A review by ethannku
When You Wish Upon a Lantern by Gloria Chao
3.0
3.5 rounded down
When You Wish Upon a Lantern is a cute, contemporary coming -0f-age story that centers around childhood friends Liya and Kai. Liya's family runs a lantern/Chinese convenience store, and Kai's family runs a Chinese bakery. They've been close their entire lives, but after a misunderstanding, they've fallen out of touch. When Liya finds out that her family's store is struggling, she and Kai decide to work together to save it.
This story is a little basic in its construction, but it was a really cute read with some important messages about the immigrant experience and grief. I think that the misunderstanding between Liya and Kai that sets up the entire book is so childish, but it could(??) be plausible. Some other character motivations were childish as well, but those moments were offset by really impactful moments between Liya and her family. This book is 3.5 stars for me mostly because of those childish moments since I think that this book is aimed at the younger end of the YA audience, and I also think there could have been better conflicts and resolutions. Overall, though, a pretty cute read!
When You Wish Upon a Lantern is a cute, contemporary coming -0f-age story that centers around childhood friends Liya and Kai. Liya's family runs a lantern/Chinese convenience store, and Kai's family runs a Chinese bakery. They've been close their entire lives, but after a misunderstanding, they've fallen out of touch. When Liya finds out that her family's store is struggling, she and Kai decide to work together to save it.
This story is a little basic in its construction, but it was a really cute read with some important messages about the immigrant experience and grief. I think that the misunderstanding between Liya and Kai that sets up the entire book is so childish, but it could(??) be plausible. Some other character motivations were childish as well, but those moments were offset by really impactful moments between Liya and her family. This book is 3.5 stars for me mostly because of those childish moments since I think that this book is aimed at the younger end of the YA audience, and I also think there could have been better conflicts and resolutions. Overall, though, a pretty cute read!