Reviews for How my family lives in America

Horn Book
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Fiction: NF Age: K-3 Color phot. Three children - an African American, a Hispanic American, and an Asian American - describe their families. Colorful photographs show the families celebrating cultural events and practicing values and traditions reflective of their heritage while living in America. Contrived at times, the book touches upon issues of cultural identity with lighthearted optimism. Horn Rating: Recommended, with minor flaws. Reviewed by: ah (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.


Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

A multicultural consciousness-raiser in which three children, each with at least one parent who did not grow up in the US, describe some of their adapted family customs. Food is a common theme: Sanu's African father invites friends over for a special meal of tiebou dienn, eaten on the floor from a common bowl, and ``while we eat, we hear stories about our parents when they were little in Senegal and in Baltimore''; Eric enjoys baseball, the merengue, and especially arroz con pollo y habichuelas with his Puerto Rican family; Taiwanese Chin Lan (``My name in America is April'') has cold sesame noodles, tsu ma liang mein, in school, and takeout pizza for dinner. The young narrators, speaking in an easy, unforced way, invite readers to see them both as individuals and as proud members of ethnic groups, but not, ultimately, as so different from children anywhere. The practices they describe are a well-chosen blend of the exotic and the mundane, enhanced many lively, natural-looking color photos. Recipes at the end (except for the pizza). (Nonfiction. 7-10)

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