Watercress

by Andrea Wang

Hardcover, 2021

Status

Checked out
Due 2024-04-20

Collection

Publication

Neal Porter Books (2021), 32 pages

Description

Embarrassed about gathering watercress from a roadside ditch, a girl learns to appreciate her Chinese heritage after learning why the plant is so important to her parents.

User reviews

LibraryThing member Salsabrarian
A girl is embarrassed and ashamed that her family picks watercress from a ditch alongside the road to eat later for dinner. She refuses to eat but her attitude shifts after her mother shares an untold story about how her family suffered during a famine in China. Beautiful and evocative
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illustrations by the incomparable Jason Chin. This is a good read-aloud to discuss with kids about being different and the value of sharing family stories; I can also see this as a family book group selection that inspires shared activities.
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LibraryThing member AbigailAdams26
Chinese-American children's author Andrea Wang, whose previous picture-books include the Chinese New Year's tale The Nian Monster, and the biographical Magic Ramen: The Story of Momofuku Ando, turns to her own childhood in this deeply felt and immensely moving tale of a young girl who is
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embarrassed by her family. Passing a wealth of watercress by the side of the road one day, the girl's parents stop the car, and the entire family is enlisted to harvest the plants. Uncomfortable and ashamed - what if other people from her Ohio town see her in the muddy ditch? why can't their family have food from the store, like everyone else? - the girl's resentment builds, finally finding its expression at the dinner table. It is then that her mother does something she never has before: she gets out a family photograph, and shares the story of her own childhood experience, during a terrible famine in China - a famine that claimed the life of her younger brother. Ashamed of her shame, the girl finally eats the watercress, discovering its sharp pleasure, and making a new memory with her family...

I was close to tears on a number of occasions, while reading Watercress, and suspect that I will be thinking of it for some time to come. Simply but powerfully told, Andrea Wang's story addresses issues of poverty, feeling different, family relationships, and the all-pervasive influence of the past. This last, in particular, stood out to me, and is addressed by Wang in her afterword, as she discusses how important it is for immigrant families to share their stories with the younger generation, so that understanding and compassion can replace resentment and shame. The accompanying watercolor artwork from the marvelously talented Jason Chin, who won a Caldecott Honor for his Grand Canyon, perfectly captures the emotional register of the story, from the girl's acute embarrassment at the side of the road, to her overflowing resentment at the dinner table, to her consternation and grief, when she learns her mother's story. This is a story rooted in the Chinese and Chinese-American experience - although not mentioned specifically, it's clear that the famine experienced by the girls' parents was the Great Chinese Famine of 1959-1961, caused by the disastrous "Great Leap Forward" that was inflicted by the Chinese Communists on their country - but it is also universal, something Chin notes in his own afterword. His artwork captures the feeling of the story and its protagonist, while also situating it in a specifically American context, neatly capturing the two strands of the girl's identity.

Moving, thought-provoking, and immensely beautiful, Watercress is a book that I highly recommend, and gained one of my rare five-star ratings. Of the picture-books I have read thus far, that were published in 2021, it is my top contender for the Caldecott Medal.
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LibraryThing member deslivres5
Nostalgic and heartfelt picture book about family, being "other" and remembrances.
The Caldecott Award put it on my radar.
The beautiful illustrations took me back to a 70s-80s childhood.
Oh, and watercress. I remember having watercress sandwiches all the time as a kid.
I would like to try one as an
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adult to see if they still taste good:-)
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LibraryThing member MaowangVater
The author recounts a childhood memory of driving with her parents and her brother along the road in rural Ohio in their old Pontiac. Her parents, first generation immigrants from China, were foraging, looking for watercress. When her mother sights some growing in the ditches beside the road
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beneath tall stalks of corn, her father pulls the car over, and she and her brother have to get out of the car, and into the cold water of the ditch to harvest the watercress. Young Andrea hates this task. The plants she pulls up have muck and snails clinging to their roots; her brother is annoying. She feels humiliated. When they get home, and the watercress is cooked up with oil and sesame seeds she refuses to eat it. She only wants to eat vegetables from the grocery store. When her parents try to encourage her to eat because the food is fresh and free, she thinks, “Free is bad. Free is hand-me-down clothes and roadside trash-heap furniture and now, dinner from the ditch.”

Her mother gets up from the table, goes to her room and returns with a family photo from China. In it are her mother as a small girl and her younger brother. It is from the time of the great famine. Andrea gazes at the photo. “I look from my uncle’s hollow face to the watercress on the table and I am ashamed of being ashamed of my family. I take a bite of watercress and it bites me back with its spicy, peppery taste. It is delicate and slightly bitter, like Mom’s memory of home.”

Chin’s watercolor illustrations are a marvelous accompaniment for Wang’s poignant memoir which she referrers to in her author’s note as, “both an apology and a love letter to my parents.” It has been awarded the 2022 Randolph Caldecott Medal for the most distinguished American picture book for children by the American Library Association.
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LibraryThing member pennykaplan
A gorgeous and touching book about a young Chinese girl coming to accept her immigrant family and experiences of being diggerent.
LibraryThing member Whisper1
Highly recommended, this book won both a Newbery honor book and a Caldecott Honor.

This is a tale of young girl whose mother and uncle are from China. The family drives an old car, lives in Ohio, has furniture found along the road. The author notes this is a book about memories, ones that last a
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lifetime. As the family is driving, the mother quickly asks her brother to pull over because she has spotted Watercress.

Watercress is something eaten in China. They dig the plants out of the water and mud. As the mother cleans and makes the watercress using various herbs, her daughter refuses to eat what she thinks is nasty weeds. When her mother tells the story of China, she notes the great famine and how there was little if any food. Watercress was a staple of the family. As the family listens to the tales of hardship in China, the young girl understands traditions more, and respects what her mother had to endure.

It is hard living in a small Ohio town where most people are white. Because the family has limited income, their car is used, their food is recycled again and again, the clothes are usually found at a second-hand shop. While the girl listens to her mother's history of hardship, she learns that growth occurs from listening and experiencing.

This is a beautiful book, both for the illustrations, and also for the learning experience the young girl undergoes. The young girl knows that her mother never talked of the hardships because discussing it brought pain. For the girl, the tales brought understanding.
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LibraryThing member quirkylibrarian
A family driving past a ditch spots watercress and gets out to pick it- the child narrator is petulant and feels embarrassed , hoping classmates don’t drive by and see them. Later, when it’s cleaned and cooked she does not want it, until her mother tells her of eating it during a war and famine
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back in China.
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LibraryThing member Overgaard
one of best stories I've read re immigration experience; this from China to Ohio

Awards

A Horn Book Fanfare Best Book (Picture Books — 2021)
Caldecott Medal (Medal Winner — 2022)
Boston Globe–Horn Book Award (Honor — Picture Book — 2021)
Triple Crown Awards (Nominee — 2023)
Red Clover Book Award (Nominee — 2023)
South Dakota Children's Book Awards (Almost Made It! — 2024)
Newbery Medal (Honor Book — 2022)
Great Lakes Great Books Award (Honor Book — 2023)
Ohioana Book Award (Finalist — Juvenile Literature — 2022)
Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature (Winner — Picture Book — 2022)
North Carolina Children's Book Award (Nominee — Picture Book — 2023)
Virginia Readers' Choice (Nominee — Primary — 2023)
Kids' Book Choice Awards (Finalist — 2022)
Volunteer State Book Award (Nominee — Primary — 2023)
CYBILS Awards (Winner — 2021)
Three Stars Book Award (Nominee — Picture Books — 2023)
Floyd's Pick Book Award (Honor Book — 2022)
Ladybug Picture Book Award (Nominee — 2022)
Reading the West Book Award (Winner — Picture Book — 2022)
New England Book Award (Finalist — Children's — 2021)
Picture This Recommendation List (Nonfiction — 2022)

Language

Original language

English

Original publication date

2021

Physical description

11.38 x 9 inches

ISBN

0823446247 / 9780823446247

Barcode

405
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