Tea with Milk
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At home in San Francisco, May speaks Japanese and the family eats rice and miso soup and drinks green tea. When she visits her friendsâ homes, she eats fried chicken and spaghetti.
May plans someday to go to college and live in an apartment of her own. But when her family moves back to Japan, she soon feels lost and homesick for America.
In Japan everyone calls her by her Japanese name, Masako. She has to wear kimonos and sit on the floor. Poor May is sure that she will never feel at home in this country. Eventually May is expected to marry and a matchmaker is hired.
Outraged at the thought, May sets out to find her own way in the big city of Osaka. The accompanying story of his mother and her journey as a young woman is heartfelt. Tea with Milk vividly portrays the graceful formality of Japan and captures the struggle between two cultures as May strives to live out her own life.
Alongside his Caldecott Medal-winning Grandfatherâs Journey, in Tea with Milk, master storyteller Allen Say continues to chronicle his familyâs history between Japan and California.
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Allen Say was born in Yokohama, Japan, and came to the United States when he was sixteen. His many treasured books for children include Tree of Cranes, Allison, and the Caldecott Medalâwinning Grandfather's Journey. He lives in Portland, Oregon.
