In this humorous and heartfelt debut about a split cultural identity, nothing goes according to plan for sixth-grader Lucy Wu.Lucy Wu, aspiring bas...
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May 24, 2011
Beth
rated it: 
Who did Regina think she was, telling me how or how not to be Chinese?
Lucy Wu is all set to have the best year of her life. Her older sister, Regina, is going off to college. Not only will Lucy get out of the shadow the Perfect Chinese Daughter, but she will also get their shared bedroom all to herself. She's looking forward to starting sixth grade and being among the oldest kids in the school, playing basketball, and having a big joint-birthday Halloween bash with her best friend, M More...
Lucy Wu is all set to have the best year of her life. Her older sister, Regina, is going off to college. Not only will Lucy get out of the shadow the Perfect Chinese Daughter, but she will also get their shared bedroom all to herself. She's looking forward to starting sixth grade and being among the oldest kids in the school, playing basketball, and having a big joint-birthday Halloween bash with her best friend, M More...
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Jan 25, 2012
Melody
rated it: 
This book is so good on many levels. Unlike a lot of the MG stuff I've read in the last year or so, I think that this will actually appeal to the target audience. The characters are warm and believable and the sixth-grade narrator's voice is the most authentic I've come across in ... maybe ever. I bought it all, though I saw it all coming. Well, most of it.
There's a mean girl, and though I mostly don't like books with mean girls, this one felt way more real. I keep coming back to tha More...
There's a mean girl, and though I mostly don't like books with mean girls, this one felt way more real. I keep coming back to tha More...
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Jan 09, 2012
Abby
rated it:
Relatable and realistic, this is a fresh, funny debut from an author I'm definitely going to be watching.
The style and realistic protagonist reminded me of the Judy Blume books I so loved when I was a kid (think Blubber or Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, not Forever...). I think it would make a great readalike to Millicent Min, Girl Genius and Stanford Wong Flunks Big Time, both by Lisa Yee and I'd also try it on fans of Andrew Clements' realistic fiction.
More on the blog: More...
The style and realistic protagonist reminded me of the Judy Blume books I so loved when I was a kid (think Blubber or Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, not Forever...). I think it would make a great readalike to Millicent Min, Girl Genius and Stanford Wong Flunks Big Time, both by Lisa Yee and I'd also try it on fans of Andrew Clements' realistic fiction.
More on the blog: More...
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Feb 13, 2012
Barb
rated it:
Lucy is going to have the perfect summer. Big sister is off to college and she thinks she will get the bedroom to herself. Right? Wrong!
Great-aunt Yi Po is coming for the summer. Basketball season starts and Lucy can’t wait to play with the team. Right? Wrong! She has to go to Chinese school on Saturday.
The sixth graders are going to play the teachers in a pick up basketball game and Lucy wants to try out for captain. Right? Wrong! Not if the bully Sloane Connors has her way. More...
Great-aunt Yi Po is coming for the summer. Basketball season starts and Lucy can’t wait to play with the team. Right? Wrong! She has to go to Chinese school on Saturday.
The sixth graders are going to play the teachers in a pick up basketball game and Lucy wants to try out for captain. Right? Wrong! Not if the bully Sloane Connors has her way. More...
Nov 12, 2011
Grier
rated it:
I can't think of anything better than a good book, except maybe a book that gives no indication of the surprise inside, the kind of surprise that starts off good and keeps getting better and better. Wendy Shang's The Great Wall of Lucy Wu is just that kind of book and that kind of surprise.
It opens with a traditional Chinese story about finding the fortune in misfortune, creating a certain anticipation in the reader that this will be a thoughtful journey of self-discovery, a cultural More...
It opens with a traditional Chinese story about finding the fortune in misfortune, creating a certain anticipation in the reader that this will be a thoughtful journey of self-discovery, a cultural More...
Jul 13, 2011
Kathryn
rated it:
This book was a really good read on the heals of Anya's War by Andrea Alban. While Anya's War was set in 1939, The Great Wall of Lucy Wu is set in the 21rst century. Lucy, who is just entering the sixth grade and is ready to rule the school and the basketball court with her pro free throws, is disappointed (understatement) to find out that she's going to have to share her room with her great-aunt. (Who, incidentally, lived through the time illustrated in Anya's War.)
Lucy's spells out More...
Lucy's spells out More...
Jul 07, 2011
Eva
rated it: 
Big sister Regina is gorgeous and speaks perfect Chinese. Big brother Kenny is a math genius. And 6th-grader Lucy is great at basketball - but that doesn't impress her family.
Still, Lucy was expecting to have a great year, what with Regina going off to college and leaving Lucy with a room all to herself. But then - not only does Lucy's old, long-lost, and non-English-speaking Great Aunt Yi Po move in to Lucy's bedroom, but Lucy is forced to take Chinese lessons. Plus she has Mean G More...
Still, Lucy was expecting to have a great year, what with Regina going off to college and leaving Lucy with a room all to herself. But then - not only does Lucy's old, long-lost, and non-English-speaking Great Aunt Yi Po move in to Lucy's bedroom, but Lucy is forced to take Chinese lessons. Plus she has Mean G More...
Jun 02, 2011
Phoebe
rated it:
Lucy lives for basketball, and she is sure that the upcoming year (6th grade) is going to be perfect. Her older sister is finally leaving for college which means Lucy will get a whole bedroom to herself. Then the bomb drops: her great aunt Yi Po is coming to visit, and she'll share Lucy's room. Lucy hates the very idea of Yi Po, long-lost sister of beloved grandmother Po Po (who passed away two years earlier) and when her parents say she has to go to Chinese school on Saturday mornings, and g
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Apr 05, 2011
Reader
rated it:
Lucy is sure this is going to be the best year ever. Her older sister is going off to college, so she FINALLY gets her own room, and she's going to be in 6th grade, so she and her friends will rule the school! But when her dad returns from a business trip in China and announces he has found her grandmother's long lost sister, Yi-Po, it starts looking to Lucy like maybe this year won't be as great as she had hoped. Yi-Po is coming to visit, and she's going to share Lucy's room. Not only that,
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Mar 23, 2011
BAYA
rated it:
Lucy Wu's sixth grade year is going to be the best. She'll finally have her own room, as her bossy older sister leaves for college. She and her friends will rule the elementary school and the basketball court. But nothing goes as planned. Yi Po, a distant relative, arrives from China and takes over part of Lucy's room. Her parents push her into Chinese school and away from basketball. And, to make matters worse, she draws the attention of the school bully. To illustrate her frustration, Lucy bui
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Mar 22, 2011
Barky
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
Mar 16, 2011
Ben
rated it:
Reviewed for My Comfy Chair - Safe, friendly Kid-lit reviews
It is seldom that I read a book where the voice of the main character is so crystal clear and perfect that I completely forget there must be an author involved. Lucy is a short, Chinese girl who loves basketball. She looks forward to a perfect 6th grade year, finally out from under the shadow of her beautiful older sister who is off to college. Lucy has a room of her own for the first time, and looks forward to decorating it More...
It is seldom that I read a book where the voice of the main character is so crystal clear and perfect that I completely forget there must be an author involved. Lucy is a short, Chinese girl who loves basketball. She looks forward to a perfect 6th grade year, finally out from under the shadow of her beautiful older sister who is off to college. Lucy has a room of her own for the first time, and looks forward to decorating it More...
Apr 06, 2011
Doret
rated it:
After Cal's parents get divorced, his mother gets full custody of Cal, Doran and Rachel. Cal a senior in high school is the oldest. The four move back to the Utah reservation Cal's mother grew up on. They move in with Raymond their grandfather. Cal is half native American. Though he has never been exposed to that part of his heritage. When Mona was a teenager, her sister Jackie died under mysterious causes. Cal is detemined to find out what really happened.
When they get to the reserv More...
When they get to the reserv More...
Mar 10, 2011
Christianne
rated it:
BAYA draft review
Lucy Wu's sixth grade year is going to be the best. She'll finally have her own room, as her bossy older sister leaves for college. She and her friends will rule the elementary school and the basketball court. But nothing goes as planned. Yi Po, a distant relative, arrives from China and takes over part of Lucy's room. Her parents push her into Chinese school and away from basketball. And, to make matters worse, she draws the attention of the school bully. To illustr More...
Lucy Wu's sixth grade year is going to be the best. She'll finally have her own room, as her bossy older sister leaves for college. She and her friends will rule the elementary school and the basketball court. But nothing goes as planned. Yi Po, a distant relative, arrives from China and takes over part of Lucy's room. Her parents push her into Chinese school and away from basketball. And, to make matters worse, she draws the attention of the school bully. To illustr More...
Dec 10, 2011
Brandy
rated it:
Originally posted here.
It is rare for me to pick up a book anymore that I have no preconceived notions about. It is hard not to develop some about almost any book when I read so many blogs. I was very excited when I saw The Great Wall of Lucy Wu by Wendy Wan-Long Shang on the new arrivals shelf at my library. I had seen it mentioned in a couple of comments at Heavy Medal but knew nothing else about it. Just the title. It was a lovely experience going into the story not knowing what to More...
It is rare for me to pick up a book anymore that I have no preconceived notions about. It is hard not to develop some about almost any book when I read so many blogs. I was very excited when I saw The Great Wall of Lucy Wu by Wendy Wan-Long Shang on the new arrivals shelf at my library. I had seen it mentioned in a couple of comments at Heavy Medal but knew nothing else about it. Just the title. It was a lovely experience going into the story not knowing what to More...
Dec 09, 2011
Elizabeth
rated it:
I got such a kick out of this. It's a very straight-forward plot -- Lucy Wu's plans for a great start to her 6th grade year are disrupted by the unexpected arrival of her great-aunt from China, who is going to share her bedroom. And you can predict just about everything that happens - but yet it is so satisfying when it does! I feel like I can hardly spoil anything, what else is going to happen when a girl who is disinterested in her Chinese heritage gets to know an elderly relative from Chin
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Aug 25, 2011
Allison
rated it:
The Great Wall of Lucy Wu was a touching and witty story as Lucy deals with major changes in her life because of her Chinese heritage. It's not always easy to be short and want to play basketball, not many people will support you but shouldn't your family? Apparently not in Lucy's case but a new arrival may just change that. And by new arrival I don't mean a baby, I mean a grandma's long lost sister, Yi Po, who doesn't speak chinese. The bookcase in the room Lucy and Yi Po share isn't the only
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Apr 12, 2011
Jaclyn
rated it:
Lucy Wu, like many sixth grade girls often feels stuck in the middle. She's stuck between being a child and teenager, between being Chinese and American, and between being herself or sacrificing her interests to be accepted by popular girls at school. As if she didn't have enough problems, now she is being forced to share her bedroom with her great aunt, Yi-Po, who is visiting from China. Though a bit slow at the start, The Great Wall of Lucy Wu is an engaging story that many tween girls will
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Jan 03, 2011
Ms. Simeon
rated it:
As a child I was an insatiable reader. I started reading very early and I have read nonstop ever since. Reading was an education, a comfort and an escape. In fact I passionately devoured so many classics from the British Isles that when I finally landed in Wales at the age of 16 it felt more like a homecoming than an adventure abroad! However, in all the thousands of pages I consumed in my youth and the millions of virtual miles travelled, I never once encountered a child like myself – one who w
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Jan 22, 2011
Dianna
rated it:
Lucy Wu is all set to have her best year ever. She's going to rule the school as a sixth-grader, she's getting her own room because her big sister is going to college, and of course she'll be playing basketball.
Her parents have other ideas, though. Her grandma's sister comes to visit from China for several months and sleeps—you guessed it—in Lucy's room. Her parents decide she should go to Chinese school instead of playing basketball, and a bullying girl at school starts to make life u More...
Her parents have other ideas, though. Her grandma's sister comes to visit from China for several months and sleeps—you guessed it—in Lucy's room. Her parents decide she should go to Chinese school instead of playing basketball, and a bullying girl at school starts to make life u More...
Dec 30, 2011
Jamie
rated it:
What a delight! This book is perfect for the older elementary age group, a group that kind of falls through the cracks as everything is for "tweens." Lucy and her family are totally assimilated Chinese Americans, but Lucy's parents want her to go to Chinese school, when she would rather play basketball. No stereotypes here at all, but real live people, even the secondary characters.
Can I also say that Lucy and her friend Madison are such well drawn characters that when thei More...
Can I also say that Lucy and her friend Madison are such well drawn characters that when thei More...
Feb 15, 2012
Penny
rated it:
Sixth grader Lucy deals with bullying at school - another girl threatens her concerning tryouts for basketball team captain, but the bulk of the story focuses on Lucy's home life. Her beloved late grandmother's sister is visiting from China, and Lucy has to share her bedroom. The facts about Chinese-American life seem very accurate, and will certainly speak to many tweens in my area. But as an Anglo with lots of Chinese-American friends, I found it spoke to me, too, with the importance on aca
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Sep 03, 2011
Sue
rated it:
Genre: Contemporary Realism/Multicultural
Lucy Wu’s plans for a perfect year are ruined when she must share her bedroom with her great aunt Yi Po from China, she learns she will have to attend Chinese School instead of basketball practice, and she finds herself in a competition for team captain with Sloane Connors, a popular girl who is also a major bully.
a)a major strength of this book is the way the author develops the conflicts in the book’s progressive plot (Horning, p. 1 More...
Lucy Wu’s plans for a perfect year are ruined when she must share her bedroom with her great aunt Yi Po from China, she learns she will have to attend Chinese School instead of basketball practice, and she finds herself in a competition for team captain with Sloane Connors, a popular girl who is also a major bully.
a)a major strength of this book is the way the author develops the conflicts in the book’s progressive plot (Horning, p. 1 More...
Jul 12, 2011
Jessica
rated it:
Lucy Wu is getting ready for sixth grade, which promises to be the best year ever. She's planning on trying out for captain of the basketball team, and will have plenty of time to practice free throws with her best friend Madison. Her know-it-all sister Regina, who speaks perfect Chinese, is pretty, and gets good grades, is moving away to college, leaving Lucy with her own room. Lucy, a budding interior designer, is looking forward to this immensely until she finds out that she will be gettin
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Nov 26, 2011
Anne
rated it:
Wonderful characters and a touching story which immersed me in a different world. The author captures the voice of Lucy so well that it doesn't take long before you feel as if you are a Chinese-American sixth grader who's crazy about basketball. In contrast to the vivid personality of Lucy, Yi Po was like a photograph being revealed slowly as it is developed (that metaphor won't work much longer in the digital age, but I can't think what to replace it with!), and by the end her personality has
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Feb 22, 2012
Arthur
rated it:
Reading Level: Grades 4-6
Lucy is thrilled. Once her bossy older sister Regina leaves for college, Lucy will have their shared bedroom to herself. Lucy spends hours dreaming of the make-over she will give the room. Her decorating plans are ruined when her mother announces that Lucy's long-lost Chinese great-aunt (the one Lucy didn't know existed) is coming for an extended stay and will be sharing Lucy's room.
The trials of another reluctant roommate are chronicled in: More...
Lucy is thrilled. Once her bossy older sister Regina leaves for college, Lucy will have their shared bedroom to herself. Lucy spends hours dreaming of the make-over she will give the room. Her decorating plans are ruined when her mother announces that Lucy's long-lost Chinese great-aunt (the one Lucy didn't know existed) is coming for an extended stay and will be sharing Lucy's room.
The trials of another reluctant roommate are chronicled in: More...
May 09, 2011
Shazzer
rated it:
As posted on Outside of a Dog:
A wise man once sang, “life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans”. In The Great Wall of Lucy Wu by Wendy Wan-Long Shang, the title heroine learns this lesson the hard way. Her perfect year, a year in which she’s finally going to have her own room when “perfect” older sister Regina goes away to college, is interrupted by the appearance of Yi Po, her beloved grandmother’s long lost sister. Lucy doesn’t want to share her room or he More...
A wise man once sang, “life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans”. In The Great Wall of Lucy Wu by Wendy Wan-Long Shang, the title heroine learns this lesson the hard way. Her perfect year, a year in which she’s finally going to have her own room when “perfect” older sister Regina goes away to college, is interrupted by the appearance of Yi Po, her beloved grandmother’s long lost sister. Lucy doesn’t want to share her room or he More...
Jan 11, 2012
Jennifer
rated it:
The Great Wall of Lucy Wu was enjoyable and very good, if not great. It's another middle-grade girl book in the vein of Lisa Yee's books (also published by Scholastic) that is light, but still touches on some issues of what it means to grow up as an Asian American (or generally as any type of "hypenated American" or as a 1.5-2nd generation child) without being extremely stereotypical. I'm glad that there are more realistic fiction books featuring non-European ("non-white")
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Jun 20, 2011
Susan P
rated it:
A great coming of age and standing up for yourself first novel. Lucy can't wait to get a room to herself when her perfect sister goes off to college. Then she gets the news that her Grandmother's sister is coming from China to stay with them - and Lucy will have to share her room again... Yi Po doesn't speak English, and Lucy doesn't speak much Chinese, so communicating is difficult. To make matters even worse, a popular but mean girl at school has set her sights on making life miserable fo
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May 23, 2011
Teresa
rated it:
Lucy is an regular sixth grader looking forward to having a room to herself once her "perfect" older sister Regina goes off to college. Yes, things are looking up until a long lost relative comes for an extended visit and guess where she is going to stay? Lucy comes up with an ingenious plan for dividing her room. Lucy is Chinese American and height challenged but, she doesn't let her height interfere with her plans for a fantastic basketball career. This school year was going to be he
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