Mindy Kim and the Yummy Seaweed Business (Mindy Kim #1) by Lyla Lee

Rajiv — Wed, 12 Feb 2020 03:58:44 +0000

Mindy Kim and the Yummy Seaweed Business (Mindy Kim #1) by Lyla Lee
Release: January 14th 2020
Format: Kindle
Publisher: Aladdin Books
Source: Amazon

Synopsis:

Fresh Off the Boat meets Junie B. Jones in this first novel in an adorable new chapter book series about Mindy Kim, a young Asian American girl who is starting a snack business!

Mindy Kim just wants three things:
1. A puppy!
2. To fit in at her new school
3. For her dad to be happy again

But, getting all three of the things on her list is a lot trickier than she thought it would be. On her first day of school, Mindy’s school snack of dried seaweed isn’t exactly popular at the lunch table. Luckily, her new friend, Sally, makes the snacks seem totally delicious to Mindy’s new classmates, so they decide to start the Yummy Seaweed Business to try and raise money for that puppy!

However, when another student decides to try and sabotage their business, Mindy loses more than she bargained for—and wonders if she’ll ever fit in. Will Mindy be able to overcome her uncertainty and find the courage to be herself?

Mindy Kim Book#1 Review:

This was a cute chapter book to read and a good beginning to the Mindy Kim series. I thought Lyla Lee did a great job for a children’s book as her debut novel. Firstly, the author introduces new Korean words like “Unni”, “Kimchi” and “Appa” to get familiarized with the language. The author does this in a simple but effective manner that blends well with the dialogues. Similarly, the illustrations by Dung Ho are very cute and compliment well to the story. Moreover, I liked how the author encourages readers to know more about how businesses works, where she introduces terms like trading, selling and marketing to younger readers.

However, when it came to the characters, I felt the author could have written Mindy a bit better. She appeared to be a bit snobbish in some cases where she would not trade her seaweed with Brandon, or how she thought it was still Sally’s fault even though she was at fault. Even though she is the new kid at school and has to make new friends, she could have behaved better with the students. I liked Sally more as a character as she goes out of her way to befriend Mindy and also doesn’t mind trying out new things before judging them.

Also, I felt like the author provided no resolution to Mindy’s father to overcome his sadness. The story ends in a happy note, but I felt bad for the father as nothing happened to him. Perhaps there will be more to his character in the following books of the series.

Overall, I thought this was a good start to the series and interested to see how it progresses.

Purchase this book from: [Amazon]

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More to the Story by Hena Khan

Rajiv — Thu, 22 Aug 2019 15:10:59 +0000

More to the Story by Hena Khan
Release: September 3rd 2019
Format: Kindle
Publisher: Salaam Reads / Simon Schuster Books
Source: Netgalley

More to the Story Synopsis:

From the critically acclaimed author of Amina’s Voice comes a new story inspired by Louisa May Alcott’s beloved classic, Little Women, featuring four sisters from a modern American Muslim family living in Georgia.

When Jameela Mirza is picked to be feature editor of her middle school newspaper, she’s one step closer to being an award-winning journalist like her late grandfather. The problem is her editor-in-chief keeps shooting down her article ideas. Jameela’s assigned to write about the new boy in school, who has a cool British accent but doesn’t share much, and wonders how she’ll make his story gripping enough to enter into a national media contest.

Jameela, along with her three sisters, is devastated when their father needs to take a job overseas for six months. Missing him makes Jameela determined to write an epic article—one to make her dad extra proud. But when her younger sister gets seriously ill, Jameela’s world turns upside down. Jameela questions what matters most, and whether she can be a journalist at all.

Review:

Watch my video review of More to the Story by Hena Khan

[embedyt] https://youtu.be/HjIb_iKXxig[/embedyt]

Many thanks to Netgalley and Salaam Reads / Simon Schuster Books for providing me an advanced ecopy of this book!

I really enjoyed reading this novel a lot! This is not exactly a retelling of Little Women, but it does provide a nod and homage to it. Even though we can relate these characters to the original characters, the author has completely revamped them and given them a makeover to fit with the modern world. Also, I loved Jameela as the main character and how she deals with all the different issues, like microaggression. Another thing which I really liked about the story is that the author mentions a lot about Muslim traditions, but does not do it by explicitly proving a point or making a bold statement. Overall, I enjoyed reading “More to the Story” and would recommend it.

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Mindy Kim and the Yummy Seaweed Business (Mindy Kim #1) by Lyla Lee

Synopsis:

Mindy Kim Book#1 Review:

More to the Story by Hena Khan

More to the Story Synopsis: