Dumpling Days

Dec 21, 2011 Justin rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: arc, fiction, funny, kids, taiwan

This one falls outside of my normal reading habits; while I’ve developed a bit of a weakness for teen lit/YA/whatever you want to call it, I don’t typically delve into middle-grade fiction now that I’m so far beyond my middle grades. I picked up an ARC of this because it looked cute, though, and it didn’t disappoint.

This is apparently the latest in a series of Lin’s books about Taiwanese-American girl Pacy. In this volume, she goes on a summer trip with her family to Taiwan. In the past, Pacy ha...more

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Oct 15, 2012 Karen Yingling rated it 3 of 5 stars

Pacy Lin sets off with her family to Taiwan for an entire month. Her grandmother is turning 60, a very lucky birthday, so the family goes to stay. Her mother and father are glad to be back home, but Pacy feels out of place and would rather be back in the US. She looks Taiwanese, but she doesn't speak the language, and everything seems odd and uncomfortable to her. She does enjoy the food, and manages to eat dumplings at almost every meal. She is enrolled in a traditional painting class, but her...more

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Aug 05, 2012 Rhiannon Ryder rated it 3 of 5 stars

I haven't had the pleasure of reading Pacy's other two stories, but after this one I'll be keeping my eye out. A fun story with great commentary on being first generation, out of place in both your birth place and the country of your families origin. I was impressed by how Lin dealt with difficult issues to explain, such as why Pacy's parents left Taiwan, and why Pacy's heritage is still important even though she was born American.

I'm first generation on my fathers side of the family, and much f...more I haven't had the pleasure of reading Pacy's other two stories, but after this one I'll be keeping my eye out. A fun story with great commentary on being first generation, out of place in both your birth place and the country of your families origin. I was impressed by how Lin dealt with difficult issues to explain, such as why Pacy's parents left Taiwan, and why Pacy's heritage is still important even though she was born American.

I'm first generation on my fathers side of the family, and much farther removed on my mothers (like mutt-mix removed), so in some regards I can totally empathise with Pacy. Granted I never accidentally ate chicken feet, I'm half dutch so my regional things were super yummy- milked down tea in my bottle (hence my caffeine addiction and great, passionate love of tea) and chocolate sprinkles on morning toast- but had I been flown to Holland and immersed in the culture there's bound to have been some hiccups. And of course there is the language barrier, like the time my Oma sent me a delightful postcard- a close up picture of cherries- written entirely in dutch. I had no idea they were on a trip, and to this day I have no idea where they were or what the card says. I can just imagine how difficult all these things would be at 11 and in a middle of different country where you don't speak the language.

Lin very gracefully wove a fun story of adventure together with a lot of bigger issues of culture and family. I liked that she both showed Pacy's frustration and unhappiness but also managed to show her slowly developing appreciation for her background and the family she's been so estranged from. It's not all pre-teen angst, and for that I was grateful, because the only thing worse than witnessing angst is reading about it.

This is one of those books that has something for everyone, it adventuresome, it has great things to say about being different and accepting who you are, and it's a great introduction to Taiwanese culture for those who aren't already familiar with it. Personally I loved all the tales about where various traditions come from.

An enjoyable read for the young girls in your life, next time you're out book shopping with them (March break maybe?) keep you eyes peeled for Dumpling Days.

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May 16, 2012 Leslie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012-reads, chapter-book-8-11, concenter-ish, early-reader-5-7, juvenile, middle-school-11-14, natalyas-shelf, part-of-a-series

One of the first things Natalya said when she finished the book, “I’m hungry!” Isn’t she always these days? But then, I started reading this just before bed and as I set it half-finished on my headboard I thought, “I’m hungry!” I’m not sure which is yummier about the read, the description of all the food or the story that features it.

"“You’re Taiwanese-American,” Mom said. “And, no matter what, that’s what you’ll always be.”

"Forever, I thought. I’d always be Taiwanese-American, no matter if I...more One of the first things Natalya said when she finished the book, “I’m hungry!” Isn’t she always these days? But then, I started reading this just before bed and as I set it half-finished on my headboard I thought, “I’m hungry!” I’m not sure which is yummier about the read, the description of all the food or the story that features it.

"“You’re Taiwanese-American,” Mom said. “And, no matter what, that’s what you’ll always be.”

"Forever, I thought. I’d always be Taiwanese-American, no matter if I spoke Chinese, made my eyes bigger, or was called a Twinkie. Even if I didn’t like it. Being Taiwanese-American was like making a brush stroke. The mark couldn’t be erased, and the ink and the paper could never be separated. They were joined forever." (221)

I’ve yet to read The Year of the Dog and The Year of the Rat (which I plan to remedy very soon), but Dumpling Days is a new chapter in Pacy Lin’s life. She and her family are flying to Taiwan for the month to visit her parents’ homeland and celebrate her grandmother’s very important 60th birthday. Their visit coincides with Ghost Month, which works perfectly within the story because Pacy can’t help but feel like a ghost herself. She often feels as if she does not belong, and upon occasion, disliked. Pacy cannot speak or read the language (Chinese or Taiwanese) and the culture is unfamiliar which makes for some very hard moments. But it isn’t as if she feels 100% like she belongs back home in New Hartford, New York either. Much of Dumpling Days is Pacy coming to find and embrace her identity as a Taiwanese-American.

Pacy, as our narrator, has a great sense of humor so while serious topics are explored, there is a levity I found completely charming. Another thing I appreciated about the way the story is framed, using a child narrator, is that Pacy and her sisters needn’t be politically correct. While Grace Lin has adults to debunk misconceptions, or clarify potentially negative misgivings, the children are allowed to be disgusted by things like restrooms, or stinky tofu. There is an irreverence that some of the adults observe that I really admire. Grace Lin is telling a story, not selling people on Taiwanese culture. The sincerity is a gift. The sale is a given.

One of the selling points of Taiwanese culture for Pacy is the food. It is an accessible way for her to explore the culture her parents want her to take part in. Her love of dumplings (and food in general) becomes a source of humor, but it also creates a thread and a means to share a story or lesson in language. Art is another way her parents think to introduce their artist daughter to her heritage. This feels tenuous to Pacy, but it turns into a valuable source of metaphor and a place to further explore what she thinks she knows about herself, and what she has yet to learn.

I really enjoy Grace Lin’s writing. She slips in gorgeous little similes and metaphors here and there and her sense of humor and pacing is flawless. I adore her sense of storytelling. In Dumpling Days she finds perfect moments to share a story with Pacy (and us) that enriches the cultural experience. These moments find relevance in the text so the tales are natural outpourings of the story—in other words, it doesn’t feel contrived. For instance, in explaining a bit about Ghost Month, Pacy’s father shares a story about his Great Uncle-Zhuzhan. The format shifts into a heading “Honoring Great-Uncle Zhuzhan” and the text becomes italicized (30-32). The print quietly returns to the greater story as the father finishes his tale. Between these little narratives and the illustrations by the author, the story takes on a nice texture. The playfulness extends to the bottom corners of the book featuring a flip-book sequence mimicking the crosswalk signal figure Pacy tells the readers about.

Few books are as informative and entertaining as Dumpling Days. Be sure to plan a dinner to compliment the reading. And take some time to explore some of the conversations in the book about identity and culture. I think the book heightens a sensitivity to immigrants and cultures other than your own. And I think it encourages the reader to explore and celebrate their own heritage, as well. I found myself not only hungry for dumplings and more stories from Taiwan, but for the comfort of my own stories and the spaetzle that comes with them.
--
L (@ omphaloskepsis)
http://contemplatrix.wordpress.com/20...(less)

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Apr 29, 2012 Susann rated it 4 of 5 stars

As Pacy and her Taiwanese American family spend a month visiting relatives in Taiwan, Pacy discovers her roots and grapples with questions about her identity. I enjoyed learning more about the Taiwanese culture–especially the food–but never felt as if I were stuck in a Social Studies lesson. From temples to toilets, Lin shows all aspects of the society, but she also writes a great family story, à la the Fossil family or Penderwicks. Watching Pacy interact with Lissy reminded me of traveling with...more

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Mar 18, 2012 Barb Middleton rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: good-read-aloud, realistic

Living overseas is difficult and wonderful. On the street, Chinese conversations flow around me like incense and the street signs look like mixed-up chopsticks. Communication oftentimes means charades, and buying what looks like milk, might be a carton of yogurt milk. At first, this new lifestyle for me was overwhelming, but now I have become used to the strangeness of it all, laughing at my mistakes and learning to find joy in each day. Pacy has similar experiences in Dumpling Days by Grace Lin...more Living overseas is difficult and wonderful. On the street, Chinese conversations flow around me like incense and the street signs look like mixed-up chopsticks. Communication oftentimes means charades, and buying what looks like milk, might be a carton of yogurt milk. At first, this new lifestyle for me was overwhelming, but now I have become used to the strangeness of it all, laughing at my mistakes and learning to find joy in each day. Pacy has similar experiences in Dumpling Days by Grace Lin, where she too, must adjust to her new surroundings in a foreign country for the summer and learn to find happiness in the adventure of each day.

Pacy is an artist. She visits Taiwan with her parents and two sisters to see relatives and take a painting class. She learns in class that Chinese painting is about sending a message, not painting a picture. Like brushstrokes on a canvas, Grace Lin paints many messages in this novel, one of them being do not compare yourself to others. Pacy compares her artwork with another girl in class and it makes her dissatisfied and unhappy. She wants to paint the best picture in class and win a blue ribbon at the exhibit, but realizes on the last day that she has been so focused on winning that she makes herself unhappy and misses out on making a friend with a girl named Eva. She learns in Chinese painting that you cannot go back and erase anything and thinks how that happens in life; how she cannot go back and make friends with Eva - art class is over and she'll never see her again.

Pacy finds that her painting talent is fickle, "The fortune-teller had said my special skill would be used all my life. Why did it keep disappearing? It made me hollow and fragile, like an empty eggshell." How true! A part of Pacy's growth as an artist, or any artist or athlete for that matter, is the ups and downs of acquiring new skills. Pacy also likes her paintings but hopes for "an even better one." She is not always content and it is how she deals with these internal struggles that adds tension and makes this story so enjoyable to read. Pacy learns that while winning is fun, it cannot be the only pursuit because it takes away her joy.

Pacy explores not only the artist within herself, but she is struggling to find her identity. Pacy is Taiwanese-American and some people expect her to speak Chinese because she looks Asian; however, she cannot speak it and is overwhelmed by being in a foreign country and not understanding the language. She's a Twinkie, Chinese on the outside and Americanized on the inside. She gets angry at times, feels ashamed at other times, but she learns to deal with it and change in a positive way. Even her relationship with her two sisters changes, as they too, deal with a different culture in their own way. When Lissy gets some glamorous photos done, Pacy decides that they are fake and that Pacy needs to be herself and real wherever she is in the world. She is examining who she is in the world and what is important to her as a person. Pacy also misses her friend Melody who has moved to California. She thinks about her often, especially when someone does something that reminds her of Melody, and she sends her a postcard from Taiwan. I think the strength of this book is that the action is grounded in every day life. There are no dramatic plot twists but everyday occurrences and the reader will be able to relate to much of what Pacy is going through during her vacation. At times I felt like I was reading my journal when reading this book, making many connections from my experiences living overseas, and it added tremendously to my enjoyment of the story.

But unlike my random journal writing, Grace Lin constructs this story with rich imagery and repetition. The chapters are full of wonderful similes and metaphors found in Asian culture such as chopsticks, umbrellas, and soup: "His fingers reminded me of chopsticks picking the best pieces of meat from a dish," "Seeing him made all my grumpiness from being hungry fall away like rain being shaken from a wet umbrella," "A warm, happy feeling filled me like I had swallowed a bowl of delicious soup." The culture is explained and built upon through the internal struggles of Pacy. The ghost month and superstitions that are associated with it are woven throughout the plot and images and cultural explanations are built upon each other using repetition that creates a snowball effect. For instance, when Pacy is finding her identity as a Taiwanese-American, she thinks about the meaning of her name and her siblings names in Chinese. She learns about the use of name chops in Chinese culture and in paintings meanwhile relating and reflecting on this knowledge through incidents that happen to her and her sisters in Taiwan. When Pacy has insight into who she is as a person or artist she comments that it is a "beautiful thought" which is her sister Lissy's Chinese name. Folk tales and family stories from the past are also used to connect the culture to Pacy's internal changes. As Pacy learns about Taiwan culture so does the reader. The dumplings are used throughout the story. They give Pacy comfort, represent something she likes in Taiwan, and add humor to the plot (they also made me so hungry we ate at Din Tai Fung, a famous dumpling restaurant). The author uses the dumpling as a simile and also explains and illustrates how to make dumplings and the different kinds found in other countries. The author's message is stronger using this technique. Plus, the chapters are like small episodes in and of themselves which makes for a good read aloud.

Dumpling Days reads like a travel memoir dealing with everyday life in a foreign country with it's unique food smells, sounds, and sights and what it is like adjusting to all the changes, as well as, what it means to make new friends, lose friends, be a minority, be flexible, and have an identity. The illustrations are going to help readers visualize different cultural foods and items. Make sure to look at the page numbers! I love how the green man on the street lights walks through the pages.

Pacy's father says it is a good trip when "You take something with you, you leave something behind and you are forever changed." This can be said for living overseas as well. Taiwan has been a good life for me and I have learned to love it. Like Uncle Shin, I have two homes. I miss Taiwan when I'm in the U.S. and I miss the U.S. when I'm in Taiwan. This is not a bad thing. This is a good thing and my life is richer for it.

I want to have a book club with this book next fall. With dumplings! Of course!

Reading Level 4.4
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Dec 24, 2011 Dorine White rated it 4 of 5 stars

I discovered a fantastic upper middle grade read that I’d like to share, Dumpling Days, by Grace Lin. Published by Little, Brown books, it is an amazing multi cultural story filled with color, history and wit. It hits shelves Jan. 2nd, 2012.

The Story- Pacy loves her life in America and is surprised when her parents decide to spend a whole month in Taiwan to prepare for their grandmother’s sixtiest birthday. Even though Pacy is Taiwanese/American, she and her two sisters do not speak Chinese and...more

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Dec 17, 2011 NebraskaIcebergs rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: own

If you think that “dumplings can brighten your day” is lame for a theme, you might be right. For several chapters of Dumpling Days, I found myself wondering if it would be all about new sights, new food, and new relatives. While there is nothing inherently wrong with this, it is kind of like being awestruck by a movie simply because of its special effects. At some point, the glitter loses its sparkle. So as much as Lin made me desire to see China, and especially sample its delectable foods, I re...more

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Dec 15, 2011 Barbara rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: cultural-identity

When her parents decide that the entire Lin family will spend part of their summer vacation in Taiwan in order to celebrate their maternal grandmother's sixtieth birthday, Pacy is not too thrilled. She doesn't know the language, and she keeps remembering how she was teased and called a Twinkie for being yellow on the outside and white on the inside. Her parents have signed the three Lin girls up for culturally-enriching classes, and Pacy worries about how different Taiwan is compared to her safe...more

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Oct 30, 2011 Wandering Librarians rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: family, fiction, good-for-anyone, humor, middle-grade, realistic-fiction, series, serious-issues

I have to admit that I might have a deeper resonance to the themes in this book than most, considering the fact that I'm Korean American and was raised in the Midwest. I look Asian on the outside but my cultural connection is to my white parents, I've been to Korea and I felt super American. Where do you fit in? How do you deal with the subtle racism that you meet with every day? There were parts that made me want to cry because they were true representations of my experience.

I really enjoyed th...more

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Nov 16, 2011 nicole j. wroblewski rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: 8-12. Especially good for a book group or class read-aloud.

Shelves: 2011, 7up

I received this as a galley and didn't plan on reading it, at least not before looking into the two Pacy Lin books that come before it. But then I came upon Elizabeth Bird's 5-star review and a comment where she encouraged another reader to dig into it, despite not having read the titles that precede. So I made that my go-ahead as well and I'm so glad I did.

Dumpling Days is a (fictionalized) travel memoir for the middle grade sect, full of the sights, sounds, and especially the tastes of Taiwan,...more I received this as a galley and didn't plan on reading it, at least not before looking into the two Pacy Lin books that come before it. But then I came upon Elizabeth Bird's 5-star review and a comment where she encouraged another reader to dig into it, despite not having read the titles that precede. So I made that my go-ahead as well and I'm so glad I did.

Dumpling Days is a (fictionalized) travel memoir for the middle grade sect, full of the sights, sounds, and especially the tastes of Taiwan, told from the perspective of Pacy Lin, self-proclaimed "twinkie", artist, and serious dumpling-lover. Along with her two sisters, Pacy is a first generation Taiwanese-American. It's clear that even when she's home, (home being New Hartford) she sometimes feels out of place; Too Asian for America, too American for Asia. Pacy recalls a close friend innocently but painfully telling her that she doesn't "match" the boy she has a crush on at school because of her coloring and the shape of her eyes. And in Taiwan, everyone she comes across seems full of disdain when they learn that she doesn't speak the language. Enrolled in a Chinese painting class, even Pacy's confidence in her artistic ability start to waver when forced to work in an unfamiliar way, and she finds herself competing with a classmate instead of having any fun. Her experiences and frustrations lead her to question her parents about why they moved to America in the first place and if they regret not teaching their daughters to speak Chinese. She even begins to appreciate the struggle her parents must have faced themselves, as immigrants.

What works so well here is that while Pacy (and many readers, myself included) is exposed to umpteen new things -- Chinese celebrations and traditions (from ghost month to importance of a 60th birthday and Lissy's glamour shots), foods (from the dumpling varieties Pacy can't get enough of to the stinky tofu she can't stomach), the general atmosphere (crowded streets, crazy traffic, stray dogs), and even a new way of making art, Pacy's excitements and discomforts are always relatable. We all squabble with siblings, get scared, try new things, and struggle to accept ourselves. Dumpling Days is a story about learning and loving both parts of yourself. In the end Pacy figures out she doesn't have to choose between dumplings and hamburgers. She can, thankfully, enjoy both.

And on that note... THE FOOD. It might be best to only read this book on a full stomach. The dumpling and sushi descriptions had me aching to eat. The dim sum restaurant, in particular, I imagine, with all of it's exciting array of food carts, will get a lot of young readers interested to try it themselves. Dumpling Days offers a great way for kids to connect with Chinese culture, and more generally, the wonderfully diverse meanings of the word "American". I imagine this to be a fantastic book to read along with your kids even if it's just to get them pumped to check out your local Chinese restaurant. Dumpling Days combines Pacy's own experiences along with short, highly interesting anecdotes from Chinese history to put things into context (Like cousin Cliffords "Story of Dumpling Soup"). At the very least, what child wouldn't be intrigued by the concept of Ghost Month?

A layered and educational, but easily digestible novel. Share this book!(less)

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Jan 18, 2012 Miz Lizzie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: airplanes, asian-american, childrensbooks, artists, families, food, realistic-fiction, series, siblings, summer-holidays, taiwan, folklore, storytelling

Dumpling Days, the third installment in Grace Lin's semi-autobiographical chapter books about her childhood, reads rather like a travel narrative for children, with an emphasis on food (yum). Pacy and her her two sisters travel to Taiwan with her parents for her grandmother's 60th birthday. This is the girls' first trip to their parents' homeland and being in a place where everyone looks like them but speaks a different language is very disconcerting for them. Pacy is also frustrated to find tha...more

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Jan 27, 2013 Sarah D'Arco rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: classroom-library, middle-grade-chapter

Really enjoyed this account of Grace Lin's childhood summer in Taiwan. I think that portions of this could work well as a mentor text for teaching about personal narrative and extending small moments.

In the book, Grace and her two sisters are just departing the United States for a twenty eight day stay in Taiwan to visit family. The whole summer seems to stretch before them and all three girls are not exactly looking forward to being away from the comforts of home for so long. Grace discovers m...more

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May 11, 2012 Loralee rated it 4 of 5 stars

Fun, engaging middle-grade book about an Asian-American girl visiting Taiwan for the first time, where everybody stares at her when she can't understand Chinese. Basing the novel on her own experiences, Lin paints vivid and delightful pictures of the markets, the traffic, the cities, the bins where people burn paper money to appease ghosts; and especially the food (Pacy gets to try all sorts of dumplings). While I thought some of the messages were delivered in a slightly heavy-handed manner, as...more

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Aug 25, 2012 Anne Toronto1 rated it 3 of 5 stars

http://www.gracelin.com/content.php?p...
"Dumpling Days" by Grace Lin author/ illustrator, with simple childlike black line drawings, including miniature street walk signs in the bottom corners counting down from 39 seconds (numbers repeat, sequence unclear) for tiny figure to cross road. Based on two trips to Taiwan, young and recent, covers food, family, towers, bustling crowds, oppressive noise, odors, and lost feeling of belonging neither in East or West, to happy ending decision by heroine h...more

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Jan 12, 2012 Heidi rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: childrens-geography, diversity, great-teaching-books, middle-grade-realistic, newbery-contenders-2012

I'll confess right now that Grace Lin is one of my favorite authors. I've really enjoyed everything she has written. I really enjoy reading books about other places in the world and Lin introduces Taiwan beautifully. While I've never been in a country where I did not speak the dominate language, I sympathized with Pacy's confusion and frustration in trying to communicate with those she met. I've had students at my school who speak no English and I'm often baffled at how to communicate with them,...more

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Jun 25, 2011 Jennifer rated it 5 of 5 stars

I was so pleased to get my hands on an advance copy of this! The Pacy Lin series continues with more great stories about food, the Lin family, and explorations of ethnic and personal identity. Grace Lin manages to pack quite a lot of thoughtful stuff into Dumpling Days, but as always, she works it into the story in a way that doesn't bog it down. These books are fun and entertaining without being dumbed-down or saccharine. As an adult reader, I found a couple of moments where stuff seemed spoon-...more

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Jan 31, 2013 Elaine rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: kids-books

I loved this book! I've loved the earlier books about Pacy too, but this one really hit home. I could completely relate to Pacy's experience being thrust into a new culture, which was supposedly her own culture, wary and not-so-thrilled with it at the beginning, and loving it by the end, and at the same time, making peace with her own identity, having the best of both worlds, rather than being alienated in each world. This has been a struggle of mine throughout my life, and to have this book so...more

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Aug 17, 2012 Barbie rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is the third in a series of autobiographical novels based on Lin's childhood. I have not read the other two, but I feel Dumpling Days stands on its own.

Pacy Lin is excited about the approaching summer and plans to spend it with friends in her hometown of New Hartford, NY. Pacy and her two sisters are surprised and anxious when her parents tell them of their month long summer visit to Taiwan to celebrate their grandmother's 60th birthday. Not only are the girls visiting family members they'...more

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Mar 13, 2012 Steven Stickler rated it 4 of 5 stars

Third time's the charm. Grace Lin has shown an enviable knack for exploring the contours of cultural identity and confusion. She writes with a kind of matter-of-fact tone and wittiness that allows Pacy's struggles with her Taiwanese-American heritage and sense of belonging (or lack of it) to become a central theme of the book without becoming so overpowering that the reader loses sight of the other important things in life (like dumplings).

In this, the third book in the series, Pacy travels to...more

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Feb 24, 2012 Brett rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: juvenile-realistic

Grace Lin's third mostly autobiographical story about a young Taiwanese-American girl named Pacy growing up in upstate New York is a wonderful & very interesting introduction to the country of Taiwan, its people, culture, & of course food.
Pacy's family is going to be spending a whole month in Taiwan over the summer, set to coincide with her grandmother's big 60th birthday party. This will be Pacy's first visit to the country her parents are originally from & where much of her family...more

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Apr 02, 2012 Phoebe rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: juv, realistic-fiction, taiwan

Pacy and her family spend part of their summer in Taiwan to celebrate Pacy's grandmother's 60th birthday. The girls are apprehensive but their loving extended family, the wonderful food, and the new sights and smells of their surroundings soon help them overcome any doubts. Written in a conversational manner, the book should appeal to most middle graders because the tone is so familiar. The small cartoonish illustrations are fun; the best part to my mind were the insertions of old stories from C...more

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Feb 29, 2012 Jenny rated it 3 of 5 stars

Recommended to Jenny by: ARC

Shelves: character

This third installment of the Pacy series is a departure from the previous two books. Instead of taking place in upstate New York, Pacy and her family go to Taiwan during the summer to celebrate her maternal grandmother’s 60th birthday. Grace Lin even mentions Love Boat, every Taiwanese-American teenager’s drunken nautical summer camp hookup wet dream, but alas we aren’t privy to a Love Boat adventure in Dumpling Days. We may get the rated R story if Lin ever decides to write a young adult book...more This third installment of the Pacy series is a departure from the previous two books. Instead of taking place in upstate New York, Pacy and her family go to Taiwan during the summer to celebrate her maternal grandmother’s 60th birthday. Grace Lin even mentions Love Boat, every Taiwanese-American teenager’s drunken nautical summer camp hookup wet dream, but alas we aren’t privy to a Love Boat adventure in Dumpling Days. We may get the rated R story if Lin ever decides to write a young adult book about an 18 year old Pacy but as it is, there are plenty of new discoveries to be had for Pacy—things like vibrating Japanese toilets that let out sirens and play music, glamour photos and getting eye folds applied, and squat toilets.

Two new things in this book are 1) Pacy gets a catty rival in her Chinese painting class, Audrey Chiang, who is the type of kid who takes extra math and science classes at another school during the summer so that she can retake them at her own school during the school year and get A’s. Audrey is really intense and will probably freak out with her freedom in college, become a party girl, and get knocked up. OR she’ll be first chair violin, go to Harvard, be a doctor, and marry a CEO but will be a little fucked up and grow up to resent her tiger mother (but will probably treat her own children in the exact same way). “I liked her so much better when she was an alcoholic crack addict” (>Ghost World).

This book is also interspersed with stories told by her family and a lot of customs are explained like why we tap our fingers on the table after someone pours you tea at dim sum. Lin uses the setting of ghost month to talk a lot about Chinese superstitions, funeral rites, and ancestral piety which is central to Chinese culture. But she also uses ghost month as a catalyst to bring up the big theme in the Pacy books which is traversing the confusion of cultural identity for Asian Americans. Pacy doesn’t feel Asian enough because she doesn’t speak the language and she still feels like an outsider sometimes to her white friends. Pacy says, “I still felt as if I were a twisted knot. I was angry at all of them—the bus driver, the convention girls, the market lady. I wanted to yell, “I’m an American!” but they wouldn’t have believed me. Inside, I felt hard and stubborn, like a fist clutching a stolen pearl. I didn’t want to learn Chinese, I didn’t wan to paint bamboo, and I didn’t want to be here in Taiwan. Here, people either despised me or acted like I wasn’t there, looking through me like a ghost” (128). I really enjoyed that little bit of defiance. It is a familiar trope in Asian American literature, this idea of being in an in-between state, of not belonging to either world, of feeling invisible like a ghost. Despite being years away from post-colonial theory, it reminds me of what Homi Bhabha and other po-co theorists have said about the in-between stage—this hybrid site that produces new and questions the rigidity of pre-existing cultural markers. It is the most promising site for being able to subvert hegemonic conditions because you can be both and not both those things.

What makes this book different from the previous books is that she shares this same feeling with her mother. Pacy’s mother shares stories about her difficulty transitioning to the United States and how she too once felt like a ghost. And her mother is still struggling with it too, because after a pick pocketing incident on the Taiwanese subway, her mother says a little sadly that pickpockets only target tourists. And her sister also empathizes with her too. The previous books focused on friendships more than sibling bonding but in this one, because she’s removed from her friends in New York and her best friend Melody has moved to Diamond Bar (shout out to my DB homie Stacy), Pacy discovers a new friend in her older sister. They also share the feeling of being treated like outsiders in Taiwan.

Like the other two books, Lin gives a lot of love to talking about the food in Taiwan, because let’s face it, Chinese identity is really wrapped up in food. They hit a lot of Taiwanese food highlights like xiaolongbao at Din Tai Fung, hand-pulled niurou mien, wax apples which tasted “like an apple crossed with a bubble” (125), boba (which they call frog eggs), stinky tofu, and exotic fried meat on sticks at the night market. Even the corn soup and rice burgers from the Taiwanese McDonald’s were sounding pretty good. There was a little too much talk about Pacy’s love for dumplings and I found some of the charm was taken away from the idea because it felt done to death. It felt like a catch phrase like someone was always saying, “Aw shucks that ole Pacy sure loves her dumplings!” Though I still enjoyed this book, I still prefer Year of the Rat since it was slightly less cutesy.

I learned that once you introduce Homi Bhabha in your review, there’s no going back.(less)

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Apr 11, 2012 Shazzer rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012-middle-grade, middle-grade

I'll say this about Grace Lin: the woman knows how to write about food. I had such a mad craving for dumplings during and after reading this, I simply had to go out and order some. Pacy's gastronomical adventures on her first trip to Taiwan were very rewarding. So too, as it happens, were all her other (mis)adventures. Being their third outing together, Lin has a perfect handle on Pacy's voice and personality. I never doubted the character for a moment. I certainly hope this isn't the last we'll...more

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May 15, 2012 JennLynn rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-2012-library

Taiwanese-American Pacy goes for her first visit to Taiwan with her parents and two sisters. She has mixed feelings, particularly when she is enrolled for a Chinese painting class. But she enjoys meeting her relatives and seeing a few cities in Taiwan, as well as new experiences like riding the subway and bullet train and visiting markets. As time goes on she comes to terms with her dual identity. This was a fairly light yet interesting read, particularly if you don't know anything about Taiwan....more

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Jan 18, 2012 Marci rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2012, published-in-2012, juvenile, realistic-fiction

In this third book about Pacey and her family, we see Pacey and her family flying over to Taiwan for a month over summer break. Pacey's grandmother is turning 60, a very important number as she has lived to see 5 cycles of the Zodiac sign. Pacey's not sure she wants to go. She doesn't speak Chinese or Taiwanese and feels like a "Twinkie" yellow on the outside, white on the inside. I find Pacey's story really relateable. As a child of immigrants who was not spoken to in either Arabic or Portugues...more

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Dec 30, 2012 Carmine rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: 2-5th graders

Shelves: family, gentle-stories, juvenile-fiction

In this third installment of the Pacy books, she reluctantly spends a month in Taiwan with her family for her grandmother's 60th birthday and her parents want her to discover Taiwanese culture. There are many descriptions of food and eating, don't read this one on an empty stomach. I had a fierce hunger by the end of this book.

Another sweet book about a sweet family living life. If only her buddy Melody were named Betsy, these could be called Betsy-Pacy...a contemporary take on friendship and f...more

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Apr 03, 2012 Anastasia Tuckness rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: realistic-fiction, c2012, juvenile-fiction

I thoroughly enjoyed this book-- it's solid realistic fiction about a girl (Pacy) who is Taiwanese-American and visits Taiwan for a month with her family. She shares her experiences, from the delicious food to the crowed streets, and her personal thoughts and reflections on what it means to be part of two very different cultures. Like the first two books about Pacy, this one is sure to be enjoyed by readers who like real stories about real kids. I would particularly recommend it to girls from 3r...more

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Dec 30, 2012 kb rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: azns-represent

My interests level towards this book was pretty high because 1) my family and I were travelling to Taipei, and 2) my family and I were travelling to Taipei. The cover is spot-on, plus I loved the sketches that came along with the story - which was as exciting as any 13-year-old's travelogue could be, but I guess I'm just not 13 anymore. It wasn't exactly awful and I'd hate to call the following as Boo!s but there we go:

Boo!s
-I know food is a HUGE part of culture but Grace Lin could have made thi...more

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May 21, 2012 Virginia Brace rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: junior-fiction

Very good way to get into the shoes of a young girl who was born in America but who looks Chinese because her heritage is Taiwanese. When she travels to Taiwan to meet her relatives, she looks like everyone there but does not speak Taiwanese and feels different sometimes. When she is in the US she speaks English but looks Taiwanese so feels different sometimes. There is no anguish, her parents want her to know and embrace both cultures as they do. They all have wonderful times together as a fami...more

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