Everyone Loves Lunchtime but Zia
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
A heartwarming picture book about a Chinese-American girl who grows to appreciate the traditional dishes her parents prepare for her and finds a way to share her lunch with her classmates.
Everyone loves lunchtime. Everyone, that is, but Zia.
At school, the other kids are eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, cheese and crackers, and apples on the side. But Zia's always nervous about opening her lunchbox. Her dumpling and noodle dishes look different and smell different. She dreads lunchtime.
Then, during her birthday week, her parents pack her a different Cantonese dish each day and explain what the food represents: a roast pork bun to bring treasure, soy sauce chicken to bring success, and more. At first, Zia doesn’t want to eat her lunch, but once she starts, she just may realize her food could bring her good fortune after all!
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Discovering the special meanings behind foods in her packed lunch helps a Chinese American girl to appreciate her heritage in this straightforward handling of one child's lunch box moment. At home, Zia enjoys her favorite Cantonese dishes, but at school, "Everyone loves lunchtime./ Everyone but Zia." Fellow students, portrayed with varying skin tones, complain, "What's that smell? It looks funny! How do you eat this?" Zia begs for sandwiches, but on her birthday week, her parents propose "a different lunch every day, each with a special meaning." Monday's dish, "rice dumplings called tong yun... represent togetherness," but Zia hides the meal, then wonders when nobody sits with her, "Is it because I didn't eat my tong yun?" Fine-lined colored pencil and digital art by Chen renders characters with rosy cheeks and noses, pairing food close-ups with home and classroom scenes. Via a well-trod story arc, the creators detail the meanings behind specific dishes alongside a child learning to appreciate her heritage. Ages 3–7.
