Smith, Sherri L. - Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet

[oyceter]

Ana Shen wants her middle school graduation to go perfectly, and she'd especially love it if valedictorian Jamie Tabata noticed her. But she ends up inviting him and his family over for dinner at her house... with her relatives there! Worse still, her Grandma White and her Nai Nai have never been able to cook together without fighting. Ana's mom is black and her dad is Chinese, and cultural conflicts plus orneriness have the two grandmothers bickering.

First off, it is so good to have a biracial kid who is not half white! And even though some of the conflict in the book comes from cultural and racial conflicts, Ana herself is not very angsty about her racial make-up. I was also glad that the crush object is Asian as well. On the other hand, while I give Smith lots of points for good intentions, whoever she got to transliterate the Chinese is horrible! I would say that maybe she was doing Cantonese instead, but I think there's a specific point in which someone says it's Mandarin. And I nitpick at things like the dad wanting to make turnip cake from scratch—I handwave and pretend it's because Ana's family is crazy into cooking from scratch, but honestly, I have never known anyone who makes that from scratch. I also wish there were one less overbearing and strict Chinese parent (Ana's grandma, Jamie's dad).

Still, non-white biracial kid! I suspect the book skews young for most people on my flist, but it was still nice to read, and it's something I'd like to give to girls of color to read.

Comments

[rushthatspeaks.livejournal.com]

Dude, I make turnip cake from scratch.

On the other hand, I know perfectly well that I do it because I am crazy.

[oyceter]

Whoa, really? How do you pound it into ... whatever form it needs to be pounded into? Do you even pound it? How does it go from being turnip to being a slab of something?

[rushthatspeaks.livejournal.com]

The way I do turnip cake (I originally got the basic idea off the internet somewhere, but I don't know where) involves grating the turnips, with a fine grater. You get it to set to that consistency by, among other things, stir-frying it in oil, mixing it with broth, and then mixing it with rice flour and steaming it.

[oyceter]

Woooow! I am very impressed!

[delux-vivens.livejournal.com]

biracial kid who is not half white

UNICORNS ZOMG!

[oyceter]

It is so true!