Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

Could you tell I’ve been out of town? It was a pretty quick trip, granted, but I meant to do a post before we left, and…yeah.

Not so much.

We’re back, however, and that’s lucky, because Andrea Wang’s Watercress is due and not renewable today. This lovely picture book is one of this year’s Newbery Honor books, and I thoroughly enjoyed it; Wang took her own experience as a child of immigrants and (with the help of Jason Chin’s illustrations) created a reminder in story of our tendency to resent what makes us different, especially when we don’t understand the reasons behind it. While this can be especially true between generations, communication can mitigate the problem…which just feels like a stuffy review for a poignant tale of how picking watercress by the roadside becomes an entirely different experience once the young narrator learns more about her parents’ early lives in China. I’m honestly not sure what my children thought of it, but it was a pleasure for me to read! And now, to get my overtired children off to bed early…