Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

I can’t even remember what brought the Anna Wang novels to my attention; all I can say is that I just finished the third one, and The Year of the Fortune Cookie was at least as delightful as the first two.  In it, Anna works to find the right place for herself in middle school before heading off to China with her former teacher and her husband, whose adoption of a Chinese baby is finally going to happen.  While some of the situations involved seem a tad unlikely and/or on the rosy rather than realistic side, I enjoyed the book enough that I didn’t really care.  And kudos to the illustrator as well–Patrice Barton’s drawings added to the reading experience for me, even though my focus is usually on the words, just the words, and not much else besides the words.  Overall, these are gentle books that still manage to encourage readers to think outside of their experiences and comfort zones.  Our world needs more of these.

Oh, and by the way…both of my older girls are now enjoying this series.  There may or may not be conflict over who reads this one first!