Andrea ChengRezensionen

Fourth grader Anna Chang loves reading so much that she’s often caught with her nose in a book, whether that’s in the classroom, at recess, on the bus, or even when walking! But as the school year progresses from fall to spring, she learns that some of the best memories are made in the here and now, with family and friends by her side.

This is a sweet book about the everyday adventures of childhood, from creating a homemade Halloween costume to sewing lunch bags from donated fabric scraps to making paper airplanes and taking them for a spin. Although a few heavier topics come up (such as some casual racism and a divorce that is far from amicable), the book remains optimistic overall.

Anna and her family are endearing, as are the myriad of folks in their lives from a caring teacher to a chatty crossing guard to an elderly neighbors with a penchant for giving away things he's no longer using. I could easily see why readers would want to progress on to the rest of the series to spend more time with these characters.

There is a great deal of diversity in the book; Anna's family is of Chinese descent, with her mother being an immigrant; her mother is also a nontraditional college student; there is the friend whose parents are going through a divorce; there's use of wheelchairs for both temporary and permanent disabilities; and so on.

This book is perfect for fans of Beverly Cleary’s Ramona series, especially if readers are ready to move on to a slightly older protagonist but not quite ready for the darker "problem novel" titles that pepper middle grade literature.½

What a wonderful, sweet little book about kindness and friendship. It was full of goodness, and I highly recommend it to kids and grownups who love children's literature.

4th grader Anna Wang is often reading a book. She likes them, but it's also an escape from complicated friendship dynamics. What I particularly like about this book is that Anna doesn't jump at befriending another girl when she gets the chance -- she takes her time and the friendship grows based on real connections. Her immigrant parents work very hard, but still make space for Laura (the new friend) to have a safe place to be as her parents separate and her father becomes threatening. There are lots of kind adults in Anna's life as well -- Mr. Shepherd, who struggles with asking for help getting in and out of his wheelchair since his wife passed away, Ray, the crossing guard, who checks in with her every day, Teacher Zhen at Chinese school and Ms. Simmons in her classroom. The book has a quiet energy to it -- many things happen day to day, and Anna reads many excellent books and altogether it's just a really nice book in itself. Like a slighly less zany Ramona with craft projects and reading.

Beautifully illustrated, this is a story of family love and cohesiveness. Anna's father is a book binder. She watches and learns every chance she can. When her pregnant mother goes into labor the day before a major contract needs to be fulfilled, Anna knows how to bind the books after intently watching her father, and she fulfilled the contract.

In doing so, she saved her father's business. This is such a lovely story! I highly recommend this book both for the illustrations and the special family story.½

What does an all-American girl with Chinese ancestors and a new immigrant from China find in common?

It's only when she visits China that eleven-year-old Anna Wang understands her roots and her cross-cultural identity.
STANDARDS
RL.4.3. Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., a character’s thoughts, words, or actions).

Anna the Bookbinder tells an endearing story of a little girl determined to help her father save their small book binding business. As resources become available for binderies to mass produce at a faster rate, her father's business takes a hit. Anna aids her father and encourages him. She knows that while they may be slower, their work is better quality. I enjoyed the family elements that Ted Rand laced through this story. He wove themes of storytelling, loyalty, patience, and family throughout the story by using a well-known fairytale to parallel the themes in his story.

This book was really quite heartwarming. The illustrations are homey and cozy, and the story was lovely.

This book is about a girl learning to balance her American culture and her Chinese culture. Her mother is from China and her family lives in America. She struggles to connect to both cultures.

I️ really enjoyed this book, I️ thought it would be perfect for children to read if they feel kind of out of place, I️ know I️ wouldve loved it as a child.

Cute children's story. The protagonist reminded me very much of how I was at that age. In this book Anna learns how to be a friend to someone going through a difficult time. The subject matter can get a bit heavy at times, and I would suggest reading the book with your child in order to address questions that may arise.

Cute! Perfect for grades 3 to 5. It's a sweet story about moving, making new friends, adjustments, helping the elderly, compromises, culture, caring for animals, and, of course, gardening.

The Year of The Garden was a very good book and for children in grades 3rd to 6th, it can teach them valuable lessons about friendship. Anna and Laura both enjoyed having each other as friends and were able to combine their interests into one. Laura enjoyed animals and Anna enjoyed gardening and decided why not be able to have both. Anna also shows that it is possible to accomplish something even if you think that it may not work out.½

A story of WWII Budapest. Very good. Based on a true family story.

Anna Wang is an 8 year old girl who moved to a new house with her parents and her brother Ken. She is worried about friends and school. When she is given a gift of seeds and the book The Secret Garden, she decides that she will make a garden in the backyard. It is easier said than done. As she sits under a honeysuckle bush reading her book, Laura, another new girl to the neighbourhood, pops in. They become great friends and even end up in the same class. They are not interested in the same things and Anna is worried that their friendship won't last. When they find a baby bunny under the bushes, they are worried it will die overnight in the cold. With the help of Laura's aunt they are able to nurse it and keep it healthy. Read about Anna and Laura and how friendship can survive the odds or other friends and interests. There is some discussion of the cultural differences such as food and difficulty with the language, but it is not a major part of the story. A quick read for young readers. I like the mention of other books in this story as it should peak the interest in those books as well for the reader. A good addition to a late primary, early junior classroom or home library. The publisher generously provided me with a copy of this book via Netgalley.

I enjoyed reading this book. To start, I loved how this book tried to portray the reality of relationships between the second generation of immigrants’ children and the first generation. To explain, it is usually typical for immigrants’ children to either not know completely or forget about the language of their heritage. Therefore, it’s hard for them to communicate between first generation adults who speak little to no English. And I personally think that this book did well in portraying that reality. For example in the story, Helen was born in the States but her heritage is from China. When her grandfather from China visited her family in the States, they both realized that it was hard to communicate with each other. The story ends by how both of them tried to learn each other’s language in order to communicate with each other. The main idea of this story was that true love and care have no limits even if there may be a language barrier. Another reason why I enjoyed reading this book was because of the illustrations. The illustrator did oil painting for the illustration. By using oil painting, the illustrations portrayed softness and tenderness that aligned with the story’s message. In addition, it made the illustrations to look very realistic.

Years ago my dad brought me a DVD of The Secret Garden. I had no interest in it. I hadn't even heard of The Secret Garden before. But, like the good daughter I am, I indulged his buy and watched the movie. I became enchanted with the secret garden, Mary, Colin, and Dickon. Their story brought out the nature lover in me. It showed how nature can transform your day, but in Mary's case your life, into a happy one. I jumped at a chance to read The Year of the Garden since I love The Secret Garden and have read and enjoyed a few of the Anna Wang series.

This is a prequel of Anna's other stories where she grows her friendship with Laura. Anna loves digging up dirt and gardening but Laura doesn't feel the same way. She constantly asks to have the seeds they are trying to grow so she can get her family member to grow it on their farm instead of growing them themselves. It's really the strangest and most annoying thing ever. Why doesn't she come out and say she rather not be growing plants? Or why doesn't Laura just garden with her for a little while and then later on or the day after they can do something she likes to do? Where is the communication??? I know they are little kids but Laura just frustrated me so much. I think she just blatantly lied in there to get out of gardening too. It's just gardening. Why are you so weird about being outside? It's healthy for you. I know Laura is just young and has a lot to learn. The story is based around this friendship and what it means to be a friend. How you need to communicate your feelings and your friends might not like everything you like to do which is true to life.

I liked the basis of the story but there wasn't anything that wowed me. I prefer Anna's other stories where there is a bit more of a plot to them. The only thing that I liked or was impressed about was that Anna could read The Secret Garden at eight years old. Overall, The Year of the Garden was an okay read.

Anna is starting in the terrifying world that is middle school. Luckily, she gets the opportunity to do something amazing - go to China! Her former teacher, Mrs. Sylvester, and her husband are adopting a baby just like her baby sister Kaylee was. She's agreed to help them out since she knows the language and only one person can afford to leave with them at the time. Her real goal is to visit the guarded orphanage Kaylee was taken care of at. Anna and her friends sell fortune cookies to raise money for the orphanage. They also knit hats for all the babies. Anna's adventure brings her closer to her sister and her culture. She begins to accept how much her culture means to her and how it's such a big part of who she is.

I read the first book of Anna's, The Year of the Book, a while back so I knew I missed some new info (a whole baby!) reading the third book, but I was fine navigating on my own.

I've grown to really like this series. It captures a whole new point of view from a perspective I've never read before. I thought that Anna really exploring China, where her parents and her sister came from, and who she is were the best parts of the book. The way Anna is caring towards her sister and wanting to know where she came from is pretty touching. Anna and her friends have generous hearts donating their time and efforts into raising money and creating something for the orphanage. That's what really got me into the story - the sense of love very apparent across the pages. I'd be happy to read more of Anna's story in the future.

I love sibling bonds and to see that Anna truly loved her adopted sister. The relationships she had are one's that all children should have. This was probably my favorite one of the series.

I thought this would be the most appropriate first read of 2014 and it didn't disappoint. Anna's been feeling out of sorts lately. Her best friend Laura has been hanging around a new group of friends including the popular and overbearing Alison. Anna resigns to hang out with her friend when she can or not at all. She actually prefers to have her head stuck in a book reading greats like My Side of the Mountain and A Wrinkle in Time. What Anna soon discovers is that Laura actually needs her but like the older gentleman (which is what my mother would call him) her mother cleans for, Mr. Shepherd, her friend doesn't ask for help.

This was a really sweet story about friendship. Anna was very relatable because I could see her do what I do - get lost in a book and tune everyone out if she felt uncomfortable (of course I do it when I'm comfortable as well). There's a whole list of books she reads or mentions and she even had a book inspired Halloween costume so this is a great book for booklovers. Anna was also always making things and the book provided nice little images for how she created them like a drawstring lunch bag for example so this book is also good for those who like to be creative.

Anna struggles with identity. She looks Asian yet she isn't able to speak her cultures language. When she has to go to Chinese school she can't comprehend a word and understandably feels distant from what is supposed to be her roots. There were moments when her mother would say something about her in Chinese and she assumed the worse. I come from a Hispanic culture and most of the time I do understand what people are saying but sometimes I don't and even if I do I can't respond. I know how it must have felt for her to feel lost in finding her identity in her culture and with family members.

Anna could come off a bit selfish or distant like when she didn't see how much people need help or how her friend needed her. Sometimes people get trapped hanging out with the wrong friends so you need a real friend to get you out of it. I'm happy that she started looking around and noticing that she needed to be more of a friend and a better person. The Year of the Book was very synonymous with what it means to be a true friend especially when that friend is dealing with personal or family issues.

Books Mentioned:

My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg
Little Blue and Little Yellow by Leo Lionni
My Louisiana Sky by Kimberley Willis Holt
Hush by Jacqueline Woodson
Charlotte's Web by E.B. White
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
A Wind in the Door by Madeleine L'Engle
A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeleine L'Engle
Many Waters by Madeleine L'Engle
Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein
The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain

I think that “The Year of the Book” captures the comfort that books can bring to a lonely life. Though Anna wishes the girls in her fourth grade class were more accepting of her differences, she also wishes they would just leave her alone so she could read the next chapter. Anna is an appealing character whose struggles to accept her family's Chinese culture are believable, as is her reluctance to trust Laura, who's let her down before. Anna's eventual embracing of some of the differences that make her stand out from her classmates is empowering and may inspire readers to recognize the strength that comes from standing up for who you are.½

I thought that this book deserved an average rating. I say this because I was not really a fan of the ending on the book. The book is about a young boy who lives next to a tire shop that is owned by his father. His mother wants to move because of the overwhelming amount of tires that have consumed their personal space and the young boy is not happy about it. In the end of the book, the boy still had to move. I think that my expectation was set up for that happy ending which would allow the boy to stay in his childhood home and live happily ever after. It was a positive ending, but because it did not end the way that I had hoped, that really determined how much I liked the story. I can say that the story had very good illustrations! It was very easy to visually imagine the story with such detailed pictures. The central message of the story was that we can turn things that may seem negative to us into a positive thing. In the story, the young boy was told that he could not take any tires to his new house, so he used some of the tired from his dad's shop to build a beautiful and creative playground for the children in the neighborhood!

“Etched in Clay”, by Andrea Cheng is about a enslaved potter named Dave. Dave was a excellent potter but was a slave sometime before 1818 that could read and write. He wasn't afraid to write on the side of his great jars, rebelling against slavery silently yet making his voice heard around the world. “Etched in Clay” also tells the story of Dave’s life with his master's, family and friends. During Dave’s life he lost a leg, had two wives and had five masters. With his first master at the age of 17 he learned how to make great big jars and found to love pottery. Even after the Civil war he had nothing to do and know where to go, he still went to the turning house to figure out what kind of jar he was going to make that day until he died.
“Etched in Clay”, is a story that tells about a time where people owned people and where we were once divided. This book may be full historic fact poems but it tells us so much about our past and how we have grown in this modern day world. When I think back to this particular time with slavery I even imagine what my life would be like if the Union didn’t win the war. I think this book can connect us to Dave and the past because Dave was fighting against slavery silently and strong. Taking a risk so boldly knowing that you get could die because of it, that is what made Dave stand out, that is inspiration telling us, “Don’t sit around and watch, take action in what you believe is right.” After thinking hard about I know that if I were Dave I wouldn’t know what to do but I think I would do just the same. So “Etched in Clay” is inspiring and telling us a lesson without realizing it, we, can change the world.½

This story is about a girl named Anna who finds companionship in books. she doesn't really know how to make friends in real life so she relies on her favorite stories.