Tea with Milk

Say, A. (2013). Tea with milk. Columbus, O.H: Zaner-Bloser. ISBN: 0547237472




Plot Summary
Tea with Milk is about a Japanese American teenage girl named May that loves her home in San Francisco and her American culture. Her parents miss their homeland in Japan and decide to move back. There May is now known by her Japanese name Masako, she is forced forget her American culture and assimilate to her Japanese culture she is really foreign to. After May’s parents try to marry her off to a man she is not interested in, she decides she has had enough. At the end of the story, May learns the meaning of finding a home, her voice, and true love.

Critical Analysis
Tea with Milk is an award-winning book that will allow readers to explore the Japanese culture through the eyes of an American Japanese young woman. This is a recommended read for grades 3 and up. Readers will be able to empathize with the main character’s frustration as she becomes foreign in her own “culture”. Many readers will connect with the multiple themes including coping with change, self- identity, and gender equality.

The fact that Allen Say wrote this story as a tribute to his grandmother May makes this a moving cultural authentic read. Say’s beautiful realistic illustrations makes his grandmother’s story come to life and allows readers to explore the Japanese culture. The illustrations show readers many cultural markers such as the wooden chopsticks Japanese people use as eating utensils, the beautiful traditional Japanese Kimonos women wear, etc.This books also shares with readers the proper way people sit in the Asian culture, which is not in chairs. In one illustration, May and her grandfather are found sitting on the floor crossed leg. May even mentioned how uncomfortable it was to sit like that for long periods.

Equally important, this book reveals a universal drink that the American and Asian culture has in common which is tea. Say does a great job with naturally exposing popular food in both cultures. In the American culture, some favorite foods that his grandmother enjoyed were omelets, fried chicken, spaghetti and tea with milk. In contrast, at home, she was prepared traditional Japanese food such as boring old rice, miso soup, and plane tea (without milk).

Ultimately, gender inequality is a cultural marker that really struck a chord in this book. Say revealed the role of women in the Japanese culture. In the book, May’s mother is caught saying that “proper” Japanese women don’t have to work their only job is to be a wife to a well-off man. In the Japanese culture, women seem like they are to remain submissive to their parents and their husband. Readers also notice the gender inequality when May is in the city looking for work. There were not that many job opportunities for women and most Japanese women did not know how to drive or translate. May was not your stereotypical Japanese woman she was dominant and had a voice.

Review Excerpts

Horn Book Guide starred
"Continuing to explore place and home, Say tells the story of his mother, first introduced to readers in Tree of Cranes. Born in California to Japanese immigrants, Masako is miserable when she moves to Japan with her parents after high school. The illustrations capture Masako's unhappiness and also her eventual contentment as she learns to combine two cultures."
School Library Journal
"When her Japanese-born parents leave America for their homeland, an independent girl reluctantly follows and melds her experience and her heritage to find a new meaning for the word "home." This perfect marriage of artwork and text offers readers a window into a different place and time."

Connections

More books by Allen Say!!
Say, A. (2013). Grandfather's journey: Read-aloud. Boston, Mass: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN: 0547076800

Say, A. (2004). Allison. Boston [Mass.: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN: 0618495371