Winston Chu vs. the Whimsies (Winston Chu #1)
by Stacey Lee (Author)
Best-selling author Rick Riordan presents best-selling author Stacey Lee's modern reimagining of a classic Chinese folktale--replete with magic, boba, and lots of trash talking.
Twelve-year-old Winston Chu is supposed to learn impulse control at the cooking academy his mom enrolled him in. But learning to think before he acts won't happen overnight. While skateboarding home with a pie in hand, Winston inadvertently stops a robbery at Mr. Pang's Whimsies, an oddities shop in Chinatown. As a reward, Mr. Pang invites Winston to choose any item in the store. But the strange old man warns Winston to browse carefully, for the first thing Winston touches will be the thing he gets. Before Winston can decide, a magpie flies under a shelf, and he impulsively grabs an old broom to sweep it out. Mr. Pang hands him the broom, along with a dustpan. "Two for one. Congratulations."
Deflated, Winston returns home, determined to put the broom incident behind him. Or at least in the closet. But when some of his most beloved possessions go missing, all Winston can think about are the broom and dustpan. Did they somehow take his stuff? And what--or who--will they dispose of next? It's time to break into Mr. Pang's Whimsies, where clearly there's more going on than meets the far-seeing eyeball. It's time to fight magic with magic. And this time, Winston better have a plan.
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Publishers Weekly
In contemporary San Francisco, 12-year-old Winston Chu seeks to remember his translator father, who died in a friendly fire incident while serving in Iraq. On the night before that event's third anniversary, Winston makes a shoofly pie in cooking class to honor him. But when the dropped pie startles two purported burglars outside of Mr. Pang's Whimsies--a local store that Winston's never before seen--the shop's mysterious owner invites him to choose one item for his own. Accidentally ending up with a disappointing old broom and dustpan, Winston is further dismayed to experience a string of mishaps, and learns that according to Chinese custom, broom-inhabiting spirits may cast bad luck when the object is improperly used. When multiple dear items, then loved ones, begin disappearing, Winston and his friends must unravel the mystery of the shop, the spirits, and the broom's seemingly targeted effect on Winston's life. Contemplating grief's lingering nature, Lee (Luck of the Titanic) plots a quickly paced, Chinese folklore-inspired story narrated by a sincere protagonist bolstered by loyal family and friends. Characters cue as racially diverse. Ages 8-12. Agent: Kristin Nelson, Nelson Literary. (Feb.)
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JUV001000 - Juvenile Fiction | Action & Adventure
JUV012060 - Juvenile Fiction | Legends, Myths, Fables | Asian
Magic
Families
Family life
Folklore
San Francisco (Calif.)
Changelings
China
Novels
