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| Image retrieved from www.amazon.com |
1. Bibliography
Lin, Grace. The Year of the Dog: A Novel. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2006. ISBN 0316060003
2. Plot Summary
“Happy Year of the Dog!” Pacy hears her dad saying on the phone. The Year of the Dog is special because it is for friends and family - and for finding yourself. Pacy, known as Grace Lin at school, begins her journey through this year in an effort to find herself and to discover how the Year of the Dog will be lucky for her, but finding herself turns out to take more time than she expected. She gains a new best friend, searches for her own talents, and learns how to deal with disappointment. In the end, Pacy wins fourth place in the National Written and Illustrated Awards Contest for Students. The year is lucky for her after all, and she finds herself as a writer and illustrator.
3. Critical Analysis
Grace Lin tells her own story of self-discovery in this fun book about a Taiwanese-American girl who is trying to find herself. Lin says she wrote it “because this was the book I wished I had growing up.” This book is sure to be one of great refuge for other Taiwanese-American and Chinese-American children who are finding their way through two very different cultures like Grace Lin did.
Grace, know as Pacy to her family, walks the reader through a year in her life - the Year of the Dog. When Pacy asks if something special is supposed to happen because it’s the year of the Dog, her mother tells her “the Year of the Dog is for friends and family. But there’s more to it than that. The year of the Dog is also for thinking. Since dogs are also honest and sincere, it’s a good year to find yourself.” She goes on to explain that finding yourself means deciding what your values are and what you want to do. By the end of the story, Pacy does just that. After winning the award for writing and illustrating, she announces, “I found myself! … I’m going to make books when I grow up.” Grace Lin never turns back and goes on to be an author and illustrator.
A major theme in this story is friendship. Before Melody arrives at Grace’s school, she is the only Taiwanese-American in her school (besides her sister). On her first day to school after the New Year, the lunch lady stops Grace and tells her she can’t take her plate because she already took one, and everyone only gets one. Grace insists this is her first time through the line, and the lunch lady eventually lets her go. Grace realizes soon after that the reason the lunch lady thought she had already been through the line was because there was a new girl at school - a Chinese-American girl named Melody - and she looked like Grace. This is an incredibly relatable scene for Chinese-American students reading this book. Grace and Melody become best friends, and from that point on they spend all of the free time at each other’s houses.
Throughout the novel, Grace deals with disappointments. She is disappointed when a boy she likes chooses another girl. She is disappointed again when the science project that she and Melody work so hard on gets a frown and negative review from their science teacher. Then, when she dreams of being Dorothy in the school’s performance of The Wizard of Oz, her hopes are completely dashed when her friend Becky tells her, “You can’t be Dorothy … Dorothy’s not Chinese.” Grace is hurt.
Grace struggles with her identity throughout the story. She says to her mother at one point, It’s not fair. To Americans, I’m too Chinese, and to Chinese people, I’m too American. So which one am I supposed to be? She also asks her mom why there are no Chinese people in movies, plays, or books. She struggles with her own identity because she doesn’t see herself in books. When Melody tells her to stop complaining about it and go write her own, she does just that. Once again, Grace Lin uses her own experience of struggling with her identity, being Chinese-American, to relate to other students who are struggling and who don’t see themselves in books, movies, or plays.
Infused throughout Grace’s story of finding herself are short stories told by her and her family members either to explain events from the novel or simply to tell about others who have had disappointments or struggles similar to her own. These short stories serve to inform the reader and to give a (sometimes humorous) break in the reading of Grace’s story.
In the end, Grace wins fourth place for the book she wrote and illustrated entitled The ugly Vegetables. She wins $400 for it, but more than that, she finds herself. She discovers that she is a talented writer and illustrator. The best part is that she doesn’t forget it. She grows up to use her talents to let others like her know they are not alone. In her “Author Note,” she explains that growing up Asian in a mainly Caucasian community was not a miserable and gloomy existence, but it was different. She wrote this story because she wanted those differences to be addressed in a real and upbeat way. She said, “I wrote it because it was the book I wished I had had when I was growing up, a book that had someone like me in it.”
4. Review Excerpts
From PUBLISHERS WEEKLY (January 2, 2006): "Lin, best known for her picture books, here offers up a charming first novel, an autobiographical tale of an Asian-American girl's sweet and funny insights on family, identity and friendship."
From KIRKUS (December 15, 2005): "This comfortable first-person story will be a treat for Asian-American girls looking to see themselves in their reading, but also for any reader who enjoys stories of friendship and family life."
5. Connections
Gather other books written and illustrated by Grace Lin such as:
- Where the Mountain Meets the Moon. ISBN 978-0316038638
- The Ugly Vegetables. ISBN 978-1570914911
- Dim Sum for Everyone. ISBN 978-0440417705
Visit Grace Lin’s website for activities and lesson plan suggestions: http://www.gracelin.com/content.php?page=book_yeardog&display=activities
Have students research different aspects of the Chinese New Year in groups and then have groups share what they have learned with the class.
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