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3.66 AVERAGE
3.66 AVERAGE
Not sure why the rating isn't higher there is so much here to love and talk about on varying levels of seriousness: sustainable farming, racism, respecting elders, community, struggling with cultural identity, the history of silk, where our food comes from, and all through lovable characters. Bonus: was the conversation between Ms. Park and the main character between the chapters, which honestly I found annoying at first. Yet by Chapter 3, I thought it was such an interesting way to here how a story comes to life. Unique, important, worthwhile, and highly recommended.
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Nothing stood out to me about this book, nothing positive and nothing negative. This felt like a standard, run of the mill middle grades book. The main character has a best friend and participates in a 4H type program. For their project they choose silkworms and the main character struggles with the project because she thinks it's too Korean. The narrative chronicles the lifespan of the project and a bit of character growth throughout. Everything feels exceptionally cookie cutter throughout. Park also adds in a bit of "breaking the 4th wall" by having "conversations" between herself and her main character after every chapter. I absolutely did not like that.
All in all, an average "meh" book.
All in all, an average "meh" book.
As well as teaching children about silkworms (fascinating in themselves) this book touches on a number of potential issues including racism, sustainability, phobias and 'fitting in'. These are dealt with sensitively through the words and actions of Julia Song, a young girl of Korean parentage living in small town America. She and her neighbourhood friend Patrick decide to raise silkworms for a project to be entered in a competition at the state fair. In between chapters the author engages in dialogue with the main character about the book as she writes it, providing an insight into the writing process - another educational plus point for this delightful book.
This was great--I loved the author/main character conversations, and the way all the books mentioned off-handedly were really books (and cited at the end).
A story about two kids creating a project on how to raise silk worms. Also touches on broader topics such as racism, friendship, identity and cultures. A fast entertaining read. Really enjoyed the characters.
This is a neat book that explores the hard work and sacrifice necessary to do a project with your friend. The Wiggle's group in the book is well described.
SO this wasn't my favorite. The actual plot of the story was interesting. I did read plenty of bad reviews on amazon for it and was a bit skeptical but one lady and her daughter seemed to blow it way out of proportion.
There is no animal cruelty. But the book seemed like an excuse to drop some racism in. Racism between asians and blacks doesn't seem to be common, although it is understandable (everyone seems to be racist against blacks...)it seems to be a weird book to touch on racism in so be wary of that. It even kind of ended on a note about racism. I just wanted to know about the silk worms! Both of the black people in the book were extremely stereotypical black people, which bothered me...
It was okay for a children's book. There were sections at the end of almost every chapter where Linda spoke to the protagonist (who I found to be a bit annoying and whiny) about happenings in the book. Julia, the main character, was like a lot of the asian characters I read about in books. Everything was too Korean and she hated the asian food. SO the book seemed very stereotypical. It was based on some true events and people but was overall not really as awesome as I expected.
There is no animal cruelty. But the book seemed like an excuse to drop some racism in. Racism between asians and blacks doesn't seem to be common, although it is understandable (everyone seems to be racist against blacks...)it seems to be a weird book to touch on racism in so be wary of that. It even kind of ended on a note about racism. I just wanted to know about the silk worms! Both of the black people in the book were extremely stereotypical black people, which bothered me...
It was okay for a children's book. There were sections at the end of almost every chapter where Linda spoke to the protagonist (who I found to be a bit annoying and whiny) about happenings in the book. Julia, the main character, was like a lot of the asian characters I read about in books. Everything was too Korean and she hated the asian food. SO the book seemed very stereotypical. It was based on some true events and people but was overall not really as awesome as I expected.
cute book, had to take out the racist parts to read to my kids
Lots of stuff going on here for kids, and even some tweens. Not sure that I totally loved the sections between chapters where the author and the main character Julia discussed the writing process, but they definitely added something. Very meta for a children's book!
The chapter "interviews" with the author and her character just didn't work for me. They messed up the flow of the story. And I thought all the stuff about sustainable agriculture was a bit forced. Other than that, this is a cute story of a Korean girl and her friend (who happens to be a boy) who do a project with silkworms. I liked the fact that not everything in the story was upbeat or predictable--just realistic.