Julia Song and her friend Patrick would love to win a blue ribbon, maybe even two, at the state fair. Theys life as complicated as possible, no mat...
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reviews
Jun 25, 2010
mitchell
rated it: 
Why I really, really like this book:
1.
Julia, a Korean-American seventh-grader, deals with a lot of issues common to Asians growing up in the United States. I immediately identified with some of her insecurities.
2.
Patrick, Julia's best friend, becomes her friend mainly because he's not put off by the smell of kim chee. I love how a simple thing like this can break through some of Julia's hangups and lead to a real friendship. When you're that age, someti More...
1.
Julia, a Korean-American seventh-grader, deals with a lot of issues common to Asians growing up in the United States. I immediately identified with some of her insecurities.
2.
Patrick, Julia's best friend, becomes her friend mainly because he's not put off by the smell of kim chee. I love how a simple thing like this can break through some of Julia's hangups and lead to a real friendship. When you're that age, someti More...
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Mar 09, 2011
Reading Vacation's Mom
rated it:
Some books have strong character development, and Project Mulberry is one of those books. As the silkwork project progresses, Julia goes from hating the worms, to loving them. She also goes from being uncomfortable with her Korean heritage to embracing it. I especially enjoyed the "conversations" between Julia and the author after most chapters. This was a writing technique that I had never seen before.
I found the relationship between Julia and Patrick to be realistic. Sometimes they w More...
I found the relationship between Julia and Patrick to be realistic. Sometimes they w More...
Jan 19, 2012
NCPL
rated it:
Julia Song hates being Korean. She hates kimchee, Korean pickled cabbage made with garlic, green onions, and hot red peppers. She hates the taste of kimchee, she hates the sight of kimchee, and most of all, Julia hates the smell of kimchee and the way it permeates the house almost immediately after it’s made or a jar of it is opened. Julia and her best friend Patrick have joined the Wiggle Club (Work-Grow-Give-Live!), which is like 4-H. They want to pick the perfect project and win at the sta
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Oct 16, 2011
528_Kristin
rated it: 
Summary: Julia is a typical American child who lives in Plainfield, Illinois. Her family is Korean, and she sometimes has a hard time with that. She wants to blend in and be more “American”. Her best friend Patrick lives across the street. Together they join the Wiggle Club, an environmental club. They need to do an animal husbandry project, but can’t decide on what to do. Julia’s mom suggested raising silk worms like her mother used to do in Korea.
Patrick is thrilled with the idea, but Ju More...
Patrick is thrilled with the idea, but Ju More...
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Aug 16, 2011
Trinity
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The book is very relatable for kids interested in animals. Linda was very smart by adding the dialogue between her and one of the characters. It added some extra history to the creation of the book. I think the book was most exciting in the mid-beginning and towards the end, but even those parts weren't that interesting. The only reason that I rated the book with three stars is because it wasn't the greatest compared to other books I have read. I feel there was no real exciting moments the made
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Feb 10, 2010
Ruhama
rated it:
Julia is a Korean American who wishes she didn’t stand out so much— even her house smells Korean because of the kimchee. Her friend Patrick doesn’t seem to notice this issue, and loves getting a bite of kimchee every time he comes over, so when he suggests they do a silkworm project for the WIGGLE club (like 4-H), he doesn’t see Julia’s secret resistance to something so Korean. Eventually, Julia does get excited (and decides friendship is more important, so she sacrifices her dislike of the pr
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Jun 02, 2010
Tricia
rated it:
Many years ago, my sister worked at a drama department at a state university in the southwest. Somehow they ended up on the crew for a Paul McCartney concert in the big arena (in the dressing room, perhaps? I forget that part). Apparently the contract specified that no meat could be sold in the concession stands during the concert, since Linda McCartney was a vegetarian vocal animal rights advocate. My sister wanted to point out that many silkworms had to be boiled in their cocoons to make the s
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Mar 17, 2009
Barky
rated it:
Julia and her best friend Patrick are looking for a project for Wiggle Club (Work-Grow-Give-Live) and they hope to enter it in the state fair. But, after examining multiple possibilities, they’re still at a loss. Finally, Julia’s mother suggests that they try raising silkworms. Patrick thinks this is a great idea, but Julia feels it’s too Korean. She won’t come straight out and tell Patrick that she doesn’t want to do the project, though, so that makes for a lot of tension between them. Eve
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Oct 17, 2011
Crista
rated it:
Set in the Chicago suburb of Plainfield, this small town USA story is about a girl named Julia and her best friend Patrick as they complete a project for their WGGL (Work, Grow, Give, Live) group. While completing their project they learn valuable life lessons about survival, racism, family traditions. The reader also gets a close up look into the writing process as the main character converses with the author between the chapters.
This is a very clever story that threads together so More...
This is a very clever story that threads together so More...
Jan 26, 2011
L11Beverly
rated it:
I really enjoyed reading this book! It was on the list for my 4th grade daughter to read for her school's Battle of the Books contest, so we read it aloud together. The story revovles around two friends who want to enter a project in the state fair together. The main character, Julie, is from Korea and when her friend thinks of a project they can do that can be entered in two categories at the fair, Julie doesn't want the project to be too Korean, but can't admit it to her friend. The way th
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Aug 15, 2009
Ruth
rated it:
7th grade Korean student, Julia Song and her friend Patrick want to develop an award-winning project for the state fair. Her mother suggests that they raise silkworms as she did at one time, but Julia wants to do something more "American." As the story progresses she and Patrick expand their boundaries to include an elderly Black man who allows them to harvest leaves from his mulberry tree to feed the worms. She discovers that her mother is prejudiced against Black people and she find
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Sep 02, 2011
Tween
rated it:
PROJECT MULBERRY is a wonderful book. Julia and her friend Patrick have a project to do for the farming club that they are in. They want to raise an animal for the category Animal Husbandry, but they're not sure what animal. Julia's mom suggests silkworms. Patrick loves the idea, but Julia has problems with it. She thinks it is too Korean. Julia is Korean, and sometimes she gets teased for it. Julia won't admit that she doesn't like the idea, so she goes along with it, secretly doing ev
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May 01, 2011
Neil
rated it:
This was an interesting YAL book in a number of ways. First, it handles a bunch of social issues: assimilation, bigotry, ecology. Layered into the mix is a hint of teen romance and sibling rivalry. Finally, and the most interesting conceit, is that Ms. Park has an "interview" with her lead character at the end of nearly every chapter about the process of writing. While it's certainly fun and interesting to see the writer's process, I must admit that at times this gimmick stops the
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Feb 02, 2009
Gustafson96
rated it:
"Project Mulberry" is a book about two best friends who do an agricultural project together on silkworms. This may have been nominated for a 2009 Caudill award, but some things made it boring for me. I thought that the characters were not described very well. You don't really get any personality from them throughout most of the story.This made it harder to connect to the characters and less realistic. On the contrary, the overall plot was well told and it had a good message.Also, I lik
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Oct 23, 2007
Abbie
rated it: 
There are a lot of themes going on in this book. It feels a little messy, and some of the ideas are never tied up successfully. It also gets a bit preachy at times. It also has sections between the chapters where the author discusses things with the main character; it didn't really work for me.
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Jun 30, 2011
Ginger
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Julia is a Korean-American girl. She and her friend Kenney are trying to think of a project to complete for the state fair. Through various scenes, it is easy to see that Julia is embarrassed by her Korean culture and when Kenney suggests that they do their project on silkworms, she is afraid that it is too Korean. Yet, the most intriguing part of the story is how Julia reacts to her mother’s treatment of African-Americans. When Julia’s mother finds out that one of Julia’s teachers is African-
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Apr 10, 2011
Laura
rated it:
This was one of the first audiobooks that I ever listened to and I can't believe that I didn't put it on Goodreads.
I really like Linda Sue Park's works and I was disappointed that I didn't care for this work very much. The main character, who is a middle school student, seems much younger and I think that middle grade readers will have a hard time connecting with her.
I did like that the main character and the author interacted throughout the story. It was an interesting More...
I really like Linda Sue Park's works and I was disappointed that I didn't care for this work very much. The main character, who is a middle school student, seems much younger and I think that middle grade readers will have a hard time connecting with her.
I did like that the main character and the author interacted throughout the story. It was an interesting More...
Oct 18, 2011
528_Gary
rated it:
Julia and her friend Patrick work on a club project together. Once they decide on a project they have a few problems to solve get their project started. They decide to work on a project using silkworms. One major problem that they have is finding Mulberry leaves. The silkworms need Mulberry leaves to feed off of and for moisture. Once they find the leaves they are set to order their silkworms. In the end they are able to use some of the silk that the worms produced in an embroidered piece.
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Nov 10, 2011
Elizabeth
rated it:
Project Mulberry by Linda Sue Park is the story of a Korean girl, Julia and her best friend Patrick. The two of them are in the Wiggles Club (similar to 4H) and need a project for competition. Julia’s mother tells the children about how she helped raise silk worms in Korea as a youngster. After much discussion, they decide to raise silk worms, even though Julia feels that she would prefer an American project and not a Korean one. Julia also adds a dimension to the project, by creating an embroi
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Nov 22, 2011
528_Mary F.
rated it:
This book is written by Linda Sue Park.
Julia Song doesn't want to do a silkworm project for the state fair because it is not American enough. But Parick has been her friend for a long time and it is what he wants to do. Despite her reservations, she likes caring for the eggs and eventually sewing the silk thread.
Mr. Dixon, a nice old man, donates the leaves for the project which was a concern of theirs. Mom does not like him, though, because she does not like black More...
Julia Song doesn't want to do a silkworm project for the state fair because it is not American enough. But Parick has been her friend for a long time and it is what he wants to do. Despite her reservations, she likes caring for the eggs and eventually sewing the silk thread.
Mr. Dixon, a nice old man, donates the leaves for the project which was a concern of theirs. Mom does not like him, though, because she does not like black More...
Mar 07, 2009
Sandy
rated it:
I actually liked the premise of the book: The 4-H project that helps our central character span the gap between her Korean heritage and her American lifestyle. But the author comments between chapters were REALLY obnoxious. Some of the information about the writing process was interesting, but I thought that it distracted from the story too much. It might have been nicer to have a longer author comment at the end instead. It is, however, totally possible to just skip the author babbling, re
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Jan 28, 2012
Haven
rated it:
A children's novel that I read for a Teacher Book Club. It was just okay. I thought it was interesting to learn about silkworms. Somewhat of a plot underlying that information. The vignettes between chapters of conversations between a character and the author started out annoying, but ended up being kind of cute. I thought there were some pretty good insights into racism that made it interesting. Probably designed for an upper-elementary school student and I am not sure I would recommend i
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Aug 01, 2011
Neill
rated it:
When Julia Song and her friend Patrick need to come up with a project for the state fair, Julia's mom suggests raising silkworms. Patrick is enthralled with the project but Julia tries to sabotage it because she thinks it is too 'Korean' and not American enough. However, in strong support of her friend who has his own secrets about the project the two press on discovering a world they hadn't even imagined. Between chapters is a dialogue on the structure of the story between the author and the
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May 17, 2010
Mary
rated it:
Enjoyed the audiobook- particularly the reader's intonation and the portions in which she interacts with the author. Learned a lot about silkworms... but what most struck me was the introduction to the animal rights debate and sustainable farming. Glad that young readers are being exposed to these ideas, but still not sure how I feel about the impressions one comes away with from this book. Don't want to give spoilers, but I was unhappy to see the weight given to the 'animals can't feel so i
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Dec 05, 2011
Julia Song is a second-generation: My dad grew up in Seoul. But my mom's family lived outside the city.
p29. Silkworms just didn't seem like a good Wiggle project to me. They didn't fit into the big-red-barn picture. They were too...too...too Korean. In Chicago there had been lots of other Korean families, and I'd had Korean friends. But not in Plainfield. We were the only Korean family in town. In fact, on one of my first days of school here a bunch of girls had yelled "Chinka-chi More...
p29. Silkworms just didn't seem like a good Wiggle project to me. They didn't fit into the big-red-barn picture. They were too...too...too Korean. In Chicago there had been lots of other Korean families, and I'd had Korean friends. But not in Plainfield. We were the only Korean family in town. In fact, on one of my first days of school here a bunch of girls had yelled "Chinka-chi More...
Jul 12, 2008
Alison
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
Apr 14, 2008
Jackie
rated it:
Julia Song, a Korean-American girl lives in Plainfield, Illinois. Her best friend is Patrick who loves her family’s unique cuisine and customs. Julia is trying to minimize the fact that she is Korean and wants to do everything the ‘American Way’. They join the Wiggle Club, short for Work-Grow-Give-Love! and decide they must enter a project for the state fair. Their project will involve some aspect of animal husbandry, under the direction of Mr. Maxwell, who has a sustainable farm in the area. Wh
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Apr 04, 2011
Deborah
rated it:
The story was fine. IN some places, questions about issues were raised and then seemed brushed over. I wished for more depth, but in some ways the way the issues were handled (racism for example) might be good to raise discussions in class since the book handled them so lightly. An interesting part of the book was the pieces between chapters where the main character "talked" to the author about the process of writing, what decisions the author made, and so on. That was different and in
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Apr 10, 2008
Claire
rated it:
I'm taking away a star because I just couldn't handle the chapter interludes of the author having conversations with the main character. I skipped them, but they still bugged me.
However, I would have given this five stars if it hadn't been for those. The story was great, and Ms. Park's delicate, unresolved handling of racism was just stellar. The ideas about racism, cultural pluralism, and sustainable farming aren't new to the kids in my community, so it would reinforce discus More...
Apr 28, 2008
Carissa
rated it:
read this one with favoreads in mind. it’s a good story about a korean girl whose best friend is the guy next door. they decide to work together on a [4h] project and choose to raise silkworms. the author does a great job of weaving together facts about raising silkworms and harvesting their silk, embroidery, mulberry trees (silkworms only eat mulberry leaves), the difficulties of arguing with friends, the process of writing a book, racism, and the frustration of unresolved things in life. wo
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