Laolao’s Dumplings

A grandchild takes on a cultural culinary tradition in this quietly moving tale about intergenerational and community bonds. One spring day during a visit with Laolao, young narrator Millie, who’s of Chinese descent, requests dumplings, and the two take the subway to Chinatown for ingredients. There, Laolao knows every vendor, and animated garlic chives and lychee appear to dance in the air. At home, the two work together, an act that reprises as Laolao, who has begun to move slowly, “tells me all the steps to her best dishes” and one day gives Millie her rolling pin. When Laolao requests dumplings, Millie heads to Chinatown to buy groceries from the woman’s extended community, discovering a ripple effect of caring and connection. Moon’s highly detailed, thin-lined digital illustrations capture the bustle of Chinatown and the sensory details of creating dumplings as a grandparent’s knowledge in turn becomes a way of caring for her. A dumpling recipe concludes. Ages 4–8. (Dec.)