Lily LaMotte

Cici moves from Taiwan to Seattle, enters a cooking competition in order to bring her grandmother to visit. All the heart!!! The book tackles new friends and moving and new customs in a new country. Also microaggressions -- Taiwan and China are different places with different cultures and food. I love the multi-generational cooking connection that Cici has both with her mother and with A-ma and how cooking helps her bond with her partner in the competition. Navigates the tension kids feel show more over what their parents want for them vs their own passions deftly, and altogether just delivers a wonderful middle grade story. The love for Julia Child and Cici's local librarian are also highlights of the book. show less

Cici's parents decide to move their family from Taiwan to Seattle. Cici doesn't want to go, but most of all, she doesn't want to be separated from her grandmother. Soon after Cici arrives, she makes friends at school, and one of her friends encourages her to sign up for a cooking contest with a cash prize - enough money for a plane ticket to bring A-má to visit for her 70th birthday. In the contest, Cici meets Miranda, whose dad owns a restaurant and wants her to take it over - but show more Miranda's dream is to make comics. Cici and Miranda are on a team for the first few rounds of competition, but then they have to compete on their own. Should Cici try to make something the judges will be familiar with - or should she cook something close to her heart? Many characters in the book refer to "Chinese food" as "takeout," as opposed to European or American "cuisine," but Cici's friends Jenna and Emily - along with Julia Child - convince her to have the courage of her convictions.

See also: Pie in the Sky by Remy Lai, Roll With It by Jamie Sumner (uses some ableist language), A Place at the Table by Saadia Faruqi

Quotes

"Good grades, good college, good job, good life." That is our family motto. (31)

"My dad always says hope is a dull blade." I think her family motto just took mine to the mat. (Miranda to Cici, 65)

[Sequence of Cici watching Julia Child TV shows on a DVD from the library. "The courage of your conviction." Flipping the potato pancake and flubbing it and recovering.] (118-119)

I wonder if I want what Dad wants for me. (123)

I thought that I was so different from my friends, but...we're more alike. (when Jenna and Emily come to her house for the first time, 153)

"You're a lucky girl. But better than luck, you'll always be successful because you work hard." (A-má to Cici, 163)

"Cici, they are American. They do't have to try as hard. When people see us, no matter how American we become, they always see someone who's not like them. We always have to prove ourselves first." (Cici's dad, 168)

Courage of conviction..I am A-má...and Julia [Child]. [Panel of Cici cooking, with a ghostly A-má and Julia presence at either shoulder.] (188) show less

When Cici's parents declare they are moving to Seattle, Cici is devasted to be leaving behind her grandmother in Taiwan. The only thing that gives her hope is that her grandmother might visit soon -- perhaps even for her 70th birthday -- but her grandmother insists the flight is too costly. But when Cici stumbles upon a local cooking competition for kids with a $1,000 cash prize, she is convinced she can easily win the flight money with the culinary skills she learned from her grandmother. show more However, she soon sees that Asian cuisine isn't preferred by the competition's American judges. Will Cici be able to assimilate in her new home, make new friends, keep her grades high enough for her parents to be happy, and maybe, just maybe, earn the money needed to allow her grandmother to visit?

This was a really sweet and excellently executed book for upper elementary and middle grade readers (and even some lower elementary advanced readers). Cici is a good kid who tries to please her family but also wants to follow her own path. Her attempts at friendship are tentative at first and she worries that she will be teased for being un-American, but she and her friends soon learn they are more alike than different but also to appreciate those differences.

The cooking competition is surprisingly tense, even if it feels like you should know the outcome. If you really like cooking shows, I'm sure this is an even more compelling part of the book. It was definitely interesting enough for me, especially with hearing about all the interesting recipes the children come up with around a special ingredient each time. Truly, the only major downside of reading this book is that you will walk away hungry!

A minor quibble is that several bits of text (notably, the ingredients in recipes) are penciled in a cursive-style text, which may be something younger readers don't know well enough to decipher. All in all, however, this was definitely a fun and interesting book. The short chapters make you say to yourself, 'okay, just one more chapter,' until you are done before you know it. The illustrations fit the tone of the book well and help to tell the story. show less

Rising eighth grader Claire is excited to return to cultural heritage camp as a counselor-in-training, but younger sister Michelle is far from thrilled when their parents announce she is going to camp, too - she had plans to cement her friendship with popular girl Jess, concluding with her end-of-summer party. Michelle is resistant to camp at first, though she sees Claire differently in an environment where she thrives and is...popular? Both Claire and Michelle make friends with Izzy, a show more camper who has just moved to the U.S. from Taiwan, and who brings a new perspective to them both. Michelle, who loves singing, tries out a song in Taiwanese, but struggles to get the pronunciation right; meanwhile, she frets over her relationship with Jess over text messages, and when she sends Jess a picture of Claire in traditional Taiwanese dress, Jess's older sister Kat spreads it around, making fun of Claire and leading to a huge fight between the sisters. Ultimately, however, they make up, and Michelle comes to like camp; she realizes at Jess' party that "Claire's right. These aren't my peeps." The following summer, the sisters and their parents enjoy a trip to Taiwan, visiting all the places Izzy told them about.

See also: Summer at Squee by Andrea Wang

Quotes

"Some things are different from how they look." (Claire, 89) show less