Dumpling Days

Pei Pei spends a month in Taiwan with her family to celebrate her grandmother's 60th birthday. During their stay, she enrolls in a Mandarin language program while her sisters take art lessons. Through cooking classes and food adventures, Pei Pei discovers Taiwan's dumpling culture and street food scene. She navigates cultural differences as an American-born Chinese person in Taiwan, where she cannot speak the language or read signs. The story follows Pei Pei's journey to find her place between two cultures and develop confidence in her identity. Her experiences with family, food, and art help her understand the connections between her Taiwanese heritage and American upbringing.

Readers describe this middle-grade novel as a relatable story about cultural identity and family connections. Many reviews highlight Lin's detailed descriptions of Taiwanese food, with several readers noting they got hungry while reading. What readers liked: - Authentic portrayal of visiting relatives abroad - Clear explanations of customs and traditions - Humor throughout the story - Educational without being preachy - Realistic sibling relationships What readers disliked: - Some found the pacing slow in the middle - A few mentioned the art lessons subplot felt disconnected - Several wanted more depth about Taiwan's history Ratings across platforms: Goodreads: 4.19/5 (2,800+ ratings) Amazon: 4.8/5 (85 ratings) Common Sense Media: 5/5 One reader wrote: "As someone who's visited family in Asia, this captured those feelings of being both insider and outsider perfectly." Another noted: "My daughter read this three times and started asking to try dumplings."

Front Desk by Kelly Yang A Chinese American girl navigates life while helping her immigrant parents manage a motel in California where they secretly shelter other immigrants who need help.

Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai A Vietnamese refugee girl documents her family's relocation to Alabama through free-verse poems that capture her struggles with food, language, and belonging.

Step Up to the Plate, Maria Singh by Uma Krishnaswami A girl from an Indian-Mexican family in 1940s California fights to play softball and maintain her cultural traditions while her community faces discrimination.

A Different Pond by Bao Phi A Vietnamese American boy learns about his family's history and culture during pre-dawn fishing trips with his father in Minneapolis.

Prairie Lotus by Linda Sue Park A half-Chinese girl and her father settle in the American frontier of the 1880s, where she pursues her dreams of education while confronting prejudice.

🥟 Grace Lin based many elements of the story on her own childhood experiences visiting Taiwan during summer vacations with her family. 🎨 The author illustrated the book herself, creating detailed black and white drawings that bring Pacy's adventures in Taiwan to life. 🍜 The "dumpling" in the title refers to multiple types of dumplings featured in the book, including xiaolongbao (soup dumplings), jiaozi (potstickers), and baozi (steamed buns). ✈️ The book is the third installment in the semi-autobiographical series featuring Pacy Lin, following "The Year of the Dog" and "The Year of the Rat." 🎨 While in Taiwan, Pacy learns Chinese brush painting, which reflects Grace Lin's own experience studying this traditional art form during her visits to Taiwan as a child.