Tea with Milk by Allen Say

This was a really interesting book to read. I love that all of the pictures have a very realistic feel to them. Say tells the journey of a little Japanese girl who lives in America but her parents speak Japanese. This is very prevalent in today's society with many foreigners coming here to raise a family. Oftentimes the native language is spoken at home while the child speaks English and learns American customs outside of the home. It is funny because a Japanese girl is seen as the foreigner here because she does not know the customs of Japan. She follows her heart and refuses to have an arranged marriage. She is very strong-willed and does things her own way and gets ridiculed for it. In the end, she meets a man who is in the same predicament of not being able to speak the language and they find common ground. On the very last page, Say comes in and says that the little girl was his mother and the man she met was his father. I like that the author leaves this to the very last page. This makes reading a non-fiction seem more intriguing and not just like a biography of a person's life. I also like the title of the book because it is something that reminds the reader that the girl never forgot where she came from. This book is good for kids to understand the perspective of those who are foreign to our country.