Dumpling Days by Grace Lin

I didn't realize that Dumpling Days by Grace Lin (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers) was connected to some of Lin's other books when I got it in ARC form (and at which conference, I forget). It languished in my to-read pile for a bit--not for any reason except a massive sense of disorganization about my reading, which I'm solving through a complete reorganization of my bookshelves. 

Even though I've never read The Year of the Rat or The Year of the Dog, I'd read Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, so my expectations were high, and they were met. In Dumpling Days, Pacy and her family go to Taiwan for a whole month, an eternity in kid-time. While there, Pacy learns a lot about Taiwan, her family, and being both Taiwanese and American at once. There's plenty for Pacy and readers to learn about, but it doesn't feel didactic, and the voice is just right.

In Taiwan, Pacy learns brush painting, new foods, more about her relatives, and more about being a sister. At the end of the story, Pacy and her sisters don't fit into the clothes they wore on the plane ride over, a sweet and subtle metaphor for how much they've grown in a short time.