Overview

When Jinyi and her family discover a soybean field, they begin a tradition that becomes a staple of the Chinese American community in the Midwest. Jinyi and her sister love visiting Auntie and Uncle Yang's home, where they enjoy dumpling-eating contests and backyard adventures with their cousins. One weekend, on a Sunday drive among the cornfields near Chicago, Auntie Yang spots something she has never before seen in Illinois. Could it be one of their favorite Chinese foods-soybeans?! Excited by their discovery, the families have their very first soybean picnic. Every year after that, Auntie Yang invites more people to share the food and fun. Pretty soon more than two hundred friends and neighbors are gathering at the picnic to play games and eat soybeans together. Unique illustrations painted on ceramic plates lend a quirky charm to this lighthearted intergenerational story. Auntie Yang's Great Soybean Picnic is a delicious celebration of family traditions, culture, and community that will have readers asking for seconds, thirds, and more.

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9781620147931

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Reviews

* More warm family memories from the Chinese-American creators of Mahjong All Day Long (2005), with cheery illustrations painted on ceramic plates.... The pleasure of finding unexpected links between a new country and the old suffuses this autobiographical outing. -- Kirkus Reviews, starred review * Historical fiction, at its best, makes the specific universal. Here that happens in the story of two sisters, Jinyi and Pei, who live in a small Indiana town in the 1950s. . . . This heartfelt story (based on the authors' childhoods) is absolutely delicious. Readers will feel a kinship with the young cousins, who are isolated at first, but soon become the center of an annual tradition. Adding an extra layer of charm to the story is the unique artwork. Beth Lo is a ceramic artist, and she painted the illustrations on plates that fill the pages. The winsome pictures, drawn with a childlike charm, capture the warmth of family, friendship, and food. The afterword, with photos, is a bonus. -- Booklist, starred review * Adding fullness to the narrative, wonderfully appropriate to the content, and paying homage to China's rich art history, Beth Lo's series of hand-painted porcelain plates serve as the book's illustrations. The soft, rounded compositions and earthy shades create feelings of easy comfort and warmth, and are a joy to behold.... This is a stellar title that will rest comfortably next to acclaimed picture-book memoirs by Allen Say, Peter Sis, and Uri Shulevitz. -- School Library Journal, starred review Lo echoes the message about the importance of personal heritage with her engrossing domestic scenes, painted on glazed porcelain plates. Each expressive composition stands alone, but together they provide an intimate chronicle of a multigenerational family. -- Publishers Weekly The book is richly detailed, but not overwhelmingly so. There's also a scattering of Chinese vocabulary, with a small guide at the back. Beth Lo's illustrations are especially fascinating... [T]he story is pitch perfect, and one well worth sharing with a class, or a child, perhaps with a bowl of edamame to snack on while you read. -- Kids Book Central Best Children's Books of the Year, Bank Street College of Education Editor's Choice, Booklist Charlotte Zolotow Award - Highly Commended Title, Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC) Choices, Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC) Delaware Diamonds Reading List, Diamond State Reading Association Original Art Show, Society of Illustrators Picture Book winner, Oregon Spirit Book Award

Author Information

Ginnie Lo and her sister Beth are the creators of Mahjong All Day Long, which won the Marion Vannett Ridgway Award for an outstanding picture book debut. Like their first book, Auntie Yang's Great Soybean Picnic is inspired by the sisters' memories of growing up Chinese American in the Midwest. Ginnie Lo is a retired computer science professor who taught at the University of Oregon for many years. She enjoys hiking, international folk dancing, and traveling--especially taking family trips to China. The mother of two grown children, she lives with her husband in Eugene, Oregon. Beth Lo and her sister Ginnie are the creators of Mahjong All Day Long, which won the Marion Vannett Ridgway Award for an outstanding picture book debut. Like their first book, Auntie Yang's Great Soybean Picnic is inspired by the sisters' memories of growing up Chinese American in the Midwest. Beth Lo is an award-winning ceramic artist who has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and United States Artists. An art professor at the University of Montana, she also plays bass in two bands. She has one grown son, and she and her husband live in Missoula, Montana. Her website is bethlo.com.

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