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A review by iffer
The Great Wall of Lucy Wu by Wendy Wan-Long Shang
4.0
The Great Wall of Lucy Wu was enjoyable and very good, if not great. It's another middle-grade girl book in the vein of Lisa Yee's books (also published by Scholastic) that is light, but still touches on some issues of what it means to grow up as an Asian American (or generally as any type of "hypenated American" or as a 1.5-2nd generation child) without being extremely stereotypical. I'm glad that there are more realistic fiction books featuring non-European ("non-white") descended children living in places like the US, Canada, Australia ("Western" countries) who are living "normal" lives rather than only very serious books about children who undergo extreme hardship (e.g. emigrant/refugee children). I hope that more books will come out that reflect diverse groups (ethnic, racial, religious, cultural, socioeconomic status, etc) of children so that every child can grow up reading books about children who they feel reflect their experiences and feelings.
A few other things:
1) I liked the inclusion of Lucy's Chinese-born American classmate Talent, as well as the inclusion of Lucy's half-Chinese crush Harrison, because they draw attention to some of the differences and similarities in experiences/perceptions/insecurities of American-born and [Insert country]-born American children and bi- or multi-racial children.
2) I groaned inwardly that the book started off with the family eating at fancy Chinese restaurant with dishes including pig's ear and whole frog, if only because it seems like many books about ethnic Americans/Canadians/Australians include food, as if it would be reassuring to the "outsider" culture reader who can think in their heads, "I like Chinese food, too!" or feel like they know a lot about a culture because they've had some food from there ("I love sushi.") However, in the end, I appreciated the author's use of food in the story because it eventually appeared in different ways, some cheesier than others (symbolism of coming to terms with her Chinese side and realizing that her friends wouldn't think Lucy was a freak because they enjoyed making dumplings with her visiting great-aunt), that balanced the use of the topic as food as a symbol. In the end, I just got a homey feeling about food, and was reminded that, although trite sounding, food is integral to family, culture and some of our best memories.
3) I think that the book contains a good message about the importance of relationships with your elders, and how special they can be. For some reason, maybe because subconsciously they remind us of our mortality, younger people tend to have an aversion to older people, and Lucy's distaste for her great-aunt Yi Po's Vix VapoRub smell and early-rising habits rang true.
4) The symbolism of the "great wall" Lucy erects to separate her side of the room from Yi Po's is a bit heavy-handed, in addition to the lame pun, but it is a children's book ;)
5) I liked the fact that some more serious things were touched upon, such as China's Cultural Revolution and the nastiness/bullying (which included subtle racism rather than obvious racism that leaves readers not thinking that racism is a problem because no one does things as obvious as using racials slurs) of middle grade children.
A few other things:
1) I liked the inclusion of Lucy's Chinese-born American classmate Talent, as well as the inclusion of Lucy's half-Chinese crush Harrison, because they draw attention to some of the differences and similarities in experiences/perceptions/insecurities of American-born and [Insert country]-born American children and bi- or multi-racial children.
2) I groaned inwardly that the book started off with the family eating at fancy Chinese restaurant with dishes including pig's ear and whole frog, if only because it seems like many books about ethnic Americans/Canadians/Australians include food, as if it would be reassuring to the "outsider" culture reader who can think in their heads, "I like Chinese food, too!" or feel like they know a lot about a culture because they've had some food from there ("I love sushi.") However, in the end, I appreciated the author's use of food in the story because it eventually appeared in different ways, some cheesier than others (symbolism of coming to terms with her Chinese side and realizing that her friends wouldn't think Lucy was a freak because they enjoyed making dumplings with her visiting great-aunt), that balanced the use of the topic as food as a symbol. In the end, I just got a homey feeling about food, and was reminded that, although trite sounding, food is integral to family, culture and some of our best memories.
3) I think that the book contains a good message about the importance of relationships with your elders, and how special they can be. For some reason, maybe because subconsciously they remind us of our mortality, younger people tend to have an aversion to older people, and Lucy's distaste for her great-aunt Yi Po's Vix VapoRub smell and early-rising habits rang true.
4) The symbolism of the "great wall" Lucy erects to separate her side of the room from Yi Po's is a bit heavy-handed, in addition to the lame pun, but it is a children's book ;)
5) I liked the fact that some more serious things were touched upon, such as China's Cultural Revolution and the nastiness/bullying (which included subtle racism rather than obvious racism that leaves readers not thinking that racism is a problem because no one does things as obvious as using racials slurs) of middle grade children.