Review by Booklist Review
Kylie, who lives in San Francisco, has weekly video chats with Amah, her Taiwanese grandmother. Still, when Kylie's mother takes her to Taipei, Kylie feels shy. Amah introduces her grandchild to her favorite parks, markets, and foods, but Kylie is reluctant to try anything new. But when they visit hot springs, Kylie loves the water and begins to relax. She comes to enjoy the markets and parks, and she tries different foods. After returning home, she reads and sings to Amah online. And when Amah visits, Kylie is eager to be with her again. The carefully worded text has an intriguing structure. Midway through the pivotal hot-springs scene, each sentence from the book's first half is repeated, though the sentences appear in reverse order and with changes in punctuation that shift their meaning. Created with ink, watercolors, pastels, and colored pencils, the illustrations offer colorful, bustling scenes set in Taipei, while sensitively depicting the characters. Both Greanias and Subisak grew up in the U.S. with grandmothers in Taiwan. A sympathetic portrayal of long-distance family ties.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In this carefully structured picture book by a Taiwanese American author-illustrator team, black-haired, light-skinned Kylie, who lives in San Francisco, is apprehensive about visiting her Amah in Taipei. Though the duo connects weekly online, the language and culture feel somewhat daunting to Kylie when she and her mother arrive: "With/ ears pricked, she listened to Amah talk./ Kylie kind of understood." Chiu Greanias (Maximillian Villainous) employs a gently circular form that emphasizes how Kylie's feelings flip: "After she dipped a toe in the water.../ Kylie changed!/ The day they visited the hot springs?/ It was a brand-new day." Approachable, warmly colored doodle-style art by Subisak (Jenny Mei Is Sad)--rendered in ink, watercolor, pastel, and colored pencil--invitingly traces Kylie, her mother, and her grandmother's time in Taipei, including its restaurants, parks, and night market, appended with speech bubbles of English and Chinese with pinyin. Encouraging openness toward new experiences amid a centering of one child's diasporic shift in cultural perception, this contemporary tale tenderly spotlights the strengthening of an intergenerational relationship. Back matter includes creators' notes, a guide to the Taipei sights featured, and meanings behind Taiwanese foods. Ages 3--6. Author's agent: Sean McCarthy, Sean McCarthy Literary. Illustrator's agent: Lori Kilkelly, LK Literary. (Jan.)
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Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2--Kylie and her mother travel to Taipei from San Francisco to spend time with her Amah, or grandmother, with whom she video chats frequently but can't visit because of the distance. At first, the little girl feels nervous and unsure about the excursion, daunted by the language barrier and overwhelmed by new tastes and sights Amah wants to share with her. However, when they visit the hot springs, Kylie finally finds that embracing this comforting activity bonds her with her Amah and allows her to enjoy the rest of the stay. She delights in all of the things she found strange at first, and is sad to leave her grandmother when it's time to return home. She enthusiastically continues to video chat with her grandmother every Saturday and is no longer scared, but excited for future visits. Subisak's watercolor, pencil, and ink illustrations lovingly show details from Taiwanese life and culture. Ranging from multiple vignettes per page to full spreads, they possess an almost cinematic storyboard quality while supporting the mirrored narrative symmetry that has the hot spring visit as its midpoint. Taiwanese words and conversation are used throughout, clear from context. VERDICT As is true for Hyewon Yum's Grandpa Across the Ocean, this is a poignantly emotional and highly relatable story for children whose grandparents or other family members might live far away, but also one that teaches universal lessons about overcoming fears of the unfamiliar.--Yelena Voysey, formerly at Pickering Educational Lib., Boston Univ.
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A child and her grandmother connect across the miles through food and fellowship. Kylie is anxious as she departs San Francisco for Taipei to visit Amah, whom she doesn't often visit. In Taipei, Kylie negotiates unfamiliar situations, including a banquet replete with "steaming food" and many aunts, uncles, and cousins ("actual…or not?"). Kylie remains hesitant and keeps her physical and emotional distance while her mother and Amah play in the park and drag her through a night market. Kylie's attitude shifts midway through the story when she decides to give the hot springs a try and discovers she loves them. As a result, Kylie enthusiastically explores her environment, transforming into the leader of their expeditions. The verbal and visual narratives here mirror the first half of the story with changes in context: Kylie now embraces, for instance, the "Chinese donuts," which resemble savory churros. The backmatter contains biographical anecdotes from the author and the illustrator, information about some of Taipei's tourist attractions, and a note about popular foods in Taiwan and their symbolism in Chinese traditional culture. These descriptions, both from women with Taiwanese grandmothers, reflect the diverse cultural makeup of Taiwan's population as it has shifted during the last two centuries. The Chinese-language phrases--shown in traditional characters as if composed by a child's hand, minor errors and all--comprise another distinguishing feature in centering the experiences of the diaspora. An au courant portrayal of a transnational childhood. (Picture book. 5-8) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
