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]
