"Everyone loves lunchtime. Everyone, that is, but Zia. At school, the other kids are eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, cheese and crackers, and apples on the side. But Zia's always nervous about opening her lunchbox. Her dumpling and noodle dishes look different and smell different. She dreads lunchtime. Then, during her birthday week, her parents pack her a different Cantonese dish each day and explain what the food represents: a roast pork bun to bring treasure, soy sauce chicken to bring success, and more. At first, Zia doesn’t want to eat her lunch, but once she starts, she just may realize her food could bring her good fortune after all!" -- publisher
Themes & Content
- Genres
- Fiction
- Central Theme Categories
- Centering Culture & Identity
- Settings
- Unspecified
- Ethnicity
- Chinese
- Gender Representation
- Boys/Men
- Girls/Women
- Race / Culture
- Asian/Pacific Islander/Asian American
- Character Prominence
- Dominant Main
- Secondary
- Illustrator Lived Experience
- Illustrator shares race/culture AND ethnicity/tribal nation/homeland with main characters
