Module 5 Book Reviews

THE STAR FISHER

a. BIBLIOGRAPHIC DATA

Yep, Laurence. 1991. THE STAR FISHER. New York: Murrow Junior Books. ISBN: 0-688-09365-5

b. PLOT SUMMARY

Joan Lee moves from Ohio to West Virginia with her family in the 1920s. Her family struggles to start a laundry business and build their home in an old schoolhouse. Her brother and sister easily get along with their classmates at their new grammar school, but Joan struggles to make friends at her new high school.

c. CRITICAL ANALYSIS

CHARACTERS

The characters in the story are Joan Lee’s mother, father, little brother, and little sister. Joan Lee called her mother, “mama,” and her father, “papa,” throughout the story. The three children have easy to pronounce American names: Joan Lee, Bobby, and Emily. The cover of the book shows Joan Lee wearing a blue dress that looks like it has Chinese patterns down the front of the dress. Papa wore an athletic shirt and pants in the beginning of the story. Bobby tucks in his shirt tails in order to avoid eating his mother’s apple pie.

THEMES

One theme in the story is the search for acceptance of an Asian American identity. Joan Lee, a Chinese American, struggles to please her Chinese mother while trying to make friends. Joan Lee tells her mother that she’s strict, but Mama thinks it’s good to be stern.

Another theme is responsibility and family honor. Joan Lee is the oldest child so she must help her parents the most. After Mama said that nothing would go to waste including the bad pies, Joan Lee said, “I made a mental note to boil a lot of water so we could make enough of Papa’s medicinal tea-the kind that was good for indigestion. She watches over her younger brother and sister. She helps dress her sister and calm her down when she is afraid. Joan Lee tells Emily the story of the Star Fisher in order to calm her nerves down and help put her to sleep. Emily told Joan Lee one time, “You might be bossy, but you always make things okay.”

In order to keep the family honor intact, The children must eat their lettuce sandwiches away from the other students in order to avoid embarrassing their family. The mother does not want the other children to know that they do not have money. Joan Lee shuns her new friend, Bernice, at lunch in order to eat her lettuce sandwich alone with her brother and sister. The mother and father have difficulty accepting help from Miss Lucy since they do not want charity. Only when Joan Lee explains to her mother that Miss Lucy does not have any family and her mother would be helping her, does the mother allow Miss Lucy to teach her to bake pies.

Joan Lee's family had to deal with the prejudices that people in the small town of West Virgina had of minorities. After Joan Lee’s family walks off of the train, an ignorant man yells, “Go home monkeys.” Joan Lee has trouble understanding this racial slur since she was born in the United States. America was her home. Hateful men paint racial slurs on the fence of their laundry mat. “She’s a chink lover,” Sidney complains to the Sheriff about Miss Lucy.

TRENDS

The American townspeople thought that the job defines the person while Joan Lee’s family thought education defines the person. Joan Lee stated to Mrs. Blake that, “My father is a scholar.” Mrs. Blake’s response was to ask if her father was going to open a school. When Joan Lee declared that he was had a laundry business, she stressed, “Then, he’s not really a scholar.”

STRENGTHS

The author shows the use of Chinese language in the story, but putting English dialogue in italics and when the characters speak Chinese the dialogue is in regular print. This story indicates that it’s possible for Chinese Americans to live in a new city and maintain their own cultural values. Joan Lee’s mother understood the importance of entering a pie in the church assembly.

She was able to bond with the townspeople simply because they enjoyed the taste of her pie. The mother tried to be a role model to her daughter. She did not give up on making a good pie even though cooking was difficult for her. “Mama’s failures set upon the windowsill, six of the now, but Mama ignored them as she leaned forward, rolling the dough hard and vigorously as if it were all of our troubles she was trying to flatten.”

PERSONAL OPINION

I was not ready for the story to end. I wanted to keep reading how Joan Lee’s family assimilated into the tight community. This story reminded me of the quote by Aoki, “the Japanese narrative is about conforming, renewing, and continuing.” Joan Lee’s friendship with Havana, Florie, Henrietta, and Bernice will continue to grow long after the last page of the book.

d. REVIEW EXCERPTS

Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, 1991)
The author of Dragonwings (Newbery Honor, 1976) draws on his mother's childhood to depict a Chinese family's experiences when they arrive from Ohio to open a West Virginia laundry in 1927. Eldest child Joan Lee is 15; unlike their parents, she and her siblings were born in the US and speak English. Their first two encounters set up the difficulties they will face and how they will be countered: when they step off the train in Clarksburg, ne'er-do-well bigots greet them with cruel taunts; but their landlady, a retired schoolmistress, warmly welcomes and befriends them. Still, "The Star Fisher," a Chinese folk tale Joan shares with her little sister, symbolizes Joan's position even after she gains acceptance: like the child of the selkie-like bird-wife in the story, she sees through two sets of eyes. Yep has shaped his family's stories into a rather old-fashioned novel of small-town prejudice bowing to good will and some humorously applied ingenuity. Joan is provided with another spunky outcast as a friend; pungent family interaction and abundant period details help to complete a vivid picture. While learning to cook, Mrs. Lee bakes a series of inedible apple pies that strain credulity, but they do serve the plot well when she finally bakes a good one and makes a hit at a church social. A likable, thoughtful story about a young woman learning to value her own differences. 1991, Morrow, $12.95. © 1991 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

Horn Book (The Horn Book Guide, 1991)
The lovely Chinese legend of the star fisher serves as an analogy to the plight of the Lee family, who in 1927 move from Ohio to West Virginia in search of a better life. A pleasure to read, entertaining its audience even as it educates their hearts. Category: Fiction. 1991, Morrow, 150pp.. Ages 14 to 18. Rating: 2: Superior, well above average.

e. CONNECTIONS

The students may want to learn about other minorities that lived in West Virginia in the 1920s.

The students can discover what historical events were occurring during the 1920s and if any of these events influenced peoples’ behavior towards minority groups.

Students may also enjoy reading the following books about Chinese Americans:

Yep, Laurence. 2001. ANGELFISH. New York: Putman’s. ISBN: 0399230416.

Yep, Laurence. 1997. THE CASE OF THE GOBLIN PEARLS. New York: Harper Collins Publishers. ISBN: 0060244461

Activities

Students could do a graph of how many minorities were living in West Virginia. They could research which states had the greatest population of minorities.


MUSIC FOR ALICE

a. BIBLIOGRAPHIC DATA

Say, Alice. 2004. MUSIC FOR ALICE. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. ISBN: 0-618-31118-1.

b. PLOT SUMMARY

After the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, Alice and her husband, Mark, must leave their home in Seattle, Washington and move an assembly center in Oregon. They choose to work on a beat farm rather than move on to an internment camp. After gaining the permission of the federal government, Alice and Mark start their own journey as farmers. The story tells their determination and farming failures and successes.

c. CRITICAL ANALYSIS

CHARACTERS

The faces of the Japanese-Americans at the assembly center were difficult to see since shadows from their hats fell over their eyes. The people were varying heights and work different clothes. Men wore suits, casual pants, jackets, coats, and ties. Since each person was allowed only one bag at the camp, the men’s luggage tended to match their economical status.

The illustrations in the story portray a hard working husband and wife and illustrate the process that they made turning dry, dusty desert land into two hundred acres of beautiful gladioli. The illustration showed Mark and Alice standing in rows of multicolored sword lilies. People came from around the world to visit their farm and buy the gladioli bulbs. “… a famous movie actress traveled all the way from Tokyo to look at our flowers; a Buddhist abbot came from Kyoto to bless us.”

THEMES

The genre of this story is historical fiction. The Asian Pacific American theme that begins the story is the cross cultural conflict. The American government feared that Japanese-Americans might be biased towards Japan during World War II, so they relocated them to internment camps.

Alice’s and Mark’s decision to work at a farm instead of moving to the relocation center shapes the rest of their lives. When the war ended, Alice remarked, “…I was worried we might still be thought of as enemies. And we didn't have a home to go back to. The farm was our home now.”

STRENGTHS

The story shows Japanese-Americans staying strong under adversity. Even when times were tough on the farm, Alice and Mark tried to maintain a positive attitude. When Mark was lamenting their choice to work at the beet farm, Alice said, “We’ll be all right.” When Mark wanted to improve the farm, he read books. Alice remarked, “While I fretted, Mark read books.”


Mark demonstrated the power of one individual. When he had a problem, he tried to solve it himself. “It was slow work sorting the bulbs by hand, even with forty people working in two shifts.” Instead of fall behind on their orders, “Mark read more books. He designed a sorting machine.”

I think this story measures up to the standards of cultural authenticity. The story was historical accurate, set in the United States, and portrayed unique characters. Even through the trials and tribulations of her life, Alice never lost or forgot about her passion for dancing.

WEAKNESSES

The pictures were beautiful, but they did not show varying degrees of skin tones.

PERSONAL OPINION

I liked this story. I wanted to know more specific details about Alice's life. I was curious if she had children and was dancing at a wedding with her son at the end of the story. I was a little confused how dancing tied into the whole story.

However, if I think of dancing as a symbol for Alice's spirit, then it makes sense to me. Even though Alice worked tirelessly on her farm, she never lost her appreciation for what she truly enjoyed doing: dancing. When she was contemplating giving up her farm, she stated, "I was happy, but I kept thinking. What good is success if we can't enjoy ourselves."

d. REVIEW EXCERPTS

Hazel Rochman (Booklist, Feb. 1, 2004 (Vol. 100, No. 11))
From the close-up jacket portrait of an elderly Japanese American woman to the final view of her ballroom dancing before a black-tie audience, this picture book, based on a true-life story, will appeal more to adults than kids, though some young readers will respond to the history and the understated, first-person account of trouble and courage. The first painting, repeated on the back cover, is a sepia-tone view of Alice as a Japanese American child, dreaming of music and dance on a California farm. She marries, and the World War II roundups follow, with a haunting view of her and her husband in the crowd, labeled like luggage. Instead of being sent to internment camp, they are allowed to grow food for the war effort. Their first harvest is "a harvest of stones," but they go on to make the desert bloom and eventually become the largest gladiola bulb growers in the country. One glorious picture shows them in a huge field of flowers. The drama is quiet. As always with Say, the exquisite watercolors tell an American story. Category: Books for Middle Readers--Fiction. 2004, Houghton/Walter Lorraine, $17. Gr. 4-7.

Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, March 1, 2004 (Vol. 72, No. 5))
Understated full-page water-color paintings and a spare text tell the life story of Alice Sumida, who "loved dancing more than anything else." As a child, Alice wished that "Daddy's tractor would turn into a coach and take me dancing." After college she married Mark, who sold seeds. Like thousands of other Americans of Japanese descent, the couple was forced to evacuate during WWII. In the sandy desert of eastern Oregon, they leased land to start a farm of their own, and after years of hard work became "the largest gladiola bulb growers in the country." Eventually, they sold the business. "What good is success," Alice thought, "if we can't enjoy ourselves?" After her husband's death, Alice visits the farm, now in ruins. In a poignant moment, Alice realizes that now she can dance: "And dance I do-all that I can." Each of Say's exquisite paintings tells a story; together they create a moving testament to a life of hard work and dreams-dreams that find fulfillment in unanticipated ways. 2004, Walter Lorraine/Houghton Mifflin, 32p, $17.00. Category: Picture book. Ages all. © 2004 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

Horn Book (The Horn Book Guide, Fall 2004)
The fortitude of Japanese Americans uprooted during World War II takes an unusual form in this story of Alice Sumida, who becomes the largest gladiola bulb grower in the country. In this book, there is more variety of pictorial expression than is usual in Say's work, and a telling conjunction of his feeling for character and for the landscape of the American West. Category: Picture Books. 2004, Houghton/Lorraine, 32pp, $17.00. Ages 4 to 9. Rating: 2: Superior, well above average.

e. CONNECTIONS

Students could use World Book Kids to look up information on Japanese Internment Camps during World War II.

Related books

Students could read about other stories of Japanese-Americans living in internment camps.
Middle school students may enjoy the book:

Kadohata, Cynthia. 2006. WEEDFLOWER. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers. ISBN: 0689865740

High School Students may enjoy the book:
Guterson, David. 1995. SNOW FALLING ON CEDARS. New York: Vintage Books. ISBN: 9780679764021.

Activities

Students could compare and contrast the lives of Japanese-Americans before and after living in the Internment camps.

Children’s responses

Before I even began reading the story, a small group of third graders predicted that Alice was Chinese because of her eyes. Since my group of students where either born in or have parents that were born in Latin American countries, I asked them to step into Alice’s shoes. I asked them to think about how they would feel if the United States had a conflict with Mexico and made all the Mexican Americans relocate to one area (All of my students were either born in Mexico or have at least one parent from Mexico). The students immediately understood and felt the injustice Alice suffered.

Later in the story, one boy could not understand why Alice and Mark should their gladioli farm after they worked so hard to make it wonderful. The students were shocked when Mark died, and they were sad that Alice never danced with Mark. The students wanted to know if Alice and Mark ever had any children.


FATHER’S RUBBER SHOES

a. BIBLIOGRAPHIC DATA

Heo, Yumi. 1995. FATHER’S RUBBER SHOES. Orchard Books. ISBN: 0-531-06873-0

b. PLOT SUMMARY

Yungsu missed his friends from Korea and wished his father had more time to spend with him. The next day, his mother made his favorite food: Bulgogi. On his way to take his father some Bulgogi at the market, Yungsu meet a boy his age. He shared some Bulgogi with his new friend and invited him to lunch.

c. CRITICAL ANALYSIS

The genre of FATHER’S RUBBER SHOES is fiction. The illustrations are created in oil paint, pencil, and collage. Vivid yellows, oranges, and blues dominate the background colors in this story.

CHARACTERS

The main characters in the story are Yungsu, his mother, and his father. The other characters are the customers in his father’s store, the children in the neighborhood, his Korean friends, and little sister. Most of the characters in the story have apple and pear shaped bodies. The characters’ facial expressions are not well defined. Talking characters have oval mouths. All characters seem to have straight lines for their eyes.

The woman, men, and children wear their hair in different hairstyles. The children on the playground in America have different hair colors while the Korean children in Yungsu’s dream all have black hair, yet styled differently. The people in Yungsu’s American neighborhood and playground wear multicolored clothes, yet the Korean children wear blue and black clothes.

THEMES

Some themes in the story are friendship, homesickness, and Korean Americans. Yungsu feels isolated and alone as he walks down the street in his neighborhood. “He put his hands in his pockets and kicked an empty can.” His expression is sad and pensive as he peers into his father’s store and swings by himself at the playground.

As a child, my mother would bake cookies for my brother and I if we had a hard day. Yungsu’s mother prepared his favorite dish for lunch: bulgogi. “Just thinking about it made his month water.” Some children will be able to relate to their mother cooking them a special meal or food when they feel depressed.

STRENGTHS

Children can relate to the universal themes of loneliness and longing for friends. Many children must contend with busy parents that have little time to spend with them. Children from other countries and cultures have the added difficulty of breaking cultural barriers to make new friends.

WEAKNESSES

I liked the simple story; however, I did not like the shape of the characters. They seemed like blobs with varying degrees of thickness instead of real people. The adults waiting in line at the store and talking to each other on the street all seemed to be the same height. I think the story would be more authentic if the characters had varying body types and skin tones.

PERSONAL OPINION

The illustrations did not keep my almost three year old entertained enough to pay attention. I finished reading the book to her; however, she was reading a book to herself at the same time. I liked the message of parental sacrifice in the story, yet I think only insightful fourth or fifth grade students would understand the true metaphorical meaning. I think younger students would be confused by the mention of the rubber shoes in the story.

d. REVIEW EXCERPTS

Booklist, Sept. 15, 1995 (Vol. 92, No. 2)
No one Yungsu knew was at the playground." Lonely and miserable in America, Yungsu dreams of his friends in Korea. Passing by his father's grocery store, he sees his father's hands busy serving customers. That night, the boy feels those hands lovingly holding his, as Father tells a story about himself as a child in Korea, how he carried his first precious pair of rubber shoes so as not to wear them out. He wanted his children to have an easier time, he says. The next day, Yungsu's mother makes his favorite Korean food, and he shares it with an American friend and begins to feel at home. The understated story may be too elusive for young children, but the brightly colored new wave-style illustrations in oil, pencil, and collage play with perspective--some with an aerial view, some with close-ups of detail. They convey the sense of the boy who feels dislocated and outside and then at the center of his world. Category: For the Young. 1995, Orchard, $14.95 and $14.99. Ages 4-8. By Hazel Rochman

Kirkus Reviews, 1995
The ache of homesickness is shot through Heo's story of the travails that wait upon the emigrant's experience. Yungsu has just moved to America from Korea. The neighborhood is new, he hasn't any friends, and his father works the long hours of a grocer. Yungsu wants to go home--to Korea. Late one night his father comes to see him in bed. He tells Yungsu the story of a pair of rubber shoes--considered the best shoes to own--Yungsu's grandmother bought his father when he was young. He wanted to keep those shoes forever. "I want to give you something," the father says, "--like my rubber shoes, but something you can have all the time. That's why we're here. I hope you understand." It's a quietly epiphanal moment for Yungsu, and his life takes a modest turn for the better. This story has an unpretentious grace about it: The pain is there but so is the peaceful, hopeful presence of Yungsu's mother and father. Heo's illustrations are elegantly, fiercely two-dimensional--primitive, colorful, with all sorts of odd, surprising perspectives and colors: pumpkin orange, grape, olive green, khaki, dusty rose, and maroon on mustard backgrounds. Hope and promise join with longing in a heartfelt book. 1995, Orchard, $14.95; PLB $14.99. Starred Review. © 1995 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

Horn Book (The Horn Book Guide, 1995)
Yungsu is homesick for his native Korea, so his father tells a story from his own childhood to explain why they have come to America. The next day, proud of his father and his heritage, Yungsu shares some Korean food with a classmate, opening the door for a friendship between them. Heo's innovative compositions reflect Yungsu's blossoming feelings of security in his place in his family and, finally, in the world. Category: Fiction. 1995, Watts, 32pp.. Ages 5 to 9. Rating: 2: Superior, well above average.

e. CONNECTIONS

The following book looks at the life of another little Korean boy living in the United States.

Hartung, Susan Kathleen. 1999. DEAR JUNO. Pak, Soyung. New York: Viking.

This book portrays a young Somalian boy feeling homesick for his country.

Littlewood, Karin. 2002. THE COLOR OF HOME. by Mary Hoffman. New York: P. Fogelman Books.

Children might want to look at this website to learn more about the author: http://bccb.lis.uiuc.edu/1197feat.html.

Activities

Children could compare and contrast games that Korean children like to play with American children’s games. Children could also investigate Korean foods and determine other favorite foods of children. Students in the Carrollton-Farmers Branch School District can use the databases Facts for Learning and World Book Kids to look up information about Korean children’s games and foods. Culture Grams is another website that would provide children with accurate information about the Korean culture.