Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

I actually checked Andrea Cheng’s The Year of the Book out of the library because I thought my second girlie might be able to read it herself; it’s under 150 pages, there are illustrations, and the topic seemed accessible.  After reading it, however, I think the emotional context might make my emotionally intuitive 6-year-old a bit upset.  I AM, however, going to stick it on my nine-year-old’s shelf for her to try, because I ended up really liking it.

The Year of the Book introduces Anna Wang, a Chinese-American fourth grader who is having friend difficulties.  Luckily for her, she loves to read just as much as she likes to do anything with friends (the book is sprinkled with references to well-known titles and characters); all the same, she does want things to be different.  How she is ultimately able to resolve some of her friend difficulties makes for a delightful book, although one of her friends’ family problems ups the emotional reading level of it a noticeable amount.   I highly recommend this one–for ages 8-ish and up.