Watercress /
Embarrassed about gathering watercress from a roadside ditch, a girl learns to appreciate her Chinese heritage after learning why the plant is so important to her parents.
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| Other Authors / Creators: | |
| Author / Contributor: | Wang, Andrea, |
| Format: | Book |
| Language: | English |
| Edition: | First edition. |
| Imprint: | New York : Holiday House, [2021] |
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| Summary: | Embarrassed about gathering watercress from a roadside ditch, a girl learns to appreciate her Chinese heritage after learning why the plant is so important to her parents. Driving through Ohio in an old Pontiac, a young girl's parents stop suddenly when they spot something growing in a ditch by the side of the road... watercress! With an old paper bag and some rusty scissors, the whole family wades into the muck to collect as much of the muddy, snail-covered plant as they can. At first, it's embarrassing. Why can't her family get food at the grocery store? But when her mother shares the story of her family's life in China, the girl learns to appreciate the fresh food they foraged. Together, they make a new memory of watercress in this tender story inspired by the author's childhood memories and illustrated by Caldecott Honor artist Jason Chin. - Jacket flap. This story is about the power of memory. Not just the beautiful memories, like the ones my mother and father had about eating watercress in China, but also the difficult ones, the memories that are sometimes too painful to share. It starts with my own distressing memory of being made to pick watercress that was growing wild by the side of the road. As the child of Chinese immigrants, growing up in a small, mostly white town in Ohio, I was very aware of how different my family and I were from everyone else. It's hard to feel like you don't belong, and collecting food from a muddy roadside ditch just made that bad feeling more intense for me -- something my very practical parents didn't understand. When I was young, my parents didn't talk about their memories of China, of growing up poor, losing siblings, and surviving war. I don't blame them -- these are difficult topics to discuss with children. But it's important, too, for children to understand their family history. Perhaps if I had known about the hardships they had faced, I would have been more compassionate as a child. Maybe I would have felt more empathy and less anger. More pride in my heritage and less shame. Memories have the power to inform, to inspire, and to heal. This story is both an apology and a love letter to my parents. It's also an encouragement to all children who feel different and to families with difficult pasts -- share your memories. Tell your stories. They are essential. - A note from the author. Caldecott Medal Winner<br> Newbery Honor Book<br> APALA Award Winner<br> <br> A story about the power of sharing memories-including the painful ones-and the way our heritage stays with and shapes us, even when we don't see it.<br> <br> <br> New England Book Award Winner<br> A New York Times Best Children's Book of the Year<br> A Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Book <br> <br> While driving through Ohio in an old Pontiac, a young girl's Chinese immigrant parents spot watercress growing wild in a ditch by the side of the road. They stop the car, grabbing rusty scissors and an old paper bag, and the whole family wades into the mud to gather as much as they can.<br> <br> At first, she's embarrassed. Why can't her family just get food from the grocery store, like everyone else? But when her mother shares a bittersweet story of her family history in China, the girl learns to appreciate the fresh food they foraged-and the memories left behind in pursuit of a new life.<br> <br> Together, they make a new memory of watercress.<br> <br> Author Andrea Wang calls this moving, autobiographical story "both an apology and a love letter to my parents." It's a bittersweet, delicate look at how sharing the difficult parts of our histories can create powerful new moments of family history, and help connect us to our roots.<br> <br> Jason Chin's illustrations move between China and the American Midwest and were created with a mixture of traditional Chinese brushes and western media. The dreamy, nostalgic color palette brings this beautiful story to life.<br> <br> An endnote from the author describes her personal connection to the story, and an illustrator's note touches on both the process of the painting, and the emotional meaning brought to the work.<br> <br> New England Book Award Winner <br> A New York Times Best Children's Book of the Year <br> A Wall Street Journal Best Children's Book of the Year <br> A Boston Globe Best Children's Book of the Year <br> A Washington Post Best Children's Book of the Year <br> A Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Book <br> Winner of the Cybils Award <br> An SCBWI Crystal Kite Award Winner <br> A New York Public Library Best Book of the Year <br> A Chicago Public Library Best Book of the Year <br> An ALSC Notable Children's Book <br> Named a best book of the year by Publishers Weekly, BookPage, School Library Journal, Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Lunch, Shelf Awareness , and more! <br> A CBC/NCSS Notable Social Studies Trade Book <br> An NPR 'Book We Love!' <br> A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection! |
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| Item Description: | "Neal Porter Books." |
| Physical Description: | 32 unnumbered pages : color illustrations ; 23 x 29 cm |
| Audience: | Ages: 4-8. Grades: PreK-3. Lexile: AD610L. |
| Awards: | Randolph Caldecott Medal, Winner, 2022 Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature, Picture Book, Winner, 2022 Newbery Medal, Honor, 2022 |
| ISBN: | 9780823446247 0823446247 |
| Author Notes: | Jason Chin is a celebrated author and illustrator of children's books. His book Grand Canyon was awarded a Caldecott Honor, a Sibert Honor, and the NCTE Orbis Pictus Award. He is the author and illustrator of Your Place in the Universe , which Kirkus called "A stimulating outing to the furthest reaches of our knowledge", as well as other acclaimed nonfiction titles-- Coral Reefs , Redwoods , Gravity , and Island- A Story of the Galapagos -- which have received numerous starred reviews and other accolades. He is also the illustrator of Stephanie Parsley Ledyard's debut title Pie Is for Sharing and Miranda Paul's Water is Water and Nine Months- Before a Baby is Born , the latter, a Boston Horn Globe Honor Book. He lives in Vermont with his wife and children. |