About this book:
“Sometimes things don’t turn out the way we plan! In this chapter book series about a daughter of Vietnamese immigrants, Ly-Lan navigates her life as a new third grader—complete with old and new friends, unexpected (and disappointing) changes at home and school, and finding a way to thrive.
Third grade is not starting the way Ly-Lan pictured. First, her best friend Cece is put in another class--even after Ly-Lan prayed they would be in the same one. And then Ly-Lan is tasked with showing the new Vietnamese student around. Ly-Lan wants to hang out with Cece, not play translator to the new girl, and she doesn’t understand why her prayers aren’t being answered. If Ly-Lan is going to survive and thrive in third grade, she must learn to trust in God’s plans, especially when it means making some adjustments to her own.”
Series: Book #1 in the “Ly-Lan Finds a Way” series.
Spiritual Content- A prayer (that Ly-Lan does with her parents); Ly-Lan shares with her best friend that whenever she needs something, her father has told her to get on her knees, which her friend thinks she means begging, but Ly-Lan explains she means praying and shows her how she prays under a cross in her room to Jesus (there is an illustration of Ly-Lan on her knees praying and a note that she prays with her parents before bed every night); Ly-Lan tells her best friend that her father told her to pray to Jesus whenever she needs help or has a special wish (her best friend says that “that’s cool” and she usually just yells out loud to her parents in hopes one of her parents can get her wish for her); Ly-Lan believes her prayers to be in the same classroom as her best friend has worked since kindergarten, but her mom says she’s not sure that’s how prayers work; When she finds out she’s not in the same class with her best friend, Ly-Lan wonders if she said the wrong name in her prayers; Ly-Lan’s parents tell her that God isn’t a genie to grant our wishes and that sometimes things don’t work out the way we want even when we pray about it (adding that “prayers are like wishes from our hearts, but sometimes our wishes aren’t always the best thing for us. Only God can decide that. We have to trust Him.” and encourage her about trusting God, but Ly-Lan decides that if praying is not going to help and God doesn’t grant wishes, she’s going to take her chances on someone at school who can grant her wish); Ly-Lan doesn’t think prayers will work after her disappointment and wonders what the point of praying is if it doesn’t come true; *Spoiler* At the very end, Ly-Lan realizes the good that can come from being in a new class and prays with her parents *End of Spoiler*; Talks about God, Jesus, trusting Him, & praying/prayers; 'H's are capital when referring to God; Mentions of God & Jesus; Mentions of praying & prayers;
*Note: A few mentions of magic (in the sense of Ly-Lan thinking her mother can work magic like creating a certain yummy food and could help her out with the classroom problem; Later, Ly-Lan thinks that moms are magical when her best friend tells her something that her mom said that was the same thing her mom said too); A mention of being lucky.
Negative Content- Ly-Lan is upset about her hopes and plans not being able to happen (such as being in the same classroom as her best friend or sitting with her at lunch) and thinks “Adults choose everything for kids—whose class we’re in, where we sit at lunch, and who we sit with!” and adds that “today is officially the worst first day ever.”, but she still follows the directions of her teacher; In a moment of being upset, Ly-Lan whines and says a hurtful thing to her best friend (which her friend says to take back her mean words, but Ly-Lan is still upset); *Spoilers* Towards the end, Ly-Lan realizes that she was wrong and writes an apology note to her best friend and plans to make a new friend or two in her new class; Her best friend forgives her *End of Spoilers*; A couple mentions of jealousy.
Sexual Content- N/A.
-Ly-Lan Tran, age 8
P.O.V. of Ly-Lan
96 pages
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Pre Teens-
New Teens-
Early High School Teens-
Older High School Teens-
My personal Rating-
To get the technical stuf out of the way: I’m not the best judge for the writing quality of beginner chapter books, so I did think it was a bit simple at times, but I think that can be expected. I don’t know how realistic it was for Ly-Lan’s writing skills either. There were a few times of extra exclamation points in a sentence or amazing being said as “AMAZINGGG!!!” by our main character and her friend.
I thought this story was very cute overall and how important it is for Ly-Lan has to learn that it’s okay and even possible to have more than one best friend. The illustrations were adorable and definitely added to a cute charm to the story.
See y’all on Friday with a new review!
*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.
*I received this book for free from the Publisher (Zonderkidz) for this honest review.
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