Round is a Mooncake

Round is a Mooncake

Written by: Roseanne Thong

Illustrated by: Grace Lin

Chronicle Books, 2000

32 Pages

Multicultural book

      This book is about an Asian girl and her family.  The book is written using rhyming poetry.  The girl is describing different parts of her culture, such as what she and her family eat and how they write.  It just kind of goes through her day, and explains the different things she does.  The girl uses several words or phrases that I had never heard.  Each part of this culture is defined on the back page after the book.  This is a great tool for teaching students different cultures.  For example, the word abacus is a Chinese calculator. 

      I like the pictures in this book.  They are very bright and work well with the other colors she uses.  I love looking at the types of color she uses.  The illustrator uses proportion a lot in the story as well as close up pictures.  Line is also very prominent in these illustrations; the black is emphasizes the colors.  Another thing I really like about the illustrations is how simple they are.  It’s really easier to tell how the story is being portrayed.

     I would use this book to teach my student about Chinese culture and how everybody is different.  The vocabulary words in the back of the book would be the most helpful for starting the lesson.  I think both english and history objective could be used with this book.  Another thing I would do is compare and contrast the differences between their culture and their own specific culture or background.  Students could even write a few sentences about how their culture is different or the same as their own.  If I had higher grades like third or fourth, I could do a Venn diagram as well.  I think the book is most appropriate for kindergarten through third grade, but it could be used in fourth to teach diversity.