The year of the dog

134 pages

English language

Published Dec. 6, 2006 by Little, Brown.

ISBN:
9780316060004
OCLC Number:
57613496

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3 stars (1 review)

Frustrated at her seeming lack of talent for anything, a young Taiwanese American girl sets out to apply the lessons of the Chinese Year of the Dog, those of making best friends and finding oneself, to her own life.

6 editions

Sweet and simple story.

3 stars

The book has an interesting structure, especially for kids. It's kind of structured in a way to have stories within stories. Not every chapter has this, but many of them do. A mother will be giving the protagonist advice or retelling her tales of growing up to her daughters, which punctuates part of the story. Sometimes there will be scenes of friends talking, but it slips into a small story from the friend of the protagonist. It's very cute, and I do like this structure a lot because it makes it kind of interesting.

The story is cute, and I think it's pretty interesting both as an early reader (for all kids) and as an introduction to how different cultures can be (for kids who aren't Chinese or Taiwanese). It's written as a form of autobiographical fiction, which is something that I find fun as a concept. In the author's …

Subjects

  • Taiwanese Americans -- Juvenile fiction
  • Taiwanese Americans -- Fiction
  • Schools -- Fiction
  • Chinese New Year -- Fiction
  • Family life -- Fiction
  • Contests -- Fiction
  • Theater -- Fiction