Author: Janet S. Wong
Illustrator: Margaret Chodos-Irvine
Genre: Children's Picture Book
Age Level: Lower-Middle Elementary
Rating: 4 stars
In Janet S. Wong’s Apple Pie 4th of July , Wong’s words mesh perfectly with Margaret Chodos-Irvine’s diverse and colorful illustrations to portray the life of a young Chinese child struggling with her culture’s differing holiday activities. The illustrations provide a mixture of skin colors and genders, making the pictures extremely diverse and nonbiased. The images are created by use of brightly colored, ambiguous, geometric shapes, with no distinctive detail. This leaves plenty of room for the reader to fill in the blanks and not be limited to an image by strong detail, which still giving them an idea of the characters and the scene being set.
The story begins with the main character explaining how no one wants Chinese food on the 4th of July. Her parents own a market, where they eat and serve Chinese food all day on America’s Independence Day. All the young child wants is a slice of apple pie, as she believes is the customary and proper food to be eaten on this day. By the end of the story, there is a long line of Americans eager to eat Chinese food from the family market. Surprised and seemingly happy, the child (who could be either a boy or a girl based on the image) finds comfort in the fact that he or she is not so different after all.
The story deals a lot with integration and reverse integration, as cultures mix and everyone finds peace in the end of the book. It is a great children’s book that shows kids that it is okay to be different, but in addition, we are really not so different after all. It celebrates differences and diversity, while showing that we are all in fact human beings.
I think this book is perfect for a classroom setting. Even in upper elementary, the students could learn a lot from the message within this story. I can think of many lessons on diversity and cultures that could arise from reading this book aloud to a classroom of students, and I believe it to be ideal for a class of elementary students.
I think this book is perfect for a classroom setting. Even in upper elementary, the students could learn a lot from the message within this story. I can think of many lessons on diversity and cultures that could arise from reading this book aloud to a classroom of students, and I believe it to be ideal for a class of elementary students.
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