In the illustrations, the Ling & Ting not only dress identically, but also look identical, until the fateful moment early in the series when the irrepressible Ting cannot sit still for her haircut. Its main characters-two twin girls of Chinese descent-challenge the racist stereotype that “all Asians look alike,” something that Lin considered carefully when developing her story. Likewise, the structure of the book builds a cumulative story to a satisfying ending.Īdd this book to your collection because Lin has thoughtfully layered her work to be engaging, accessible to new readers, culturally normative AND culturally informative. The language of each chapter cycles back on itself in a way that always moves the story forward, so it supports readers without becoming repetitive. Read this book because it’s the first of four, so you will get to spend a lot of time with these spunky sisters. Grace Lin perfectly captures the back and forth of a close friendship between two very different people, and like Arnold Lobel, highlights those differences as the root of the loving humor in her stories. If you were ever a fan of Frog & Toad, you will love Ling & Ting. Ling & Ting: Not Exactly the Same, by Grace Lin, Little, Brown and Company, 2010
So for today’s Windows/Mirrors Book Review, and in honor of the Year of the Monkey, I am pleased to present, telling her own story: But what happens when privileged writers claim the diverse spaces on publishers’ booklists when we know that those spaces are limited? Writers of color and other diverse backgrounds can get edged out of the opportunity to tell their own stories, as described by Jacqueline Woodson in her post “Who Can Tell My Story?”. That is not to say that authors can never cross color/other lines in their fiction–many writers of many backgrounds do this successfully.
She challenges white writers to support #WNDB by reading, buying and promoting diverse books, not necessarily by attempting to write them.
Ellen Oh‘s article Dear White Writers poses some interesting questions for me as a curator of this Diverse Book Review series.
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