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8th out of 30 books
—
21 voters
Yoko
Mmm, Yoko's mom has packed her favorite for lunch today-sushi! But her classmates don't think it looks quite so yummy. "Ick!" says one of the Franks. "It's seaweed!" They're not even impressed by her red bean ice cream dessert. Of course, Mrs. Jenkins has a plan that might solve Yoko's problem. But will it work with the other children in class? Now in paperback for the fir...more
Hardcover, 32 pages
Published
1998
by Disney-Hyperion
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This book was a feel good story that teaches children of different cultures and going outside the box to try new things they are not accustom to. All the characters in this book were animals that represented different cultures. Yoko, the main character of this book, brought in sushi and other Japanese cuisine for lunch one day at school. The other children were surprised by the things Yoko was eating as everything in her lunchbox they had not seen before. The other children began to make fun of...more
Yoko’s mother has packed her favorite lunch, sushi. Yoko can’t wait to eat it, but at lunch all the other kids pull out sandwiches and make fun of Yoko, “Ick! It’s green! It’s seaweed!” The teacher, Mrs. Jenkins is concerned and decides to hold International Food Day. She sends a note home asking the children to bring in a dish from a foreign country, “Everyone must try a bite of everything!”
The book is illustrated in Wells’ signature style (you might be familiar with her immensely popular Max...more
The book is illustrated in Wells’ signature style (you might be familiar with her immensely popular Max...more
I like the honest way Yoko depicts what it can feel like to be a child told you are weird or strange or unliked. To be outcast – for any reason – is hurtful, and children understand that experience, often very personally. (Though understanding what it feels like to be left out and understanding that you are excluding others are two different developmental abilities.) I also appreciate that despite the support of Yoko’s teacher and parents, she is still bearing the brunt of peer abuse and rejec...more
This was a nice little book about diversity, tolerance, expanding one's horizons, and even, I guess, about bullying. My niece likes this book quite well (she's apparently read it before), and my nephew seemed to appreciate it, too. Was it a remarkably impactful book? Meh. Probably not all that much, but it wasn't pointless, either. Rosemary Wells just has a way of bringing kids' experiences of the world around them to life in her books. When my niece, nephew, and I read Rosemary Wells' books, th...more
This book portrays how immigrant students might feel left out in schools due to their different customs. Yoko brought Sushi for lunch but the other kids made fun of her for having a very different food. Yoko feels really bad so the teacher decides to have an international food day. Kids brought all kinds of different foods but no one tried Yoko's sushi. However, at the end one kid tries the sushi and falls in love with it. This book would be great for teaching about different cultures. I think i...more
This book reminded me of being in elementary school and being teaesed because I had 2 different ears. I also, hated eating in fron of my classmates. I never ate anything weird I was just always paranoid about having food in my braces oir something.
Yoko is different because she eats traditional foods from her heritage like sushi. "Ewwww," say all her classmates. They have more traditional food like peanut butter and honey. After realizing that yoko is being teased her teacher decides to have an...more
Yoko is different because she eats traditional foods from her heritage like sushi. "Ewwww," say all her classmates. They have more traditional food like peanut butter and honey. After realizing that yoko is being teased her teacher decides to have an...more
Jul 27, 2009
Jack Kirby and the X-man
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommended to Jack Kirby and the X-man by:
New York Public Library
This is a lovely story, particularly for any child who is perceived as different.
Yoko is the daughter of Japanese immigrants to the US. The cultural differences between her and her classmates leave her feeling ostracised. Rosemary Wells picks up on a common from immigrant kids - the food they bring to school highlights that they are different. The use of food in this book is really symbolic of the wider cultural differences between immigrants and their new home.
Mrs Jenkins, their teacher, is a s...more
Yoko is the daughter of Japanese immigrants to the US. The cultural differences between her and her classmates leave her feeling ostracised. Rosemary Wells picks up on a common from immigrant kids - the food they bring to school highlights that they are different. The use of food in this book is really symbolic of the wider cultural differences between immigrants and their new home.
Mrs Jenkins, their teacher, is a s...more
This heartwarming tale celebrates diversity and is all about being brave enough to try new things. In this case, Yoko takes sushi to school for lunch but everyone makes fun of her favorite food because it is different from everything else. The teacher tries to assist her by having everyone bring in a foreign dish and then trying a little of everything. Only one classmate tries her sushi and he realizes that he really likes it, so they begin sharing lunches the next day. I would love to see a foo...more
This book has a moral to the story. And that moral is not to judge a book by its cover. In this story Yoko is a cat that enjoys sushi. But in her classroom the other animals don't like sushi because they never had it. Throughout the book Yoko is made fun and even called names because she enjoys sushi. Then one day a raccoon in her class decides to try the sushi and after that he enjoys it. So everyday after Yoko and Timothy sat together and enjoyed sharing food. I think this book can teach kids...more
Yoko takes her favorite lunch, sushi, to school but all of her classmates make fun of her. The teacher decides that the next day everyone is the class will bring in an international dish to share so that they can see that different things are ok, but only one student eats Yoko’s sushi, and although this made Yoko feel better I found it kind of sad. I wanted all of the students to eat and enjoy the sushi and feel remorseful for making fun of Yoko. Also, the ending felt abrupt. I really wanted to...more
Yoko is Japanese. The kids in her class make fun of the sushi she brings for lunch. Through an ingenious plot by her teacher, the kids have to try various foods before making judgments. Yoko doesn't get teased anymore and makes a new friend.
What I thought: I love the message of this book--don't judge people just because they're different. I like that acceptance in the book is conditional. I think this is the way kids work. They have have to know that [blank:] isn't weird before they accept it. T...more
What I thought: I love the message of this book--don't judge people just because they're different. I like that acceptance in the book is conditional. I think this is the way kids work. They have have to know that [blank:] isn't weird before they accept it. T...more
I like Rosemary Wells. I've met her! But I like her books, too. (Something about growing up with "Noisy Nora" I guess.) This is one I've heard much of, but never got around to reading it. And it's really cute. I have a different understanding of it now as I eat some of this food more than I ever have before in my life. Plus, I've always been a supporter of trying foods before pronouncing an opinion on them.
By the way, in the spirit of internationalism (even though this book has more of a Japanes...more
By the way, in the spirit of internationalism (even though this book has more of a Japanes...more
There can never be too many children's books (or adult books, for that matter) about celebrating diversity. Here's a pretty good one to add to the list.
Yoko's family is Japanese, and her favorite food is sushi. During lunch at school one day, while the other kids eat very American sandwiches with condiments like "squeeze cheese," Yoko enjoys some homemade sushi with cucumber, seaweed, shrimp, and tuna (I'm hungry just writing this). In my mind, this should make her the most popular girl in the...more
Yoko's family is Japanese, and her favorite food is sushi. During lunch at school one day, while the other kids eat very American sandwiches with condiments like "squeeze cheese," Yoko enjoys some homemade sushi with cucumber, seaweed, shrimp, and tuna (I'm hungry just writing this). In my mind, this should make her the most popular girl in the...more
Sep 03, 2008
Matt
rated it
1 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
No one. Don't drink the kool-aid, even in small doses.
Shelves:
childrens
For reasons I can't entirely put my finger on, I'm not a big fan of Rosemary Wells. The closest I can get to it is to say that I think she speaks downward to the child reader a bit too much, but perhaps I would feel otherwise were I a three year old. Certainly my three year olds enjoy Wells more than I do, but on the other hand they just love to read and enjoy most anything with words and pictures.
But in the case of 'Yoko', there is more to my distaste than that.
'Yoko' is a simple story of a ch...more
But in the case of 'Yoko', there is more to my distaste than that.
'Yoko' is a simple story of a ch...more
PB 2. This book was beautiful. The pictures were enchanting and it give a great message about diversity. Also, I am a huge fan of animals as characters. I feel like a lot of children relate to them really well, sometimes even better than human characters. I had a teacher read this to me in elementary school in preparation for an international food day, and I still remember Yoko. Today, as I am studying to be a teacher, I will definitely be keeping this one on my list of books to read to future c...more
Aug 30, 2010
Modboy
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Boys and girls 3-8.
Recommended to Modboy by:
Brooklyn Library
Shelves:
childrens,
picture-books
Lovely story about Yoko, a Japanese cat, who brings her native sushi to school. The other (anthropomorphic) kids tease her and call her food yukky. The teacher, seeing this, comes up with a brilliant idea...
Teaches tolerance and also brings home the moral from "Green Eggs and Ham", basically: don't knock it until you try it. Also teaches that one should be proud of his/her heritage. There are also some interesting foods that children can discuss and possibly be curious enough to try for themselv...more
Teaches tolerance and also brings home the moral from "Green Eggs and Ham", basically: don't knock it until you try it. Also teaches that one should be proud of his/her heritage. There are also some interesting foods that children can discuss and possibly be curious enough to try for themselv...more
This is a wonderful book that can be used as a means to teach students about culture and diversity. It can also be used to show how teasing hurts others feelings. Animals play the characters. In this story, Yoko, is teased when she brings sushi to eat for lunch. To help, the teacher starts an international food day where each child can bring a dish from their culture. This book can leave room for classroom discussion and help teachers to create thier own "cultural food day". Grades k-2nd.
Simple story about a Japanese kitten whose classmates don't understand her "unusual" lunch choices. This might be a good book to share with a child who eats differently than his/her classmates, as well as his/her entire classroom.
Veg*n parents note: While this would be a nice story to share with a vegetarian child who has omnivorous classmates, the foods Yoko and many of her classmates eat is not veg*n. Yoko dines on seafood sushi throughout the story.
Veg*n parents note: While this would be a nice story to share with a vegetarian child who has omnivorous classmates, the foods Yoko and many of her classmates eat is not veg*n. Yoko dines on seafood sushi throughout the story.
Oct 23, 2011
Olivia Bailey
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Shelves:
anxiety,
bullying,
diversity,
first-day-of-school,
friendship,
welcoming,
international-day
This book would be good to read during the first 6 weeks of school. It teaches students that we are all different and not to make fun of other students.
Introduces students to an Asian background with sushi. It would be a good book for students to hear able and possibly try sushi.
The book is set in a school environment so class can do some compare and contrast between my class and the book's class.
Also, this would be an introduction to an International Day.
Introduces students to an Asian background with sushi. It would be a good book for students to hear able and possibly try sushi.
The book is set in a school environment so class can do some compare and contrast between my class and the book's class.
Also, this would be an introduction to an International Day.
This is an ok book about a little Japanese kitty who eats sushi. Her friends are not interested much in Sushi. All the little kids who go to the school eat different foods and other kids foods are much more popular. But one of her friends tries it and likes it...........
This book addresses the differences between cultures. Good idea for a book. It is readable, I just prefer something with more rythm.
This book addresses the differences between cultures. Good idea for a book. It is readable, I just prefer something with more rythm.
Jun 15, 2009
Regina
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommended to Regina by:
Betsy
Shelves:
kids-books,
books-i-ve-reviewed
Yoko was on the Top 100 Picture Books List from Elizabeth Bird's Fuse #8 blog, and I hadn't read it before. The kids at school make fun of Yoko's sushi lunch, but the teacher has a plan to raise cultural awareness, or at least try. I thought the book was delightful and very funny. It would be good for discussing multicultural differences with pre-K, K, & 1st grade kids. Rosemary Wells is a master!
This had a slightly different ending than I expected.
My son really liked this book and could not believe people would not like sushi. (Although my very picky son won't try raw fish...)
You may want to mention that if your kid brings a peanut butter and jelly sandwish, a whole apple, and a bag of lunch to school in a brown paper bag in Japan, then he or she will be regarded as the weird one.
My son really liked this book and could not believe people would not like sushi. (Although my very picky son won't try raw fish...)
You may want to mention that if your kid brings a peanut butter and jelly sandwish, a whole apple, and a bag of lunch to school in a brown paper bag in Japan, then he or she will be regarded as the weird one.
This is the quintessential multicultural picture book, because it truly is about how many cultures exist together and how they interact. One of my favorite elements of this story is that everyone does not come to love sushi, because it is easy to make kids feel bad if they don't like things. It is more about being open to other cultures and being able to find out if you like it.
I loved this book! I thought it was adorable and very relatable, for any person of any age. Yoko's mom makes her sushi and no one has tried it so they think it looks funny because it is different, and Yoko has one friend that does try it and loves it! The illustrations are simple and cute, and it is very easy to follow. I think children would love this!
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I loved that the characters were animals and that is how they were differentiated by cultural background. That aspect makes the illustrations very important to the text. Using an elementary school classroom as the setting also connects the experiences of the characters to the lives of children. Great for teaching kids to try new things.
All of the kids at school make fun of Yoko for bringing sushi for lunch.
Nice for talking about cultural diversity at an early level. And I do kind of love that she included the big old bulldog who insists on bringing Boston franks and beans to International Food Day - here's something you're going to encounter all your life, kids!
Nice for talking about cultural diversity at an early level. And I do kind of love that she included the big old bulldog who insists on bringing Boston franks and beans to International Food Day - here's something you're going to encounter all your life, kids!
Written and illustrated by Rosemary Wells, published by Hyperion, copyright 1998.
Grades: 1-3
During lunchtime at school, Yoko brings out her homemade package. The only problem is that her mom made her sushi for lunch! Not a very "cool" thing to bring to school. All the other kids make fun of her lunch, what is she to do? Then Yoko's wise teacher plans an international food day at school, and finally the other kids are able to experience some of Yoko's life. She ends up making new friends and even...more
Grades: 1-3
During lunchtime at school, Yoko brings out her homemade package. The only problem is that her mom made her sushi for lunch! Not a very "cool" thing to bring to school. All the other kids make fun of her lunch, what is she to do? Then Yoko's wise teacher plans an international food day at school, and finally the other kids are able to experience some of Yoko's life. She ends up making new friends and even...more
I've used this book in story time often. I love it! Poor Yoko's food looks so good, and no one will try it. My mother always told me to try it before you say you don't like it, so I did, even when my friend invited me to stay for dinner and her mother served liver! Great book to use in a multicultural classroom.
Why don't I like these books more!? I did appreciate this one in that it takes a somewhat superficial (albeit important!) aspect of culture ("weird food") and uses it to show how kids can be so narrow-minded and judgmental--seems like a good lesson for intolerance in the bigger aspects (i.e., religion)
This story is very sweet and a good message for kids, and teaches them about food from different countries. But what sets it apart for me is the artwork - it is so vibrant, and there is so much depth to the colors. It almost looks like enamel to me, even though that's kind of a strange way to describe it. I've never seen a picture book that looks quite like this, and I couldn't get enough of it.
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There is more than one author with this name
Rosemary Wells is the author of a number of popular children's books, most notably the Max and Ruby series which follows the everyday adventures of sibling bunnies - curious three year old Max and bossy seven year old Ruby. She gets the inspiration for Max and Ruby from her two daughters and the experiences they have with friends and school. Her West Hig...more
More about Rosemary Wells...
Rosemary Wells is the author of a number of popular children's books, most notably the Max and Ruby series which follows the everyday adventures of sibling bunnies - curious three year old Max and bossy seven year old Ruby. She gets the inspiration for Max and Ruby from her two daughters and the experiences they have with friends and school. Her West Hig...more
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