Watercress by Andrea Wang 🟌🟌🟌

With all the awards this book has received I really wanted to love it but… it was just OK. The target audience is for middle schoolers, not elementary school kids and definitely not preschoolers. The book’s message was clear, as parents and immigrants our lives were so much harder than yours. The author is lecturing the main character throughout the book and as a reader I started to feel sorry for her.

I read this book to my 9-year-old Grandson and while the book did hold his attention, there were a lot of follow up questions that I had to address. Not once in the book did any of the family smile. The book is dark and sometimes confusing. The death of the mother ‘s brother is never fully explained and the thought that a person could die from hunger was overwhelming for a 9-year-old.  The message in the book could have been delivered with a more hopeful future. Watercress is a book for the 5^th and 6^th graders, the content is too grave and sad for younger children. I give it 3 stars.     

Fun Activity: Find Watercress either at the grocery store or growing outside, then make watercress sandwiches.                

Published In: 2021                          

Publisher: Neal Porter Books
Age Level: 6-10
AR Level: 3.7
Pages: 32
Stars: 3
Awards:
Caldecott Medal Winner -2022
Newbery Honor Book -2022