Fortune Cookie Fortunes

by Grace Lin

Crack, crack, crack! The cookies snap open and the family’s fortunes are revealed. Mei Mei wants to know how hers will come true. Jie Jie scoffs—they never come true. But Pacy isn’t so sure. As she waits and watches, she notices magical things happening in her family. Could the fortunes really be right? And what about Pacy’s “You will see the world in a new way”? Well, yes, it’s true! Pacy has been seeing the world through fortune cookies!

This exhuberantly illustrated story about every kid’s favorite part of a Chinese meal also includes a brief history of the fortune cookie.

What will your fortune be? Crack! Open up a cookie and find out.

Genres: Picture Books, Food, Childrens, Asia, Family, China, Cultural

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[RLL22018_ Joshlyn Baptist · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fortune Cookie Fortunes by Grace Lin is an adorable book, the bright and beautiful illustrations manifested a cute story of how a young Chinese girl sees the world in fortune cookie fortunes. Through all that happens to her and around her, she can connect that to the fortunes she has come across between her and her family. The narrators fortune was in fact "You see can see the world in a different way', and that was certainly true because she saw the world from a positive stand point. This is an optimistic book, something I feel all young readers will enjoy reading.

[Aleska Sever · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like this book because it has a creative way of approaching the manifestation of fortune through actions and personalities. This story is about a girl whoseChinese family after reading her fortune in a cookie, it is fulfilled according to the experiences or experiences of each one. I love the illustrations in this book. Each page of the story contains a lot of color and its drawings are clearly drawn and related to the text. The ilustrador included the messages of fortune of each member of the family at the ends of the pages. In addition, in its last pages we see how sentences extracted from fortune cookies have a great porsitive meaning to live day to day. The text has a simple language, where the dialogue between family members appears. Also in this book, cultural diversity is supported. The text has a simple and informal language where the dialogue between the family appears. Also, the book presents contractions in their oraciones . This is a book that calls to believe that everything that happens to us has a reason. In this book, I would emphasize cultural diversity based on beliefs. In addition , to how each person sees and interprets each situation of life. This book is perfect for children over five (5) years old.

[Maxine Fife · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story is about a little girl and her family. Her family has just ordered from a Chinese restaurant and received fortune cookies, her favorite part about the Chinese restaurants. Throughout this book she sees that her families fortunes are all coming true in one way or another. Her family believes that this is because of something they are doing, but she disagrees. I thought this book was very cute and simple. I think this book would be great for young children, especially those with a Chinese heritage.

[Leslie Reyes · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book as it is full of optimism and colorful images. It is a very cultural book as it explains what fortune cookies are and where they come from (back of the book). But it also gives the perspective of a child and what she thinks the fortune cookies mean around her and if they will come true. This is a perfect book to introduce in a classroom. Young children would have a positive respond to the book.

[Aidalys Nazario · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like the book because it tells a story to always believe in something, find that something, and it will come true. It is about a little girl eating dinner with her family at restaurant and they have fortune cookies and she wants to figure out if they all will come true. The illustration is beautiful but I feel it is to detailed and a little cluttered for children to focus on the story. I will say this book will best suit 5+ year old's.

[Becky B · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little girl and her family have fortune cookies after eating at a Chinese restaurant. She then sees all of her family's fortunes coming true. Did the cookies really predict the future, or does the girl just have a unique way of seeing?

My family usually opens fortune cookies at a Chinese restaurant just to get a laugh (or scratch our heads...there are some very weird phrases those companies put on fortune cookies). The "fortunes" in this story aren't so much fortunes as observational phrases that could apply to a wide range of situations and the girl is able to see one way they apply to each of the people in her family. Coincidence or just observations influenced by her thoughts? I'd give the story in this just 2 stars. I wasn't especially enthralled with it. I gave the book 3 stars because Lin's illustrations are fantastic and there's some good info in the back of the book about the history of fortune cookies. Might be a good read before a visit to a Chinese restaurant or to talk about how thinking about something a lot can influence how you see other things.

[Primavera Olivia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Found on the Colorin Colorado website, Fortune Cookie Fortunes tells a tale about a little girl observing the world by her fortune cookie fortune. She is told that these fortunes do not come true, but with her own eyes, she sees the contrary. The style of this book is what was most enjoyable. The element of adding the fortune cookie fortune to the bottom right corner of the page of the images where the fortunate came true was a unique touch. The images are quite colorful and theatrical to truly empathizes the fortunes coming true. This would be a great book for ELL students due to the simplicity of the words in the story, plus the elements of culture. A Chinese student may gravitate towards this book because the familiarity of tradition would bring a sense of comfort to something as intimidating as learning English. It is important as teachers teaching ELL students that they feel comfortable in their learning. The more comfortable they feel, the more they give into the learning process and let themselves grow.

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fortune Cookie Fortunes follows a Chinese family with three daughters (not unlike Grace Lin's own family) as they read the fortunes they each receive after their meal at a Chinese restaurant. The oldest daughter isn't sure their fortunes will come true, but as the middle daughter visits each family member the next day, she sees that indeed their fortunes are coming true, even hers. Her fortune reveals many more, each with a unique life lesson that could be discussed on multiple days in class. These fortunes have interesting vocabulary as well that could be studied, for example, potential, patience, virtue, and even idioms that could be discussed. At the end of the book, Grace explains the fortune cookie's surprising American history. A clever teacher could make their own fortune strips and feed into a paper cookie for a fun art project, or if your school allows, bring in real fortune cookies and discuss.

[Mackenzie Wardle · Rating 3 out of 5]

A family of five opens fortune cookies and talks about the fortunes coming true. Ba-Ba's fortune was, "Your moods are contagious". at the park, he falls asleep and so does everyone else. Ma-Ma's fortune was," Attention and care will make great things happen". Her garden became prosperous. Jie-Jie's fortune was," Your imagination will create many friends". She had made animals out of paper that filled up her entire bedroom. Mei-Mei's fortune was,"Your smallest action will attract many. She filled up her bird feeder and dozens of colorful birds came. The narrator's fortune was," You can see the world in a different way". She never saw it the same way again. She understood why everything happened and saw things from a positive perspective.

[Krista Ginnis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fortune Cookie Fortunes is about the well wishes found in fortune cookies. Ba-Ba, Ma-Ma, Mei-Mei, Jie-Jie all soon realize that their futures were predicted by there fortune cookies. The correlation between preparing us for the future, and the optimistic outcomes of fortune cookies can always seem to be true. Usually all fortune cookies are very motivational and give you a positive outlook on things.

[Nikki Tuchek · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this adorable story, a family receives fortunes in their fortune cookies. Each member of the family receives a different fortune. Throughout the story, each fortune that that each family member received, applies to their daily lives in different ways. This is a fun story for children. Receiving fortune cookies is fun for everyone, as it is exciting to see what one's fortune says. This story teaches young readers to believe.

[Kiley Frenger · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very cute book. It had lovely representation of the Chinese culture, along with a life lesson attached. Thus young girl and her family get Chinese food, and she finds her favorite part to be getting the fortune cookies. She notices that her families fortunes are coming true, and she has a different perspective of why this may be. Along with the fun storyline, the illustrations a very simple and easy to the eye which makes it a nice read.

[Viviane Elbee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a cute book about a Chinese-American family with a girl who believes that fortune cookie fortunes come true.

Bright, beautiful illustrations.

Back matter at the back of the book explains how fortune cookies were invented in the USA but inspired by similar traditions already existing in China and Japan.

This book is a relatively quick read and is also a "quiet" book.

[Sohyun seo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about a Chinese girl and Fortune cookie. I don't believe what fortune cookie says but this girl believes because everything that wrote on fortune happens. This girl is so pure and cute. Moreover, this book shows Chinese culture and children can learn it with this book. I think children want to try to read fortune in the cookie and to learn that culture.

[BiblioBickie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Chinese girl, out to dinner with her parents and two siblings, wonders whether her sister is correct that "fortune cookie fortunes never come true." As she observes her family throughout the day, she sees that perhaps they do; but then what about hers?
This is a simple story about seeing the world a bit differently, seeing connections that others might miss.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this series is supposed to be middle daughter Grace Lin when she was a little girl? In this one, Grace notices that everyone in her family has their fortune cookie fortunes come true in a way that you would only notice if you were paying attention. I like how there are many various fortunes to read all over town. A good addition to this collection.

[Audrey's Picture Books · Rating 2 out of 5]

I know Grace Lin is an Asian-American writer, but this book still felt to me like it trivialized Asian-American culture. Maybe that's just me. It's not a criticism I've ever had of Grace Lin's other books. Maybe it's just because I don't set much store by fortune cookies, and that made it feel trivial to me. At any rate, I'd recommend Lin's other books before this one.

[Dat Nguyen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a fun little book that talks about fortune cookies and what it is all about. Throughout the story as it talks about fortune cookies there are also little fortune messages throughout the book that give you a little insight as to what you might find when you yourself may crack open a fortune cookie. The book is colorful and fun to read with young children.

[Joanne Roberts · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's nothing wrong with this simple little book about perspective. It's cute and I am obsessed with fortune cookies (as well as an optimist) so—win-win. I'm glad there is a page of backmatter explaining the origin of fortune cookies. Check it out.

[Hanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn’t love this book quite as much as I expected since I really love Grace Lin’s work in general. Loved the illustrations! Very bright and colorful and eye-catching. I think the central character’s fortune cookie is a bit abstract for me.

[Maki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very optimistic book about what fortune telling can lead to in your life if you are open minded. Lovely illustrations and great detail.

[Erica Flory · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super cute. I love the positive spin.

[Aneesa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very sweet ;)

[Heidi · Rating 4 out of 5]

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[Melanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I used this book to tutor elementary age children in reading. I also used it to introduce cultural differences. I found it to be colorfully illustrated and easy to understand.

[Heidi Burkhart · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very cute illustrations for which the book received a Caldecott Honor Award. I found the text to be rather unremarkable however.

[Kelly Lin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like this book because I believe that fortune cook is an way for people to have a good believe. Also when we eat the fortune cookie, we already hear the crack, crack, crack sound and it fun to hear those sound. It can create children's imagination to have thing that they believe and made it come true.

[Courtney Lauren Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book Fortune Cookie Fortunes by Grace Lin is a cute children's book that tells the story of a young girl and her family's fortunes that they find in their fortune cookies. The girls older sister does not believe that these fortunes ever come true. But as the girl goes through her day she starts to see each of her family member's fortunes come true.

The girls fathers fortune reads "Your moods are contagious", and she sees as he becomes sleepy in the park that others seem to become sleepy too. Her mother's fortune reads "Attention and care will make great things happen". The girl realizes her mothers fortune comes true as she watches her grow many fruits and vegetables in her garden due to the attention she has given them. The story then goes through her sisters' fortunes and then her own. Her fortune reads "You see the world in a different way". After seeing each of her family members' fortunes come true she finally sees how hers has made sense. She sees the fortunes of the world.

The book is very well written with a nice story line. My favorite part about the book is that each fortune is written on a small white piece of paper throughout the book as each one of them are coming true. The book is also full of bright and vibrant illustrations that make the book very interesting to read. The book has several double page spreads of very detailed pictures with lots of texture. The colors are amazing. Another great attribute of the book is the second to last page that has a brief history of fortune cookies but more importantly their fortunes.

[Red Ball · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fortune Cookie Fortunes begins with a family finishing dinner at a Chinese restaurant by reading their fortunes to each other. The book takes place through the middle sister's point of view and her fortune reads "You see the world in a different way". Her sister doubt the validity of the random cookie fortunes, but our narrator feels otherwise. The following pages are double spreads of the family doing various activities with their fortune shown on the page. Ma-ma thinks her new fertilizer must be the cause of her garden's growth, but the narrator recalls her fortune: "Attention and care will make great things happen!" The story ends with the main character seeing the world in fortune cookie fortunes with a zoomed out view of her town labeled with fortunes. Grace Lin's bright and bold illustrations with her meticulous hand drawn patterns inject this story with life. Lin also includes a note at the end about the ambiguous origin of fortune cookies and their role in Asian-American culture today.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is about a Chinese-American family goes to a Chinese restaurant and gets some food, but at the end of the meal comes the best part, Fortune Cookies! Each family member reads their individual fortunes, but the youngest daughter wants to know whether or not fortunes come true. The story then follows the family as we see if each of their fortunes come true or not.

The illustrations are simple, however the use of realistic fortune cookie fortune drawings add a whimsical touch to the book making if fun for children. The bright colors invite kids in and make them excited to read. It is also a nice alternative for a book to be written about a Chinese family since there are few multicultural books for kids to these days.