Mini-review: The Year of the Rat by Grace Lin

My stepson and I read The Year of the Dog for his school's Battle of the Books, and I loved the story of Taiwanese-American Pacy and her year of finding herself. I thought this sequel was even better. The Year of the Rat brings a lot of changes for Pacy, including her best friend moving away, and navigating her way through school without her. I was glad that she included Dun-Wei, a new character who has recently arrived from China. Pacy thinks that Dun-Wei is weird, as he is "too fresh off the boat." Sadly, this reminds me of my own childhood - I remember my friends and I thinking the same thing about a new classmate. I think it's a good issue to talk about, and that Pacy's mother handles it well with stories from her past. 

The author includes photographs of her own childhood at the back of the book, which makes this #ownvoices book even more delightful. I'm glad that more diverse children books exist; I would have loved to read this when I was a kid!