Novel of Choice: The Year of the Dog

Title: The Year of the Dog
Author: Grace Lin
Publication: 2006

This book is about Grace and her experiences with family, meeting new friends, and finding her true talent while in the "Year of the Dog," supposedly her lucky year according to Chinese tradition. The book brilliantly showcases the struggle of one's family being from another country and her being born in America. I really enjoyed this book because my family is similar to hers. My dad was born in Poland and my mom in Canada, so my siblings and I attempt to blend our cultures with our birthplace, America. Although my outer skin color isn't very different from some American's, our culture and lifestyle is. So I empathize with what Grave is going through in the book. Throughout her "Year of the Dog," she finds a new Taiwanese best friend, discovers her talent as an author and illustrator, and even learns to be more accepting of her culture.

Author, Grace Lin, portrays a lot of the issues immigrant families have when adjusting to a new culture. For example, in the beginning of the book the main character's name is changed from "Pacy" to "Grace" because her teacher says it's easier to pronounce (Lin, 29). Instead of keeping her heritage, which lies in her name, she is forced to change it to make it more "americanized." Another example, is how the lunch lady mistaken Grace for her new friend Melody because they both "looked the same," meaning they were both Asian (Lin, 21).

Lin presents these racial issues in a subdue way so the reader really has to think about them and how they may be wrong or discriminatory. For example,  when Grace wanted to try out as Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz in the school play, a friend in her class told her she couldn't because "Dorothy isn't Chinese" (Lin, 70). While this is a true statement, Lin makes children think about this problem for a minute. Does Dorothy have to be Chinese to portray the character? Is one's race really going to negatively affect the character in the long run? These are questions that Lin makes the reader ponder and consider if there could be an ethical problem at play here. Lin also adds discussion questions in the back of the book so that readers can further dissect the book. Question number six is about the ethical issue I posed above.

Lastly, I really wanted to read this book because my best friend from college taught English in Taiwan on the Fulbright Scholarship. I was curious to learn more about Taiwan's culture and the similarities and differences to American culture. The book does a wonderful job of giving examples of Taiwanese culture so that readers learn to respect and understand their way of life. She tells of the different food, language, sayings, culture, and traditions they have that make up who they are. After reading this book, students will have a better understanding of another culture and way of life and more importantly, will not be so apt to discriminate right away, but instead empathize and be intrigued about another culture.