Laolao's Dumplings

A grandchild takes on a cultural culinary tradition in this quietly moving tale about intergenerational and community bonds. One spring day during a visit with Laolao, young narrator Millie, who's of Chinese descent, requests dumplings, and the two take the subway to Chinatown for ingredients. There, Laolao knows every vendor, and animated garlic chives and lychee appear to dance in the air. At home, the two work together, an act that reprises as Laolao, who has begun to move slowly, "tells me all the steps to her best dishes" and one day gives Millie her rolling pin. When Laolao requests dumplings, Millie heads to Chinatown to buy groceries from the woman's extended community, discovering a ripple effect of caring and connection. Moon's highly detailed, thin-lined digital illustrations capture the bustle of Chinatown and the sensory details of creating dumplings as a grandparent's knowledge in turn becomes a way of caring for her. A dumpling recipe concludes. Ages 4-8. (Dec.)

K-Gr 2--Readers will savor the vivid illustrations that depict the loving connections between family and community, as shared through the makings of a dish of homemade dumplings. A girl named Millie loves spending time cooking with Laolao, her maternal grandmother, who teaches her delicious recipes and takes her on grocery shopping trips through their local, busy Chinatown. The lively descriptions of a shopping trip and subsequent cooking showcase a heartfelt regard for the tradition of making and sharing dumplings with loved ones, as does the cultural practice of calling close friends and neighbors "aunt" or "uncle" to honor the close connections. Readers will appreciate the flow of the story that repeats its cycle of events as Millie and her parents make their own dumplings to bring to Laolao when she becomes tired. In the wake of Laolao's declining health, the community rallies to her side, and Millie draws on her coveted memories of Laolao's dumplings to prepare the dish for her, with her parents' help. There is little exploration of Millie's emotional response to these changes; readers who feel distress about Laolao's decline may benefit from guidance that strengthens their understanding of the family and friends' actions to support and honor the older woman. Moon's digital artwork presents striking compositions full of bold outlines and highly saturated colors filling the forms of diverse characters, as well as the details in Laolao's kitchen and the streets of Chinatown. VERDICT Strong colors and precise lines abound across the pages of this story about family and community support, inspired by a food that fills the heart.--Rachel Mulligan