Module 5 - Chinese American novel by Grace Lin - TWU - Multicultural Literature

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Lin, Grace. 2006. THE YEAR OF THE DOG. New York: Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 9780316060004.

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This was a very pleasant little chapter book that tells the story of a Chinese American girl, searching to find her talents during the Chinese "Year of the Dog." This chronological story tells a delightful tale about a young girl living in two different cultures, enjoying both very much, and the fun experiences that she has in trying to discover herself. Pacy, or Grace, as her American friends call her, lives in a large and loving family. They celebrate the Chinese holidays and traditions. Pacy and her sisters are the only Chinese/Taiwanese Americans in their school, until Melody and her family move in. Pacy quickly becomes best friends with Melody, and so their adventures begin, everything from science experiments gone bad, to pining for the same boy to look their way.

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This story has plenty of fun characters, drawings, and Chinese culture. I must admit that I didn't know very much about the Chinese/Taiwanese American culture before I read this book. Whatever I did know prior to this book came from TV and movies, and not much of that. For some reason, as a reader I was never much drawn into the Asian cultures. But, I really enjoyed this story, and I think that I learned a lot about this culture. Before reading I did not know that each of the Chinese years were based on animals and that they had special significance. I did not know about the special "red" envelopes and "red" eggs that are given as presents in the Chinese culture. I like some Chinese food, but I did get a really hungry as I read about all the food that Pacy's mother prepared for the various holidays. I also didn't realize about all of the different and delicious Chinese vegetables that Pacy's mother worked so hard to grow in her garden. These "ugly" vegetables became the topic of Pacy's book that she wrote and illustrated, and later won a prize for. It was all very interesting and new for me, and I liked it. I would like to read more books by Grace Lin, and other Chinese American authors.

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Grace Lin writes as an "insider." She is a Chinese American author and illustrator. She states why she wrote this book. "I wrote it because this was the book I wished I had growing up."

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There are a multitude of Chinese cultural markers in this book. There were some Taiwanese words in the text and they were all explained in the same section.

"But Auntie Kim, Uncle Leo, Grandma, and Grandpa and lots of other cousins, aunts, and uncles came out and welcomed us inside. They were all wearing their special silk clothes, and in the moonlight we shimmered like a stained-glass window. Grandma's dress was a silky, silver gray. She glowed like a pearl ring. All our relatives hugged and kissed us and asked, 'Ja-ba, bei?' over and over again. That meant, 'Have you eaten yet?' in Taiwanese."

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There were descriptions of the family's dark hair color, consistent with the Chinese peoples, and the traditional Chinese clothing, food, holidays, gifts, dolls, and stories. These cultural markers made it easier to visualize the culture and the story.

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Pacy's mother is a story teller, and several times in the book, she would pause and say, "Did I ever tell you about that?" Then she would launch into a story about her childhood or someone else in her family. This "flashback" element to the story added another dimension to the cultural markers. We could see into the past of what it was like to be a child in a traditional Chinese/Taiwanese school and home. It also allowed the reader to see how important financial success is to this culture and how hard they work at developing their skills and talents for some future financial comforts. It was intriguing.

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There is some discussion in the story, and the author's notes about the confusion of Taiwanese people being just Taiwanese, or Chinese, or both. This points back to the political struggles that have occurred throughout the years about whether Taiwan is part of China or not. They share many similarities, and even the people who have immigrated to other parts of the world are still not sure of how to explain what to call themselves. Pacy has this issue in her life, even though she does not see it as a problem. However, when she attends a Taiwanese camp, she is criticized by other Taiwanese American kids for being a "Twinkie," yellow on the outside, and white on the inside. This is due to the fact that she only speaks English, and not Taiwanese or Chinese. This is a cultural bias among the Taiwanese Americans themselves.

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Pacy has some issues in coming to grips with being Chinese American, in that she really wanted to play "Dorothy" in the upcoming school play of "The Wizard of Oz," but someone pointed out to her that Dorothy was not Chinese, and Pacy then refused to try out for the part, because she believed it to be true. This led her to start looking for books, movies, TV shows, and plays about someone just like her. She couldn't find much, so that is why she wrote a book about herself and Chinese vegetables.

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In the Chinese "Year of the Dog," Pacy does discover some of her talents, finds a Chinese American friend, and learns more about herself and the two cultures that she embraces. She has a positive environment, with a happy home, good friends, and lots of extended family love and support. This is a happy book with a good message, that also just happens to inform the reader about a culture that they may not be so familiar with. I would strongly recommend it to young readers. It may also be just the book that a young Asian American child is looking for, so that she can identify with someone in a book.

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I would like to share this book with a social studies teacher from the upper elementary grades, as supplement to a unit on Asia, or perhaps world holidays. Not only is it interesting for young students to note that there are many wonderful cultures, holidays, and traditions throughout the world, but when people from around the world immigrate to the U.S. they bring these traditions with them. This book is a good example of a family keeping their culture alive. Parts of this book are great for "read-aloud" opportunities, and students should enjoy this type of story as part of their social studies lesson to gain a greater insight into the Chinese/Taiwanese American culture.

From School Library Journal
Grade 3-5–A lighthearted coming-of-age novel with a cultural twist. Readers follow Grace, an American girl of Taiwanese heritage, through the course of one year–The Year of the Dog–as she struggles to integrate her two cultures. Throughout the story, her parents share their own experiences that parallel events in her life. These stories serve a dual purpose; they draw attention to Graces cultural background and allow her to make informed decisions. She and her two sisters are the only Taiwanese-American children at school until Melody arrives. The girls become friends and their common backgrounds illuminate further differences between the American and Taiwanese cultures. At the end of the year, the protagonist has grown substantially. Small, captioned, childlike black-and-white drawings are dotted throughout. This is an enjoyable chapter book with easily identifiable characters.