Book Description
for Friends Are Friends, Forever by Dane Liu and Lynn Scurfield
From Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)
News that Dandan’s family will be moving far away makes her notice the details of their last Lunar New Year celebration at home in China. “Nainai’s stories chime in my ears. Garlic and ginger tickle my nose. I close my eyes to remember everything.” She and her best friend, Yueyue, have a tradition: cutting red snowflakes from paper, laying them on a plate and adding water. They freeze into ornaments they hang from trees on New Year’s Day. Yueyue’s going away present for Dandan is red paper and string, so Dandan can continue the tradition next year in her new home. In the United States, Dandan misses so much from home; she tries to understand and learn English but it takes time. “On my birthday, I wear a satin dress. My classmates snicker.” But one girl, Christina, doesn’t snicker. And by the time Lunar New Year’s Eve arrives, Dandan and Christina are carrying out the paper snowflake tradition together. Fine writing distinguishes this picture book about immigration, and moving, and friendship, of course, set against warm, stylized illustrations done with pencil, ink and Photoshop. (Ages 4-8)
CCBC Choices 2022. © Cooperative Children's Book Center, Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison, 2022. Used with permission.