworks will make readers ooh and ahh as if they were watching the fireworks live.

The book is a perfect melding of Asian and American cultures. Readers will realize there is so much Americans and Chinese have in common in the 4^th of July holiday. This is an excellent book to expose Asian American culture to young readers with its use of celebrations, foods, urban contexts, homes, hairstyles and facial features.

Reviews

• Booklist (2002): “Vibrant, colorful spreads keep the focus on the girl, using body language to accentuate first her discomfort and boredom, and then her pride as she hands out cartons of takeout. This excellent read-aloud…”
• Children’s Literature (2002): “In a lyrical look at a young Chinese-American girl's 4th of July in her family's convenience store, Wong paints a unique picture of the evolving diversity in U.S. culture. On a day that celebrates the independence of our nation, we mostly see patriotic portrayals of our Federalist period when European Americans and European culture dominated our society. This book shows that this holiday can be celebrated in a diversity of ways, including a trip through a Chinese buffet after a parade.”
• Publishers Weekly (2002): “The well-paced text—heavily freighted at the beginning and swift by the end—reflects the girl's changing emotions and moods. The art resembles cut-paper collage. Chodos-Irvine deploys sharply defined objects in a range of colors and patterns to construct harmonious, forthright compositions that will likely prove inviting to readers of many backgrounds.”

Awards

• 2001 Asian Pacific American Award for Literature, illustration winner
• 2003 Charlotte Zolotow Award, highly commended

Connections

• Since 4^th of July is a summer holiday, perhaps a school librarian can have a summer holiday unit in early May before school gets out for the summer. Other activities could include more about Memorial Day, Flag Day, Father’s Day, and some off-the-beaten-path August holidays like National Ice Cream Sandwich Day or Left Hander’s Day.
• Learn more about author Janet S. Wong at her website: janetwong.com
• Pair with Wong’s This Next New Year (ISBN 978-1937057251) as part of a unit that focuses on Chinese culture.
• Learn more about illustrator Margaret Chodos-Irvine at her website: http://chodos-irvine.com/

Bibliography

Chodos-Irvine, Margaret. 2002. Apple Pie 4^th of July by Janet S. Wong. New York: Harcourt, Inc. ISBN 015202543X

Cover, Mount Juliet, Tennessee. Personal photograph by Amy Wilson. November 12, 2017.

Wong, Janet S. Apple Pie 4^th of July. New York, NY: Harcourt, Inc., 2002. ISBN 015202543X

THE YEAR OF THE DOG by Grace Lin ~ Culture 5

THE YEAR OF THE DOG by Grace Lin

Author: Grace Lin

Title:  The Year of the Dog

Publisher:  Little, Brown and Company

Publication Date: 2006

ISBN:  0316060003

Plot Summary

Frustrated at her seeming lack of talent for anything, a young Taiwanese American girl sets out to apply the lessons of the Chinese Year of the Dog, those of making best friends and finding oneself, to her own life.

Critical Analysis

Author Grace Lin states that she pulled inspiration from her own life as an Asian living in a mainly Caucasian community for The Year of the Dog: “I wrote it because it was the book I wished I had had when I was growing up, a book that had someone like me in it” (Author’s Note). By basing the book on her childhood, Lin has created a book that shows many characteristics of the Asian American culture. For example, the novel practically oozes traditional Asian foods: whole-fried fish, meat dumplings, vegetables shining with oil, steamed buns, shrimp, and Chinese candy: “It’s very important that the New Year tray is filled with candy. If it’s full of sweet things, it means your year will be full of sweet things” (p. 3). And when one celebration ends, there is another celebration with even more food. Before reading this book, I didn’t realize how much food was involved in Asian cultural celebrations.  

First language is also dominate in the novel as an Asian American cultural marker. There are several examples of the Chinese language in the book and all had a translation. Sometimes the explanation of the first language is written in such a way that the reader learns the meaning along with Pacy, the main character: “‘Ja-ba, bei?’ he asked us. ‘Have you eaten yet?’ They kept asking that. Grown-ups were so silly. ‘We’re eating RIGHT NOW!’ I said. Everyone laughed. I didn’t understand why they were all laughing at me. ‘What’s so funny?’ I demanded. Mom explained to me that even though ‘Ja-ba, bei?’ meant, ‘Have you eaten yet?’ it was also a Taiwanese way of just saying, ‘How are you doing?’” (p. 42).

While The Year of the Dog is a novel, there are some black ink drawings throughout the book illustrated by Lin. The facial features and hairstyles are consistent with Asian American culture and were taken from Lin’s memories and pictures from her childhood. The illustrations add to the story, especially the instructions found on page 2 on how to draw a dog and the Chinese symbols for tiger and pig found on page 46.

This is a wonderful book to add to any library collection. Knowing that the author made this book because it was something she craved as a young reader only makes it more appealing. Because the book was written by an Asian American for other Asian Americans gives a peace of mind that you are offering a culturally authentic text to readers. Thankfully, author and illustrator Grace Lin is a prolific writer and there are other titles to foster a love of the Asian American culture.

Reviews

• Booklist (2006): “Lin, who is known for her picture books, dots the text with charming ink drawings, some priceless, such as one picturing Grace dressed as a munchkin. Most of the chapters are bolstered by anecdotes from Grace's parents, which connect Grace (and the reader) to her Taiwanese heritage. Lin does a remarkable job capturing the soul and the spirit of books like those of Hayward or Maud Hart Lovelace, reimagining them through the lens of her own story, and transforming their special qualities into something new for today's young readers.”
• Children’s Literature (2006): “In the age of self-awareness, Grace Lin has written a lighthearted story about Pacey, a young Taiwanese-American girl struggling to find a balance between her American life and her Asian roots. This is a fun and simple coming-of-age story for anyone who feels that they do not quite fit in. This book is sprinkled with entertaining small drawings in the margins that younger readers will enjoy.”

Awards

• 2006 Asian Pacific American Award for Literature, honorable mention (text)
• 2006 National parenting Publications Award, Gold Book, ages 9 and up

Connections

• Learn more about author Grace Lin at her website: http://www.gracelin.com/
• Read The Year of the Dog sequels by Grace Lin titled The Year of the Rat ISBN:  031611426X and Dumpling Days ISBN: 9780316125901
• Teach your students how to draw a dog just like Pacy at: http://www.gracelin.com/media/book/activities_drawdog.gif

Bibliography

Cover, Mount Juliet, Tennessee. Personal photograph by Amy Wilson. November 12, 2017.

Lin, Grace. The Year of the Dog. New York, NY: Little, Brown and Company, 2006. ISBN 0316060003

DRAWING FROM MEMORY by Allen Say ~ Culture 5

DRAWING FROM MEMORY by Allen Say

Author: Allen Say

Title:  Drawing From Memory

Illustrator: Allen Say

Publisher:  Scholastic Press

Publication Date: 2011

ISBN:  9780545176866

Plot Summary

This graphic novel biography chronicles the early life of Caldecott Medalist Allen Say when he lived in Japan during WWII. Say asked for and received tutelage from Noro Shinpei, Japan’s premier cartoonist. Say’s watercolor paintings, original cartoons, vintage photographs and maps encourages the artist in all of us.

Critical Analysis

Readers who know nothing about author and illustrator Allen Say will be quickly hooked on this autobiography-turned-quasi-graphic-novel. The black and white pictures over Say’s drawings add interest and authenticity to the text, making you want to turn the page to find out what happens next. Say’s drawings and photographs hit all the cultural markers making this an excellent example of Asian Pacific American literature. Say uses a variety of skin colors, hairstyles, facial features, and body types to represent the people of Japan from a drawn picture of his smiling first-grade grammar school teacher to a stark black and white drawing of police battling protesters. Clothing ranges from traditional Japanese (his mother’s old uncle) to 1950s-era modern clothing (Miss Saito the music teacher and his friend Orito-son). His line-art drawings of his various dwellings vary from traditional Japanese architecture to 1950s cities with various modes of transportation included - like fishing boats at the seashore or the smooth lines of a taxi in the city.

Say describes in his text that his father and grandmother disapproved of his drawing talent and desire to become a cartoonist. “Grandmother had lived alone until I came, and I made her unhappy. ‘Drawing again!’ she would say. ‘You’ll never amount to anything!’ She sounded just like my father, who believed artists were unrespectable” (p. 15). At the age of 12, Say was given a one-room apartment to attend a prestigious school – and he lived there by himself! It was during this time that Say found a sensei and father figure in Noro Shinpei, a famous cartoonist: “Sensei drew the characters and the speech balloons. Tokida put in the backgrounds. I inked the skies and hairdos and clothing. There was no other place in the world I wanted to be” (p. 30).

And then suddenly Say’s father sends news that he is moving to America and wanted Say to join him. Say decides to leave Japan, Shinpei, and his mother, sister and grandmother. He cleans out his one-room apartment and burns all of his drawings and sketchbooks: “By the end of the next day, my room was empty except for my drawings and sketchbooks. I took them out to the vacant yard and made a bonfire. In an hour they turned to ashes. I felt free…” (p. 56). Now the reader realizes the point of the book’s title: Drawing From Memory.

I admit that I fell hard for this book and Say’s life story. I was disappointed that the story ended abruptly in Japan when Say was 15 years old. Did his father ever accept him as an artist? Did his family ever learn of his success as an artist? What did he think of America when he first arrived? I feel there should be a sequel to this soap opera!

Reviews

• Booklist (2011): “His narrative is fascinating, winding through formative early-teen experiences in Japan as he honed his skills and opened his eyes to the greater world around him. This heavily illustrated autobiography features Say’s characteristically strong artwork. The visually stunning sequences include a standout scene in which the young artist and a friend stumble upon a massive demonstration, which is depicted as a huge crowd of people that snakes down one page and is stopped short by a brick wall of police on the next. The scrapbook format features photographs, many of them dim with age; sketchbook drawings; and unordered, comic-book-style panels that float around wide swathes of text and unboxed captions, and the overall effect is sometimes disjointed. Still, as a portrait of a young artist, this is a powerful title that is both culturally and personally resonant.”
• Kirkus (2011): “Aesthetically superb; this will fascinate comics readers and budding artists while creating new Say fans.”
• VOYA (2011): “Say’s autobiographical story introduces readers to Japanese culture of the 1940s and 50s. Teens will envy the extreme independence accorded to Say at such an early age. The mixture of text, sketches, and photographs illustrates Say’s development as an artist and provides a glimpse into his youth and the lives of those closest to him. This book is sure to appeal to reluctant readers. Its brief text and plentiful graphics make it a quick but fulfilling read, and leave the reader wanting more.”

Awards

• 2011 Eureka! Nonfiction Children’s Book Award, gold
• 2012 Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal, honor book
• 2013 Eloise Jarvis McGraw Award for Children’s Literature, winner

Connections

• Learn more about author and artist Allen Say at the publisher’s site for him: http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/authors/allensay/author.shtml
• Teachers can use this book as part of a teaching series on authors and illustrators. Other examples could include H.A. Rey, Dr. Seuss, Marc Brown, Stan and Jan Berenstain, etc.
• Learn more about Allen Say from the interviews of him on TeachingBooks.net

Bibliography

Cover, Mount Juliet, Tennessee. Personal photograph by Amy Wilson. November 12, 2017.

Say, Allen. Drawing From Memory. New York, NY: Scholastic Press, 2011. ISBN 9780545176866