Fortune Cookie Fortunes

May 1, 2004
Grace Lin's illustrations also fill the pages of Fortune Cookie Fortunes (along with her text), a follow-up to Dim Sum for Everyone! Here Pacy and her family examine their fortune cookies after their meal, and the girl observes that each of their fortunes comes true in a different way (e.g., a garden full of pumpkins and peapods that dwarf Ma-Ma confirm "Attention and care will make great things happen").

June 1, 2004
PreS-Gr 3-While eating at a Chinese restaurant, a young narrator exclaims, "The best part- is the fortune cookies. Crack! Crack! Crack!" Hers says, "You see the world in a different way." That is indeed true as she views the world in terms of fortune-cookie messages and sees them as coming true. For example, Ma-Ma's garden is bursting with growth ("Attention and care will make great things happen"). Jie-Jie's room is filled with magnificent origami animals ("Your imagination will create many friends"). A yellow car laden with luggage is trailed by a caption that reads, "Someone will visit you soon." Lin's trademark patterns grace not only clothing, but also sky and walls, and the papers with the typed fortunes are decorated with smiley faces. The child's upbeat view of the world around her is charming. A page of back matter gives the history of fortune cookies. Pair this book with Ina R. Friedman's How My Parents Learned to Eat (Houghton, 1984) and Lin's Dim Sum for Everyone (Knopf, 2001) for a delicious program on Asian food. The final endpaper shows an opened cookie with the fortune, "You have just read a good book." Children will agree.-Bina Williams, Bridgeport Public Library, CT

Copyright 2004 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2004
K-Gr. 2. The family from " Dim Sum for Every"one (2001) returns, dining out again in a Chinese restaurant, where fortune cookies end the meal. Do the messages mean anything? The narrator, the middle sister, isn't so sure. But Ma-ma's fortune reads, "Attention and care will make great things happen," and her garden bursts with fruits and flowers. Sister Jei-Jei's fortune reads, "Your imagination will create many friends," and the narrator spies Jei-Jei surrounded by origami animals. Lin contributes a clever take on a fresh topic, but it's too bad she begins with dad's fortune, "Your moods are contagious." Even when children see the fortune become manifest (dad sleeping in the park with others sleeping around him), they may not understand the term " contagious," even in context. What's more, being sleepy isn't exactly a "mood." However, as always, Lin's pen-and-watercolor-artwork is totally engaging. Bright, lively colors and scenes presented from unusual perspectives are hallmarks of Lin's art, and the illustrations here are no exception. An afterword tells the real, rather surprising story of fortune cookies.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2004, American Library Association.)