Grandma Lai Goon Remembers: A Chinese-American Family Story (What Was It Like, Grandma)

Grade 1-3-Morris describes the routines of three families, emphasizing how the grandmothers and grandchildren interact with one another. In the course of the narratives, some information about the women's personal histories emerge. Each story is fairly interesting and, while there is a pattern to the series, each title presents some aspects of the culture and family values that it depicts. An activity is included-most often a recipe-and suggestions of other ways for children to find out about their family history. Bright, colorful photographs, some by Linenthal and others provided by the families, accompany the clearly written prose. A sentence or two on each page is printed in large, colored bold type, and the rest of the text is in a smaller font. It is not apparent why these particular passages have been highlighted, since they neither contain the most significant bits of information, nor are they particularly relevant to the illustration on the page. The final page presents a "family tree" with photographs of the participants in the story and other relatives. While not essential additions to most collections, this series is nevertheless a nice vehicle through which children can be introduced to family stories.
Linda Greengrass, Bank Street College Library, New York City
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