Christmas season is in full swing, and eleven-year-old Peiling Wang can't take another minute of it. She feels completely left out! Her family is from Taiwan, and even though they have been living in America since she was small, they have never once celebrated the biggest holiday of the year. But with encouragement from her groovy uncle, Peiling musters up the courage to ask her parents the big question: Can we celebrate Christmas this year? With such high hopes (and maybe some unrealistic expectations!) it is especially disappointing when things don't turn out quite the way Peiling planned. But there is always a silver lining, and Peiling finds it.
Children's Literature Fifth grader, Peiling, wished she could skip the first day of school after Christmas vacation. Everyone would be talking about their presents, and she did not like being different. With some gentle nudging from her Uncle Samson, Peiling asks her Taiwanese parents if they can celebrate Christmas this year. After a heated discussion, they agree. Peiling wants a perfect Christmas. She envisions a tree, relatives eating a turkey and singing Christmas carols together. Then her classmate Laura would no longer be able to make comments about her Chinese food and customs. The reality is far from her dreams, but there are other events that more than make up for it. Peiling gets a starring role in the class play. Her teacher, Ms. Rosenweig, makes a strong attempt to create a more inclusive, multicultural class project that requires Peiling and the creativity of her friend, Grace, to make it a success. Most importantly, Peiling learns that family customs and traditions are important. Chen has created a lively cast of believable characters. Her story of an immigrant child caught between her parents' upbringing and her life in the United States is thoughtfully told. This is a warm family story, a strong school and friendship story, and an enlightening immigrant story that should not be relegated to the Christmas story shelf. It would be a good classroom read aloud for the beginning of fifth grade. Reviewer: Sharon Salluzzo

Pauline A. Chen

Chen, Pauline

Bloomsbury U.S.A. Children's Books

Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Bloomsbury Press

United States, United States of America

1st U.S. ed, New York, c2007

1st, First Edition, PS, 2007

October 2, 2007

[curator]lenscriv@archive.org[/curator][date]20180905191349[/date]

Christmas season is in full swing, and eleven-year-old Peiling Wang can't take another minute of it. She feels completely left out! Her family is from Taiwan, and even though they have been living in America since she was small, they have never once celebrated the biggest holiday of the year. But with encouragement from her hip, young uncle, Peiling musters up the courage to ask her parents the big question: Can we celebrate Christmas this year? With such high hopes (and maybe some unrealistic expectations!) it is especially disappointing when things don't turn out quite the way Peiling planned. But there is always a silver lining, and Peiling finds it.

Fifth-grader Peiling Wang wants to celebrate "a real American Christmas," much to the displeasure of her traditional, Taiwanese-born father

2023-06-28