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Summary
Summary
Recently arrived in Seattle from China, musically untalented Yingtao is faced with giving a violin performance to attract new students for his father when he would rather be working on friendships and playing baseball.
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 3-6-- Poor Yang Yingtao. From the moment he was born, nine years ago in China, his parents expected him to be as talented as his siblings and complete the family string quartet. The trouble is, he's tone deaf, but his family won't believe it. He knows he will let them down at the upcoming recital for his father's music students, when the string quartet is supposed to play a grand finale, impressing the audience with Father's skill as a teacher. The stakes are high. Yingtao's family has recently immigrated to America and his father, who plays violin for the Seattle Symphony, desperately needs more students to augment their meager income. Yingtao's friendship with curly haired Matthew eventually saves the day. Matthew's family regards his love of the violin with suspicion, wishing he would work harder at baseball. Joining Matthew at practice, Yingtao discovers he's a natural athlete. Namioka uses their growing friendship to explore cultural differences and the problems of adjustment to a new society with a light but sure touch. Warm, humorous black-and-white sketches illuminate each character with casual, but astute, perception. Simpler and less incisive than Bette Bao Lord's In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson (HarperCollins, 1984), which is set in an earlier era, this multicultural music and sports story will have a broad appeal for young readers. --Margaret A. Chang, North Adams State College, MA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Newly transplanted to Seattle from his native China, nine-year-old Yingtao is a tone-deaf thorn among musical roses. His parents--professional musicians both--assume the problem is lack of practice and chide him for playing baseball (he's a natural) when he could be rehearsing with his virtuoso siblings for an upcoming family recital. When Yingtao hooks up with a new friend from school, a boy as talented musically as Yingtao is athletically and whose parents have put him in an opposite predicament--the boys scheme a ``lip-syncing'' violin switch for the recital quartet that finally opens the eyes of both families. Peppered with wry commentary on the often baffling experience of adapting to a new country and a new language, Beijing-born Namioka's fresh and funny novel serves up a slice of modern, multicultural American life. Her comic timing and deadpan delivery are reminiscent of Betsy Byars, and her book will leave readers begging for more. Dekiefte's keenly observed black-and-white sketches evoke a maximum of expression with a minimum of intrusion. illustrations not seen by PW. Ages 8-12. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
Yingtao's position as the youngest in a Chinese-American family of four children creates problems for him that youngest siblings everywhere will understand, but being required to play second violin in the family's string quartet when he is tone-deaf provokes a crisis that is unique. Namioka explores issues of diversity, self-realization, and duty with sensitivity and a great deal of humor. From HORN BOOK 1992, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Youngest of four in a musically gifted family, Yingtao is miserable because he's tone-deaf--a fact denied by his father, who obtusely persists in trying to teach him the violin. The family has recently immigrated to Seattle from Shanghai and is struggling financially; Father hopes that if his children play a quartet creditably at a recital it'll bring him more students. Meanwhile, Yingtao makes friends with Matthew, who does play the violin well--but his father thinks Matthew should concentrate on baseball, in which Yingtao now begins to excel. In the nicest moment here, Yingtao's Third Sister unmasks their scheme to have Matthew play from behind a screen while Yingtao fakes it during the recital--with the result that both fathers begin to see the light. Along with the theme of overcoming parents' unrealistic expectations, Namioka (author of several Japanese historical adventures: The Coming of the Bear, p. 615), depicts in some detail the problems of adjusting to a new country and countering stereotypical thinking. The message, however, overwhelms the rather slight story, while Yingtao's portrayal seems inconsistent: He knows too much English to be so unfamiliar with American slang and customs. Adequate but simplistic and overextended. De Kiefte's frequent impressionistic drawings are a plus. (Fiction. 8-12)
Booklist Review
Gr. 4-6. A warm, funny immigrant story extends the meaning of outsider and home. Newly arrived in Seattle from Shanghai, nine-year-old Yingtao fails his musical family because he has a terrible ear--he's tone-deaf. No amount of practicing can help. When he plays second violin in the Yang family string quartet, the screeches makes his musician father screw up his face in pain. Yingtao does begin to fit in at school when he makes the baseball team with the help of his friend Matthew. The trouble is, Yingtao's father disapproves of ball-playing; his son should be practicing for the upcoming recital. American Matthew has the opposite problem: he's a gifted violinist, but his father thinks he's a nerd for playing music instead of baseball. As the recital draws near, the friends work out a plan for Matthew to "bow sync" for Yingtao from behind a screen. The lighthearted first-person narrative captures the bewilderment of the immigrant experience and the confusion about customs and language. There are also some poignant moments--the ache for home in China, the sting of prejudice, the wish to be part of the family music. But self-acceptance triumphs as Yingtao realizes that his great eye for the ball "made up for having a terrible ear." With several black-and-white drawings to come, this will make a great classroom read-aloud. ~--Hazel Rochman