How My Parents Learned to Eat
Illustrator
Allen Say
Publisher
Houghton Mifflin
Publication Year
1984
ISBN
9780395353790
Pages
32 pages
Genre
realism
Format
picture book
Item Type
Fiction
Annotation
An American sailor courts a Japanese girl and each tries, in secret, to learn the other's way of eating.
Grade Level
K-3
Lexile Measure
450L
Diversity Topics
Racial Diversity; Culture/Ethnicity; Biracial; Interracial; Bicultural; biracial child; mixed race; interracial family; interracial marriage; bicultural family; bicultural child
Main Character
female child; adult male; adult female
Race/Ethnicities
Japanese / White
Family Formation
mother and father
Awards
Christopher Award, 1985, Winner
American Experience: Strength from Diversity
Books for Beginning Readers, 1998 Putting It all Together
Books to Read Aloud to Children of All Ages, 2003 Stories: Five to Seven
Children's Catalog, Eighteenth Edition, 2001
Children's Catalog, Nineteenth Edition, 2006
Recommended Picture Books Featuring Interracial Families, 2011 Picture Book
Keywords
Japanese; American; sailor; chopsticks; knives; forks; eating utensils; eating; dinner; courting
Diversity Impact
direct
STARS Citation
Friedman, Ina R., "How My Parents Learned to Eat" (1984). Diverse Families. 365.
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/diversefamilies/365