Quick Booktalk
Amy has a new classmate, Lin, who is standoffish with his classmates but chats animatedly in Chinese with his family. Determined to draw Lin out of his shell, Amy invites him to her dumpling party in the hopes of giving her new friend a very warm welcome.
About the Illustrations
The pictures in this book match the style readers have come to expect from this series. The illustrator makes great use of facial expression to reveal emotion, and there is lots of diversity among the supporting characters.
Story Time Possibilities
It could be tricky to read this book in story time because without being a Chinese speaker, it would be hard to convey the excited conversation between Lin and his little sister that sparks Amy's plans. It would feel awkward to just point to the Chinese characters and say they were speaking in Chinese, and though the author's note provides the English translations, the story wouldn't make much sense if we heard them speaking in English, either. So that's something to work out ahead of time. The rest of the book lends itself well to being read aloud, and the theme of welcoming new friends is always a good one to kick off a school year or a story time series.
Reader's Advisory
The pictures of the dumpling party seem to include a same-sex couple (two men) but there is nothing in the text to explicitly describe their relationship. It's unclear which of Amy's classmates is meant to be their child. There is a girl in Amy's class with visible hearing aides, and a boy and a teacher who wear glasses. The back of the book includes instructions for making a welcome banner. The previous Amy Wu titles are Amy Wu and the Perfect Bao and Amy Wu and the Patchwork Dragon.
Disclosure
I received a review copy of Amy Wu and the Warm Welcome from Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers in exchange for an honest review.
