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kaypat23 's review for:
Cilla Lee-Jenkins: Future Author Extraordinaire
by Susan Tan
Rating
5 beautiful stars.
What is it about?
This is a middle grade book about a young biracial girl named Precilla Lee-Jenkins. Half Chinese, Half Caucasian, All-Round Excellent Author (according to her!). The book has authentic, cute pencil illustrations and consists of confessional journal entries written by Cilla which she hopes to publish someday in a bestselling book. A heartwarming read with a spunky, energetic heroine with big dreams and a big heart.
My thoughts
This is the book I wish I had read as a child. I can’t tell you HOW MANY TIMES I SOBBED and it wasn’t even a sad book! I just got so emotional seeing the subtle racism Cilla faces as a child and she was just too young to even understand it but she could tell that people were being rude to her. In the book, she experiences people asking about her race and where she truly came from or being confused about her looks and heritage, tokenizing her. Thank goodness her parents and her grandparents always show her that no matter what people say, they love her.
I just felt so loved and seen reading about Cilla. It’s clear that her parents and grandparents love her very much. I never got the chance to unite both sides of my family as a biracial child but seeing Cilla make peace with her Chinese and Caucasian grandparents puts a huge smile on my face. Cilla embraces her unique heritage at the end. In her words, she herself is unique and she doesn’t have to fit into one box. I can picture so many other biracial children relating hard to this and it is wonderful that they don’t have to hide who they are.
Reading this made me feel so warm inside. My inner child would have loved to be Cilla’s friend. In a way, she reminded me of myself at a young age: enthusiastic reader, dreaming big and wanting to be an author. I loved reading about her struggles, her grit and her determination. She faces bullies with grace, learns how to be a considerate friend, overcomes reading disorder (she was a very slow reader) and protects her baby sister. It felt like I was healing somewhat when I saw her receiving the love, support and friendship that I never got. This book is a children’s book but it was very meaningful to me because for a moment, I was in a very good place reading it. I wasn’t ashamed of my heritage or hating myself so I can’t tell you how grateful I am that this book exists.
5 beautiful stars.
What is it about?
This is a middle grade book about a young biracial girl named Precilla Lee-Jenkins. Half Chinese, Half Caucasian, All-Round Excellent Author (according to her!). The book has authentic, cute pencil illustrations and consists of confessional journal entries written by Cilla which she hopes to publish someday in a bestselling book. A heartwarming read with a spunky, energetic heroine with big dreams and a big heart.
My thoughts
This is the book I wish I had read as a child. I can’t tell you HOW MANY TIMES I SOBBED and it wasn’t even a sad book! I just got so emotional seeing the subtle racism Cilla faces as a child and she was just too young to even understand it but she could tell that people were being rude to her. In the book, she experiences people asking about her race and where she truly came from or being confused about her looks and heritage, tokenizing her. Thank goodness her parents and her grandparents always show her that no matter what people say, they love her.
I just felt so loved and seen reading about Cilla. It’s clear that her parents and grandparents love her very much. I never got the chance to unite both sides of my family as a biracial child but seeing Cilla make peace with her Chinese and Caucasian grandparents puts a huge smile on my face. Cilla embraces her unique heritage at the end. In her words, she herself is unique and she doesn’t have to fit into one box. I can picture so many other biracial children relating hard to this and it is wonderful that they don’t have to hide who they are.
Reading this made me feel so warm inside. My inner child would have loved to be Cilla’s friend. In a way, she reminded me of myself at a young age: enthusiastic reader, dreaming big and wanting to be an author. I loved reading about her struggles, her grit and her determination. She faces bullies with grace, learns how to be a considerate friend, overcomes reading disorder (she was a very slow reader) and protects her baby sister. It felt like I was healing somewhat when I saw her receiving the love, support and friendship that I never got. This book is a children’s book but it was very meaningful to me because for a moment, I was in a very good place reading it. I wasn’t ashamed of my heritage or hating myself so I can’t tell you how grateful I am that this book exists.