Gabrielle Wang

Mimi lives with her parents above her father's herbalist shop. She hates being Chinese and being teased at school. More than anything she loves to draw, so when her art teacher gives her a box of pastels Mimi is thrilled. These are no ordinary pastels for the inscription on the box warns that they are "A treasure for some, a curse for others". Mimi is able to draw amazing scenes on the footpath outside her father's shop and the pastels breathe life into the pictures for those able to see it. show more When Gemma, her tormentor at school, steals the pastels, Mimi knows she must get them back - not only to keep them safe and their magic intact, but to save Gemma from the pastel's curse. show less

Because my daughter loved the four-book volume of one set of Our Australian Girl stories I was able to get, I was thrilled to find four more for her. However, I told her I would read them first—and I’m glad I did so. The Poppy Stories are about an Aboriginal/Chinese girl. When I realized that, I was annoyed at the cover picture; it certainly does not look to me like someone with that ethnic background. I would not have rejected the book because of that, however. What I really didn’t show more like was the spiritism that came through. Poppy is Aboriginal, and I don’t mind descriptions of their beliefs. What I do mind is that her mother’s totem, a crow, frequently appeared to Poppy during hard times, and gave her gifts, letting her know that her dead mother was watching over her. This is stated as if it really happened. Because that is an important part of the storyline, I won’t be keeping this book. show less

I'm absolutely in love with "The Race for the Chinese Zodiac" because it taught me new concepts in a clever, engaging way. The story teaches readers about the order of the animals in the Chinese zodiac and their specific traits. It's set up as a race, and each rank an animal places in is their place in the zodiac rotation. I liked that the language and writing had similar patterns and overall structure, going from animal to animal and presenting the basics of their journey. "Courageous Tiger show more leaped into the river, striking out with his powerful paws. Peaceful Rabbit jumped onto a log, holding on with all her might." Each page has one or two animals, and they all have a character trait in front of their name (peaceful, courageous, etc).Each animal represents a feature and those born in that accompanying year possess those traits. Because of this structure, readers easily catch the gist of what's going on. Their journey reflects on their nature, and the language and interesting theme allows for the story to flow well. Below each page/paragraph is a Chinese symbol representing that animal, which I found to be a very positive addition to the overall value of the book. The illustrations are fun and modern yet still maintain a classic Chinese art vibe, which I appreciated. The entire book is extremely visually appealing. At the end, the book lists each Chinese zodiac year with the specific years associated with them and the traits each one represents. Since they're in order of who "won" the "race," I found it to be a good informational followup to further explain the purpose of the story. show less

The emperor challenges all of the animals to race in order to have a year named after them. This story explains how the animals were chosen for the Chinese zodiac and why cats hate rats.

This is one of my favorite folktales. I love the variety of personalities of the animals and their different approaches to the challenge of getting across the lake and the competitive aspect of it being a race. Throughout all the story I always feel bad for the cat. But this version was particularly upsetting show more to me because the author added the back story that the rat and cat were best friends. What a betrayal! show less