Cici (12), protagonist of Lily LaMotte and Ann Xu's Measuring Up, is not a happy camper when she and her parents move from her native Taiwan to Seattle, leaving her beloved grandmother behind. She and her father try to get her A-ma to come for a visit on a special occasion—the Lunar New Year, the Moon Festival, the Lantern Festival—without success. Then A-ma's seventieth birthday is coming up. When Cici talks about how much her father misses his mother and how wonderful it would be to surprise him A-ma tells her the real reason she can't visit them. She can't afford to. Cici promises to figure that out…
…But how can a preteen come up with that kind of money? Maybe she can win Dare To Dream, a kids' cooking contest…
…But being eliminated from the competition is not her only worry. Cici's parents have made the move to America so that she will have more opportunities in life. They've sacrificed a lot. Their mantra for her is "good grades, good college, good job, good life." Nothing can stand in the way of those good grades.
Measuring up, told in a lively graphic novel format is the story of a girl trying to balance the demands of two cultures, a most engaging summer read.
On a purrrsonal note, Inter library loans are still not happening. But this may give me opportunity to do something I otherwise couldn't. Can you believe I've never read the Harry Potter series? I tend not to read more commercially popular books because I tend not to read what I won't review. I wonder how they'll compare to the movies, some of which I have seen.
A great big shout out goes out to my readers. I hope you've been finding some most excellent summer reads.
Jules Hathaway
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