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Only One Year (2010)

by Andrea Cheng(Favorite Author)

3.37 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

1600602525 (ISBN13: 9781600602528)

languge

English

genre

Middle Grade & Children's

publisher

Lee & Low Books

review 1: This was a very interesting book. I have heard before that children from Asia do get sent back to their native countries to spend time with their families for periods of time and then come back to their parents. In this story, Di Di the two-year old child gets sent to China to stay with her grandparents. The parents do not want to put Di Di in a day care center, their culture does not believe in anyone else helping to raise their child except a family member. Although this is foreign to the other two sisters in the family, they seem to get used to Di Di's absence as school starts. When Di Di comes back that is when things start getting tricky and the family has to find a way to be a family again. The family does end up getting through this process and are happy in the end.... more It is a beautiful story about a family's love and struggles. It also very interesting to read about other people's cultures and what kinds of practices they follow with their own family.
review 2: As far as I know, there are not many juvenile (or adult) fiction books written about the practice of sending young children off to stay for a long period of time with extended family -- so this title would make a good staple addition to any collection. It would also work very well in a classroom -- especially during a unit on family or multiculturalism. I read the author's note after I read the book (which discusses Cheng's hope that Only One Year will help young readers understand the role different cultures play in raising and caring for families). I was not unfamiliar with the topic of this book, however I thought Cheng's did a wonderful job at explaining this practice in terms that could be easily understood by young children (her readers). I would read the author's note first, discuss different ways people from different backgrounds/cultures/places raise and love their families and then read Cheng's story ...As for the story ... it's good, gentle, and a realistic depiction of family and sibling life ... but it's not great stand-alone read. It needs to be something bigger -- part of a discussion. less

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