Brandon Makes Jiao Zi

Written by Eugenia Chu
Illustrated by Helena Chu Ho
Published in 2017

Why we chose this book:
We're always glad to read T books about children with different backgrounds. When the author offered to share this book for a review, I was excited to read it to T.

Mom's Review

Brandon makes Chinese dumplings with his visiting grandmother.

I liked this book because I saw T in Brandon. When Brandon's grandparents surprise him with a visit from China, he is thrilled. And when he sees that his grandmother will make his favorite food with him, he is even more excited. In his enthusiasm, he makes a mess of the kitchen, but it is quickly rectified and he gets to eat his jiao zi (dumplings). After eating a whopping ten, he asks for another but doesn't eat it. Instead, he uses it as an art canvas to make a little face. I could see T doing all these things: T does happy dances like Brandon, he loves to help cook, he makes messes when he tries to help cook, and he loves little "guys."

Brandon Makes Jiao Zi incorporates some Mandarin, with context clues or English paraphrasing so that a non-speaker can understand. I like reading T books with some integrated foreign language. I know he is not learning Mandarin, but the exposure will lay a foundation for inter-cultural understanding and communication.  I read this to T several times, and sometimes we included my attempts at pronouncing the Chinese words, and sometimes I skipped over them. The author's website provides an audio of the book, which is how I learned to pronounce some of the words correctly (I hope).

Son's Review
(age 3 years)

Note: This was also an ebook. Since it was the second ebook I read to T, he was not so confused about why we were looking at the computer, but he still wanted to know where the book was. We have no more ebooks on the horizon.

After reading:

Son: Why doesn't it show the jiao zi?

Mom: On the last page? Oh, he just ate it! What was this book about?

Son: He decorates, eats a jiao zi.

Mom: Do you feel like Brandon? How?

Son: Yeah. Happy.

Mom: Do you do anything like Brandon?

Son: I be silly...I do kitchen things.

Mom: Like what?

Son: Like I sprinkle [flour] on the table for making pizza.

Mom: Did you like this book? What was your favorite part?

Son: I liked it. I loved it. I'm gonna hug it...I liked the ghost part.
(Sorry kiddo, you're not hugging the laptop.)

Mom: Who might like reading this? What kind of kids might like this book?

Son: Silly boys and and and  creative boys might like it too.