What a great book! The story is about a young Taiwanese-American girl named Pacy who visits Taiwan with her family. Newbery Honor-winning author Grace Lin draws on her own family trips to perfectly capture what it feels like to be caught between worlds as a child, the fears, the joys, the laughter. It reminded me so much of visiting India as a kid, meeting relatives I saw only rarely and feeling self-conscious and inadequate due my inability to speak my mother-tongue. Grace Lin's writing and illustrations are childlike, yet elegant in their simplicity. I couldn't stop smiling as I read this book and even laughed out loud in parts (the garbage truck scene is hysterical). Fair warning though if you love dumplings as much as I do, you will wish this book came with a list of suggested restaurants. I really really need to try soup dumplings! (Cue stomach grumbles) ( )

I spent the whole book thinking how lucky Pacy and her sisters were, and I loved watching them learn to feel at home with this less familiar part of their identities. I wish I'd been able to have that experience as a kid; I'll be turning 30 this year, and I've never been to Israel or met several of my relatives who live there. For kids who have a similar situation, there will be a lot to relate to in this book, but I almost think it'd be more interesting to kids who've never had experience with a culture different from their own. And I want nothing more right now than to try all the kinds of dumplings Pacy described.

I really enjoyed this middle grades novel by Grace Lin. I have read the first book in the three-book series, "The Year of the Dog". Pacy is a likable, funny and flawed character who is always on a quest to find out who she is and to find her place in the world. The book is well-paced to give a sense of adventure, with satisfying character growth and development. And it definitely made me start craving dumplings!

Curricular connections: with its ties to Taiwan and Taiwanese/Chinese culture, food, and traditions, this would be a good novel for children to read while studying any of these topics. It would make a nice teacher read aloud with comparisons to students' home cultures and traditions, foods, etc. ( )

This book is about Grace's trip to Taiwan from America for her grandmother's 60th birthday celebration. When she reaches Taiwan she gets to experience many different things like an ink art class, dumplings and a funny toilet that made music and did other things before the birthday celebration. She found Taiwan very different from where she lived in America but still liked it. These experiences changed her a lot and she learned how to do a lot of new things.
After reading this book, whenever I eat dumplings I am reminded of this great book. I really like how Grace Lin took her trip and made it into a story. I would recommend this book to people who like to travel. It is not a travel guide, but will still make you want to visit Taiwan. ( )

After "Year of the Dog", and "Year of the Rat", comes "Dumpling Days". The author uses a family vacation in Taiwan as the frame story for many family stories and Chinese legends. A lovely continuing story and very much autobiographical. She comes close to the live wire of politics in Taiwan mentioning the unjust persecution of one of the main character's uncle and the motivation for her family's move to the US. ( )