Author: Ginnie Lo
Illustrator: Beth Lo
Publisher and Year: Lee & Low Books, Inc., 2012
Number of pages: 32
Genre: Realistic Fiction
This book tells the story of a Chinese-American family having soybean picnics with their cousins, friends, and neighbors. The aunts and uncles tell stories of when they were growing up in China and talk about the importance the soybean has always had in their family. At the end of the story, the grandparents of the family fly into Chicago from China, and the whole family has a huge soybean feast.
Every full-page picture is set within a rounded frame, representing the family as secure in their identity and in their enjoyment of their culture and community. The family is also shown as more traditional, with the women of the family preparing the majority of the food at every meal. The mothers and adult women all wear dresses, indicating this story is set in the past, and again supporting their traditional practices, but the children wear skirts or shorts. The illustrations were created by painting with ceramic underglazes on handmade porcelain plates, which explain the existence of the rounded frame. There is a glossary of terms on the last page.
