Boy Dumplings - Hardcover

Ying Chang Compestine grew up in China and later moved to the United States. Her books include "The Story of Chopsticks", "The Story of Noodles", and "The Story of Kites" all illustrated by YongSheng Xuan. She lives with her family in California. You can visit her on the Web at www.yingc.com.

James Yamasaki is an illustrator who creates art for book jackets, magazines, and children's books. He teaches at the Academy of Art in San Francisco. He lives in Palo Alto, California. Learn more at www.jamesyamasaki.com.

Kindergarten-Grade 3—A hungry ghost with pointed ears and sharp teeth searches the dark streets of Beijing, night after night, in search of food offerings from frightened townspeople. One night, he spies a plump little boy, grabs him, and carries him home, where he pulls out his bucket and chopsticks and prepares to dine. The boy crosses his arms petulantly and demands, "You're not going to eat me raw, are you?" What follows is the familiar theme of an unwilling victim outsmarting his captor and avoiding a terrible fate. While this story takes place in China and the boy suggests that the ghost gather the ingredients to make dumplings out of him, it doesn't really distinguish itself from similar tales. Yamasaki's watercolor and gouache illustrations can be both murky and redundant. Compestine's language is lively and often funny, but verbose. While Boy Dumplings would serve as a good read-aloud for the Ghost Festival (referred to as the "Chinese Halloween" in late August—early September), this theme is better served by books like Arnold Lobel's Mouse Soup (Scholastic, 1977).—Susan Weitz, formerly at Spencer-Van Etten School District, Spencer, NY
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