This sweet story about a girl, her uncle, and a little cat they meet on the way accomplishes multiple fun and useful aims: It’s a fully bilingual counting book that teaches readers the numbers one through ten in both simplified Mandarin and English. It provides a fun tour of a typical Chinatown–a beloved neighborhood in many cities around the world. Children will enjoy spotting the kitten in every illustration as it trails Mia and Uncle Eddie through the streets. And with each item that Mia encounters on her walk, the book introduces some fascinating new aspect of Chinese culture or myth, as explained in the friendly backmatter. Join Mia and Uncle Eddie as they wander Ten Blocks to the Big Wok!
Fathers and daughters
My Papi Has A Motorcycle
When Daisy Ramona zooms around her neighborhood with her papi on his motorcycle, she sees the people and places she’s always known. She also sees a community that is rapidly changing around her.
Featured in Volume XIII, Issue 2 of WOW Review.
I Want My Dad!
The Little Princess is jealous of her friends they all have dads who can do amazing things. The Cook bakes incredible cakes; the King always burns his. The Gardener takes his daughter on adventure-walks through the forest; the King gets lost on his way to bed. The Maid can teach the Little Princess to bake and she can take her for a walk, but will it be the same without her dad?
A Hundred Hours Of Night
Furious at her father, who is caught up in a sex scandal, and suffering from panic attacks and obsessive-compulsive disorder, fifteen-year-old Emilia December de Wit runs away from Amsterdam to New York City, where she meets sixteen-year-old Seth, and his eleven-year old sister Abby and then hurricane Sandy hits and the lights go out.
Sidewalk Flowers
In this wordless picture book, a little girl collects wildflowers while her distracted father pays her little attention. Each flower becomes a gift, and whether the gift is noticed or ignored, both giver and recipient are transformed by their encounter.
Undine
Sixteen-year-old Undine, hearing her presumably deceased father calling to her and feeling a strange force growing inside her, travels to the sea to discover the depths of her magical powers.
Today is the Day
Mutanu is excited. As she goes about her chores, she thinks about the day to come and what surprises it might bring. For today is no ordinary day at the orphanage she lives in. Every year, the orphanage honors its newest arrivals by creating a birthday day especially for them.
Nim’s Island
Nim is a modern-day Robinson Crusoe and is not afraid when her scientist dad sails off to study plankton for three days, leaving her alone on their island. Kids will love Nim’s zany adventures as she helps out her dad and diverts would-be tourists.
Anna’s Heaven
After the death of her mother, Anna and her father imagine that Heaven might be a place where one can help in God’s garden, visit with old friends, and take off one’s socks whenever one pleases.
Against the Odds
Kiki lives with her mother, father, and repulsive old dog. Life is good except that her father, a doctor, feels compelled to constantly embark on humanitarian missions to dangerous places. No matter how persuasive her arguments, Kiki can’t convince him to stay home. Her mother explains the odds — there’s very little chance her father will die because, after all, how many of her friends’ fathers have died? Unconvinced, Kiki dreams up ways to bolster those odds. If it’s unlikely that a girl would lose her father, wouldn’t it be twice as unlikely that she’d lose a father and a pet? When her father actually does go missing, and her mother becomes increasingly distraught, Kiki feels she really must do something — but can she live with the consequences of committing such a terrible, irrevocable act? This perceptive and compelling novel deals with serious moral issues in a funny, deeply human way.