Eleven-year-old aspriring basketball star and interior designer Lucy Wu is excited about finally having her own bedroom, until she learns that her great-aunt is coming to visit and Lucy will have to share a room with her for several months, shattering her plans for a perfect sixth-grade year. - (Baker & Taylor)
Anticipating the best year of her life as she prepares for the sixth grade, Lucy Wu finds her ambitions shattered by the unwelcome arrival of her great aunt from China, foiled birthday plans and her reluctant enrollment in a Chinese school. A first novel. - (Baker & Taylor)
Eleven-year-old aspiring basketball star and interior designer Lucy Wu is excited about finally having her own bedroom, until she learns that her great-aunt is coming to visit and Lucy will have to share a room with her for several months, shattering her plans for a perfect sixth-grade year. - (Baker & Taylor)
Lucy Wu, aspiring basketball star and interior designer, is on the verge of having the best year of her life. She's ready to rule the school as a sixth grader and take over the bedroom she has always shared with her sister. In an instant, though, her plans are shattered when she finds out that Yi Po, her beloved grandmother's sister, is coming to visit for several months -- and is staying in Lucy's room. Lucy's vision of a perfect year begins to crumble, and in its place come an unwelcome roommate, foiled birthday plans, and Chinese school with the awful Talent Chang.
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Scholastic)
Wendy Wan-Long Shang is the author of THE GREAT WALL OF LUCY WU, which was awarded the Asian/Pacific American Library Association Award for Children's Literature. She lives with her family in the suburbs of Washington, DC.
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Scholastic)
Booklist Reviews
Lucy planned on having the best sixth-grade year ever. Her perfect older sister is going to college, so Lucy, about to turn 12, will finally have her own room to decorate with the help of her best friend and fellow basketball teammate, Madison. Instead, she gets Yi Po, her beloved late grandmother's long-lost sister from China, who is coming to visit for half the school year and will be sharing Lucy's room. Lucy doesn't even speak Chinese, something her sister constantly belittles her about: You're a banana, a Twinkie, white on the inside. In protest, Lucy builds a wall of furniture that separates her side of the room from Yi Po's and vows she won't like her great aunt. Shang's solid debut wonderfully captures the seemingly unbearable unfairness of being a tween balanced between two cultures. Lucy's struggles and frustrations are realistic, and her experiences take her from stubborn resistance to pride in her Chinese heritage. Readers will find her transformation thought-provoking, funny, and incredibly heartwarming. Copyright 2011 Booklist Reviews.
Publishers Weekly Reviews
Sarcastic, attention-seeking, and prone to whining, Lucy Wu has a big personality and plenty of opinions. She is convinced that her sixth-grade year will be the best yet: she's looking forward to having her own bedroom when her older sister leaves for college, and to the upcoming basketball season. Instead, it is one disappointment after another. Her parents invite her late grandmother's long-lost sister, Yi Po, from Shanghai to visit for a few months and share Lucy's room, and instead of basketball practice, Lucy may be forced to attend Chinese school ("The Chinese part of my life just doesn't make sense sometimes," Lucy complains). Additionally, she is dealing with a secret crush and avoiding a bully. First-time author Shang effortlessly interweaves the multiple threads of her story, as Lucy grows tremendously (and rewardingly) while learning about China's turbulent history and the value of sympathy and strength. Bolstered by frequent use of Chinese language and proverbs, this is a realistic and amusing portrait of family dynamics, heritage, and the challenge of feeling like an outsider--even in one's own family. Ages 8–12. (Jan.)
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School Library Journal Reviews
Gr 4–6—Lucy knows that sixth grade is going to be the best year ever: she finally gets her own room now that her older sister is off to college, and she and her friend Madison are ready to rule the basketball courts. But Lucy's parents put a glitch in those plans when her father returns from a business trip to China with Lucy's great-aunt, who will visit until Christmas. Lucy again has a roommate, and resents this elderly lady who does not speak English and cooks only Chinese food for a family used to pizza and burgers. To make matters worse, her parents insist that she attend Chinese school on Saturday mornings, which means forgoing basketball practice. She is busy with her suburban American life and doesn't feel the need to converse in Chinese or to dwell on Chinese traditions. Slowly, though, she comes to appreciate all that Yi Po has lived through and the quiet ways that her great-aunt shows her love for the family. When Lucy is bullied by a popular girl, she thinks about what her brother told her about Yi Po's life during China's Cultural Revolution and determines that she will act with similar courage and conviction. Lucy is an engaging character, and Shang skillfully weaves in Chinese history and legend as she brings the relationships between Lucy and her family and friends to life. Fans of Grace Lin's Year of the Dog (2006) and Year of the Rat (2008, both Little, Brown) will enjoy meeting this feisty protagonist as she learns to dismantle some walls she has built around herself.—Kim Dare, Fairfax County Public Schools, VA
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