Mindy Kim and the yummy seaweed business

Review by Booklist Review

Mindy Kim misses her mom, who died recently, and she wants a dog. She also just moved to a new school and is eager to fit in. But nothing seems to be working out the way she wants: her dad is so sad about her mom that he won't even consider getting a dog, and nobody looks like her at her new school. Even worse, the other kids laugh at her lunch of rice, kimchi, and seaweed snacks. Things start looking up when her new friend Sally convinces other kids to try the seaweed snacks and then suggests Mindy sell them at lunch. Soon she has a good business going, but when a classmate tells a teacher about her new enterprise, her newfound popularity is threatened, she gets in trouble with her dad, and she loses her friend Sally. Can Mindy turn things around? This appealing chapter book starring a girl dealing with a new school is ideal for emerging readers and the first in a planned series.--Esmeralda Majors Copyright 2020 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.

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Review by School Library Journal Review

Gr 1--3--Seven-and-a-half-year-old Mindy Kim and her dad have moved from California to Florida in the wake of her mother's death. Mindy is not excited about starting at a new school. All her friends are back in California, but Mindy is determined to form a new social circle. When she shares her yummy seaweed snacks, she discovers lots of kids suddenly want to talk to her. Her excitement only builds as she and her newest friend develop plans for a snack business. But when things do not go as planned and Mindy lands in the principal's office, will she be able to find any new friends? Reminiscent of Barbara Park's "Junie B. Jones" series but with more emotional depth and life lessons effortlessly woven throughout, this first installment of a new series deals with grief, loss, and how to right a wrong. The slightly smaller type and higher-level vocabulary will appeal to young readers seeking a little more of a challenge than the typical early chapter book. The discussion of Mindy's experiences as a young Asian American student, including bringing 'different' food to lunch and how she looks different from her classmates, is a welcome and necessary perspective. VERDICT A solid choice for incorporating advanced vocabulary into early chapter book collections.--Emily Beasley, Omaha Public Schools

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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Review by Kirkus Book Review

Young Mindy takes an entrepreneurial approach to a new school and a new life.Moving from California to Florida is tough. On top of that, Korean American Mindy and her father are still grieving the recent loss of her mom from a long illness. The first day at her new school is discouraging, as she is teased for her lunch of kimchi, seaweed, eggs, and rice. The next day a white classmate named Sally tries the seaweed and effectively flips public opinion, making Mindy's lunch very popular. Encouraged by Sally's enthusiasm, Mindy starts trading her seaweed, then opts to sell it to raise money for a puppy (a long-held dream of hers) that she hopes will alleviate her father's sadness. The evenly paced plot thickens when a disgruntled classmate, a white boy named Brandon, reports Mindy's forbidden business to a teacher, causing Sally, Mindy, and Brandon to go to the principal's office. Just on the verge of settling in, Mindy now must untangle this mess. Lee ambitiously takes on a number of issues with a new school, microaggressions, friendships, and grief, and she artfully manages to balance it all. Mindy's accessible, genuine-sounding voice is sincere without diminishing the gravity of heavy issues. Lee also knows when to insert scenes of family love that prevent Mindy's dad from being defined solely by his grief. Ho contributes friendly-looking black-and-white illustrations every few pages.A lovingly authentic debut that shines. (Fiction. 6-9) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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Chapter 1 Chapter 1 My name is Mindy Kim. I'm seven and a half years old. That's old enough to ride a bike around our street, but not old enough to have my own puppy--or at least that's what my dad said. I don't really agree with him, but our old apartment in California wasn't big enough for a puppy anyway. I looked it up, and the experts on the Internet say that puppies need lots of room to run outdoors. Now that we've moved into a house with a big backyard, we can really get a puppy! I just have to convince my dad that it's a good idea first. So far, no such luck. Dad wants me to prove that I can be "responsible" enough for a puppy first... and then he'll "consider" getting me one. I decorated my own room to show Dad I'm "responsible." I'm trying to be more grown-up, so I only put three dog stuffed animals on my bed. There are ten more under my bed, but Dad doesn't need to know that. They'll just have to take turns. After I finished, I was looking through a website on huskies, one of my favorite kinds of dogs, when I heard Dad say, "Mindy? Can you help me with these boxes?" CRASH! "Dad!" I ran downstairs to see him standing over a box of broken dishes. "Oh no!" he said. "These were your mom's favorites." He looked so sad, like he was about to cry. I wished I'd brought one of my stuffed dogs with me. I'd even let him hug Snowball, my favorite white husky. I miss Mom, but I know Dad misses her a lot more. She died a few months ago because she was really sick for a long time. Excerpted from Mindy Kim and the Yummy Seaweed Business by Lyla Lee All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.

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