February 17, 2026 by Nancy Paulsen Books
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
Fifth grader Ping-Ping and her younger brother Xy (pronounced "she") were born in New York City and are being raised in Edgewood, so they don't understand why ignorant classmates like Lee Beaumont give them a hard time about being Chinese. Their supportive mother translates picture books, and their Baba has a high level position in the Population and Statistics Bureau at the United Nations and commutes into New York City. There are a few higher expectations for academic performance, and since both Ping-Ping and Xy have perfect pitch, they take piano lessons. Ping-Ping also studies taekwondo, and likes to hang out with her best friend, Ana. When she overhears her mother saying that her father might get a promotion to a position in Nigeria, Ping-Ping is devastated. Finding out from her cousin Pai at Thanksgiving that people often take promotions for higher pay, the siblings both try to raise money, Ping-Ping by selling friendship bracelets, and Xy by holding unsuccessful car washes. When her eyesight makes it hard for her to see the blackboard in school and read music that is too far away, Ping-Ping tries to hide this from her parents, since they believe that bad eyesight is caused by reading at night, but she has to eventually come clean. Her parents admit that since they both wear glasses, genetics might play a part. Xy has a boy, Jack, move to his class from China, and asks Baba to help him improve his Chinese language skills. Lee's bullying behavior is a thread throughout the story, and when Ping-Ping accidentally kicks him in the face while practicing a taekwondo move, she is conflicted. She eventually confesses to her mother, who calls Lee's parents, only to find that Lee has explained his injury as an accident caused by slipping on the ice. Ping-Ping is surprised when her mother includes an extra brownie in her lunch to share with Lee, and is even more suprised when this seems to improve Lee's attitude towards her. In the end, Baba gets a promotion, but the family can still stay in the New York area.
Strengths: This was an interesting slice-of-life book involving identity and family dynamics. Ping-Ping's trying out of the name "Megan" as something that would be less problematic for her made me laugh, because I remember wanting to reinvent myself as "Kay" because there were so many people named Karen in my grade! I loved that she took piano lessons, practiced taekwondo, and studied Chinese with her father. Both parents are alive, supportive, and loving in their own way (which is also explored when Ping-Ping sees her friend Ana's mother frequently hugging her and saying "I love you", which Ping-Ping's parents don't do.). Lee and his bullying behavior is realistically portrayed, and the resolution was a relief. I would be interested in seeing more books by this author.
Weaknesses: I wish that Ping-Ping's vision problems were more clearly depicted. While the parents eventually admit that genetics might be behind Ping-Ping's need for glasses, young readers might come away with the idea that bad eyesight might be caused by individual actions. I was glad to see that Ping-Ping didn't mind her glasses, but it was alarming that she felt like needing them might be her fault.
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who want to explore the issues surrounding being an Asian American and who enjoyed books such as Chen's With Twice the Love, Dessie Mae, Tsong's Fake Chinese Sounds, Keller's Jennifer Chan is Not Alone, Wang's Summer at Squee, or Soontornvat and Cacao's The Tryout: A Graphic Novel. It's also a good look at the family and school activities that upper elementary students might be involved with. I'm debating this one, as it is a bit young. I would definitely buy this for an elementary library.
February 24, 2026 by St. Martin's Press
E ARC provided by Netgalley and the publisher
I'm a huge fan of histories of everyday subjects, and particularly love books like Bundy's A Century in Food (2002). Veit, who has written histories of food in the Gilded Age, Civil War (North AND South), and the really intriguing sounding Modern Food, Moral Food: Self-Control, Science, and the Rise of Modern American Eating in the Early Twentieth Century (2013), doesn't set out to tell parents how to feed their picky eaters; she's here to tell us the history of the US diet and explain how changes led to children being picky eaters. Since I am not currently dealing with any small people who won't eat dinner, I found this fascinating.
This also delves a lot into the changes in how parenting has been viewed over the years; I particularly found the idea that "good parents are nice parents" interesting. My mother, who was born in 1934 into a family of 11, thought that two chocolate chip cookies were a fine breakfast, although when the doctor told her when I was in third grade that I needed to lose weight, she cut me back to a thermos of tomato soup and a slice of baloney (no bread!) for lunch. Nutritional advice was apparently in short supply in the 1970s, when marketing snacks to children really took off. There's also an entire chapter on Overbearing Mothers.
Even though there isn't really a prescription for dealing with picky eaters, there is a short epilogue entitles "Happy Meals" that discusses how the author has used her knowledge of food history to encourage her own children to be decent eaters. Basically, it comes down to not letting children snack, and not offering them other options is they don't like what is being served. No bribery, no arguments, just "this is what you're eating, or you're not eating". Not perfect advice, but not a bad place to start.
This is the sort of book I eat up (sorry!). I loved reading that even in 1955, doctors were opining that maybe kids weren't eating at meals was because they were not hungry, having filled up on snacks. And the thought that if you have pie every day, it becomes less special. This book was fascinating if you love to read about everyday culture and enjoyed books like Marks' Finding Betty Crocker: The Secret Life of America's First Lady of Food (2005), Wyman's SPAM: A Biography: The Amazing True Story of America's "Miracle Meat!" (1999), or Jan and Michael's Square Meals: America's Favorite Comfort Cookbook (1984). Which I should never have gotten rid of. Reading nonfiction books like this is how I will be spending my retirement, since I won't need to read middle grade novels for five hours a day!
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