Dumpling+Soup




 * Bibliographic ****Data: **

Reading level: Kindergarten to Grade 3

Paperback: 32 pages

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers; Reprint edition (April 1, 1998)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0316730475 ISBN-13: 978-0316730471

Jama Kim Rattigan is a Korean-American author from Oahu, Hawaii. She received her master’s degree in English from the University of Hawaii and became a teacher for several years. After teaching for several years, Rattigan began writing full time. Rattigan likes to write about food and her native Hawaiian culture. Over the years Rattigan has written three children books but her first book and most popular book that she has written is __Dumpling Soup.__ Jama Kim Rattigan now lives in Virginia with her husband. She describes writing as difficult but incredibly rewarding. Besides writing children’s books, Rattigan has also published many articles and stories in several children magazines.
 * Author Biography: **


 * Summary: **

__Dumpling Soup__ is a story about a seven year old Asian-American girl, Marisa, from Hawaii and her New Year family traditions. Every year on the New Year, Marisa’s family comes together from all over Hawaii to eat dumpling soup. On New Year’s Eve, all the women in the family get together to make the dumplings for the dumpling soup. They all have their own style and their own way of making them. It is Marisa’s first year taking part in the preparations and she worries that her dumplings won’t come out as nice as everyone else and that no one will want to eat them on New Year’s Eve. Marisa’s grandmother assures her that her hard work will not go uneaten. The next day games with her cousins, fireworks, and being up past her bedtime help distract Marisa from worrying about her dumplings. Then when it comes time for dumpling soup, Marisa remembers how ugly her dumplings turned out to be. She walks into the room full of family embarrassed and anxious about her dumplings to find out that her grandmother has given everyone one of her dumplings and her grandmothers plate is full of her dumplings and they are delicious. Her family believes that by eating dumpling soup for the New Year then they will not go hungry all year long. Throughout the story the author uses tradition Korean and Hawaiian phrases to describe the traditions of the New Yea. In the beginning of the book there is a glossary translating the phrases into English.


 * Review: **

I chose this book because it is a winner of the “New Voices, New World” reward and because of the emphasis on culture and family traditions. There are many books in the world that talk about family and/or cultural traditions but I have never come across a book like this one. __Dumpling Soup__ takes culture and family tradition one step farther to really make the dumpling soup tradition in the Korean-American culture come alive. The author uses other languages like Korean and Hawaiian to describe different aspects of the tradition. She has the main characters family members speak in other languages and has the young girl, Marisa, translate it in the story. The pictures are also compliment the story very well. I read this story to a group of first graders when teaching a lesson on family traditions and my students really enjoyed it. They were able to relate to the main character and share their own family traditions. Some of them even wanted to learn some of the phrases that were said in other languages, so we used to the glossary at the beginning of the book to learn them. __Dumpling Soup__ is a great story about cultural and family traditions.

An important literary element in this story is the theme. Jama Kim Rattigan really put a lot of thought into the theme of this story. She did more than explain a family tradition, it was almost as if she took her own family tradition and made it come alive for young children all over the world. She used language other than English to describe certain things about the dumpling soup tradition. For example, mochi is a type of desert that is eaten after dumpling soup on New Year’s day. Mochi is Japanese for chewy rice cakes with bean filling. Though, the author doesn’t say that exactly, she has the grandmother say the word and the granddaughter explain what she means. The pictures compliment the theme of family tradition as well, including all the family members and showing in detail how the characters are coming together to enjoy the day. The author takes this family tradition of dumpling soup for the New Year and brings it to life for the readers when she includes the family recipe at the end of the story, so that the readers can make the same dumpling soup that they read about. The theme in this story stands out amongst everything else.
 * Analysis of Literary Element (Character Development): **

Jama Kim Rattigan
 * Related Links:**