Yoko by Rosemary Wells

Author: Rosemary Wells

Illustrator: Rosemary Wells

Genre: Multicultural, Realistic Fiction

Awards: Young Hoosier Book Award Nominee (2000), Arkansas Diamond Primary Book Award Nominee (2001), The White Ravens (1999), NCTE Kaleidoscope (2001), NCTE Adventuring with Books (2000)

Grade(s): K-2nd

Summary: Yoko is a cat from Japan who loves when her mom prepares her, her favorite bento box of sushi for lunch. When lunchtime at school comes around, Yoko's teacher, Mrs. Jenkins, rings the bell and tells everyone to take out their lunch boxes. When Yoko looks around, she noticed that many of her classmates brought different types of sandwiches and other typical lunchtime food. However, when Yoko opens her lunchbox, her classmates are all disgusted by it and begin to make fun of it saying things like, "Watch out! It's moving!" and "Yuck-o-rama!" This really hurts Yoko's feelings. She doesn't understand why people would make fun of her favorite lunch!! When she goes outside to play, Mrs. Jenkins notices that Yoko isn't playing and that she seems upset. Then Mrs. Jenkins gets the idea of organizing an International Food Day in her class. She send notes to the parents asking them to each bring an unusual dish from many different countries. On International Food Day, Mrs. Jenkins' number one rule is to "try everything!" However, Yoko notices that no one would even touch her deluxe sushi roll. Until one of her classmates, Timothy, was still hungry after everything had already been eaten. So, he decided to try Yoko's sushi roll and he loved it so much, he wanted sushi the next day too!! In the end, Yoko and Timothy became the best of friends and decided to open their own restaurant, sushi included.

My Thoughts: I absolutely loved this book!! It was so cute and really offered an insight into the diversity we have in our schools. I also loved it because I can relate to it in some way. Living in China has really broadened my view on many different types of food. Sushi is my favorite, so I can relate to Yoko when people make fun of her for eating such different things. I think this book will be a wonderful addition to my classroom because I can use it to teach diversity. I can also stem off of this book an International food day of my own. This book will definitely be in my classroom library for years to come!!