How My Parents Learned to Eat (Rise and Shine)

The nieces really like how the two future-parents run around frantically so as to not embarrass themselves with their poor eating skills.

It's probably not very accurate for today - I'm sure that most Japanese can use Western utensils, just like most Americans today have some familiarity with

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chopsticks (my nieces sure do) - but it's still a charming story.

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This is another good multicultural book. It shows that sometimes a family can have a mother from one place and a father from another. In this case, the mother is asian and the father is american. This teaches children about diversity and how everyone comes from a different background.

Drawn with color pencils. Fiction. Great for grades 3-5. An American sailor courts a Japanese girl and each tries, in secret, to learn the other's way of eating. Diversity in the classroom.

This is a wonderful book about different culturals foods and eating. It shows two parents from different cultures and how their daughter learns how to eat the Japanese way and the American way. It is a very intersting story and a good way for students to learn about diverse eating habits around the

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world!

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This book would be good for a second or third grade classroom. The ending is very good as well. It would be good for children to read, so they can relate the story to trying new things. I would have a culture day, and read this book at that time.

This is a wonderful book about different culturals foods and eating. It shows two parents from different cultures and how their daughter learns how to eat the Japanese way and the American way. It is a very intersting story and a good way for students to learn about diverse eating habits around the

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world!

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This is another good multicultural book. It shows that sometimes a family can have a mother from one place and a father from another. In this case, the mother is asian and the father is american. This teaches children about diversity and how everyone comes from a different background.

How My Parents Learned to Eat is a cute and simple book that shows the differences and difficulties people from various cultures face. In this book an American sailor stationed in Japan meets a young Japanese lady. Their courtship is greaty affected by the fact that they do not eat the same way.

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However, when they decide to marry, they comically find a comprimise.

This is a really good book that had me smiling more than once. However, it is very simple and may be seen as too easy for children over third grade, and possibly even them.

Being a multicultural book, this would be good to use in a lesson about the differences in cultures and how people can overcome them. Also, it would be a good book to use on a day when maybe you have food from different countries brought in. The book shows ways that three different countries eat, so it could be useful in learning to eat the way they do. Finally, this would be a good addition to a lesson on families, and that all families are different. Then the children could write a story, or draw a picture about something different about their family to show that while we are similar we are all different too.

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This is a story about the similarities and differences in cultures, mainly American and Japanese. A couple falls in love going on walks because they are both too nervous to eat in front of each other using different utensils.

Before reading this book, I may ask how much the students know about how

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people eat in different countries. After reading this book giving I would share my own experiences in living in China and being nervous to use chopsticks and practicing with cheerios! This book would be great to use when talking about different cultures or foods. Also, there may be students that can connect to this having parents from different cultures. The theme that arises is that we all have differences but ultimately, we all want similar things in life. It would also be interesting to find short video clips of people from different countries eating in different ways to compare. This book could also be paired with Throw Your Tooth on the Roof to discuss the differences in culture for the tooth fairy.

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Kirkus Review 1/1/1992
Children's Catalog, Eighteenth Edition, 2001 ; H.W. Wilson; United States

"How My Parents Learned to Eat" is a touching book about how a girl's parents learned to eat. John, an American Sailor in Yokohama, Japan fell in love with a Japanese woman by the name of Aiko. Aiko was also smitten by John, however, they both avoided going to dinner because Aiko had no clue how to

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use American utensils, and John had no idea how to use chopsticks. John eventually went to a Japanese restaurant by himself and begged the waiter to teach him how to use chopsticks. Before no time he got the hang of it. Aiko did the same thing by consulting the Great Uncle, who knew how to use American utensils. Eventually she got the hang of it. The next evening John and Aiko went to an American restaurant, where Aiko and John ate dinner. Many years later, their daughter, the one telling the story, describes why they use both chopsticks and American utensils.

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This is a great book. A couple falls in love but are afraid to eat in front of each other. The woman is Japanese and the man is an American sailor. They eat with different utensils, chopsticks and forks. They both learn how to use the others "utensils" and finally eat together. It is such a cool

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book!

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This book tells a story about two people who fell in love but allowed their differences in culture to hold them back from marriage. The two people are from different backgrounds and are unfamiliar with the ways of the other. However, they both accept each other's differences and take the time to

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embrace and learn about them. This acceptance and tolerance is a great lesson for young readers.

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This is an endearing story of how an American sailor and a Japanese schoolgirl learn to eat with the other's utensils. I enjoyed hearing how both of them, behind the other's back, sought advice so that they could share a meal together and make the other feel more comfortable. I enjoyed the

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illustrations too, and have become a fan of Allen Say's work.

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This is great for kids who have parents from different backgrounds/countries.

I first read this years ago, in school. It's a story of clashing cultures: an American sailor and a Japanese schoolgirl fall in love, and fear to eat with the other, not knowing how to use chopsticks (resp. a fork). This book isn't bad, but I think most of my enjoyment was from nostalgia. The art

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is nice, but pretty flat, and the story boils down to "different cultures have different customs, but we shouldn't be afraid to learn from each other". Nothing really wrong with it, but this isn't a book I'd want to re-read often.

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There are two reasons that I liked the book “How My Parents Learned to Eat” by Ina R. Friedman. I liked that this multicultural story was told in first person from a young girls point of view because young readers may relate to her situation. “In our house, some days we eat with chopsticks

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and some days we eat with knives and forks. For me, it’s natural” This is a great way for readers to learn about interracial families and how they mix cultures. Along with the book being in first person, the characters are believable and well developed. Their feelings and thoughts match realistic present day people. The big idea in this story is diversity and the acceptance of mixing cultures.

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I enjoyed this book because it showed how two cultures collide and what the outcome of a marriage of such a thing is. This book was also familiar to me because I lived in Japan and know a bit of the culture, as well as how true these marriages are.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book for two reasons. First, I liked that most of the plot was told during a flashback. At the beginning and at the end of the book, there is a little girl at a kitchen table eating with either chopsticks or with a knife and fork. The pages in between explain the story of

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why the litter girl eats food two different ways. Second, I liked the subject matter a lot. This story is about an American sailor and a Japanese girl that do not know the other’s way of eating. Both characters find a way of practicing how the other one would like to eat. It was interesting to see how determined they both were to get it right. Eventually, they both learned and later, with their own daughter, they embraced both ways of eating in their home. After reading this book, I found that the big idea is to appreciate other ways of eating.

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This is cute, sweet, story. John and Aiko love each other but are worried about embarrassing the other, because John doesn't know how to use chopsticks and Aiko doesn't know how to use a fork and knife. To see them attempt to learn to other person's ways is endearing and fun. I love the mix of

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culture and romance. Allen Say does an excellent job of illustrating the story - soft colors and lovely detail. I highly recommend this book for kids - with it's humor and good lesson, I think most kids will enjoy it.

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I remember reading this as a kid and finding it interesting (people in Spain also use their cutlery a little differently then Americans do.) Then as an adult when I learned to use chopsticks to eat with my husband's family (he's chinese), I thought about the book again. I came across this book on

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the library shelf again and I decided I needed to read it again today. I

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I remember reading this as a kid and finding it interesting (people in Spain also use their cutlery a little differently then Americans do.) Then as an adult when I learned to use chopsticks to eat with my husband's family (he's chinese), I thought about the book again. I came across this book on

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the library shelf again and I decided I needed to read it again today. I

Show Less

I remember reading this as a kid and finding it interesting (people in Spain also use their cutlery a little differently then Americans do.) Then as an adult when I learned to use chopsticks to eat with my husband's family (he's chinese), I thought about the book again. I came across this book on

Show More

the library shelf again and I decided I needed to read it again today. I

Show Less

I remember reading this as a kid and finding it interesting (people in Spain also use their cutlery a little differently then Americans do.) Then as an adult when I learned to use chopsticks to eat with my husband's family (he's chinese), I thought about the book again. I came across this book on

Show More

the library shelf again and I decided I needed to read it again today. I

Show Less