Cakes! and 13. Millicent Min, Girl Genius
Aug. 28th, 2009 02:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
osprey_archerFirst: a link. Doctor Who themed cakes! Which look like cybermen (adorable cybermen) and TARDISes and Daleks!
These make me want to bake cakes again. I used to, before I was seduced into the instant gratification of cookies...
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Second, a quick review of Lisa Yee's Millicent Min, Girl Genius. It's a cute little book - a fun story, but not a very good depiction of genius. The author tried to make Millicent look smart by tricking out bog-standard kid thoughts with big words, which makes Millie sound like a kid who wants to be a genius rather than the real thing.
That might make an interesting book, but (given that Millie is at the tender age of eleven taking a college class) that isn't what this book is trying to do.
The other striking thing about the book is that the main characters wear their Chinese-American identity very lightly: they're Americans with a vague affection for feng shui. I'm curious if this is specific to the book - the Mins have apparently been in the country for a few generations - or if this is a wider trend in Chinese (Asian?)- American children's fiction.
These make me want to bake cakes again. I used to, before I was seduced into the instant gratification of cookies...
***
Second, a quick review of Lisa Yee's Millicent Min, Girl Genius. It's a cute little book - a fun story, but not a very good depiction of genius. The author tried to make Millicent look smart by tricking out bog-standard kid thoughts with big words, which makes Millie sound like a kid who wants to be a genius rather than the real thing.
That might make an interesting book, but (given that Millie is at the tender age of eleven taking a college class) that isn't what this book is trying to do.
The other striking thing about the book is that the main characters wear their Chinese-American identity very lightly: they're Americans with a vague affection for feng shui. I'm curious if this is specific to the book - the Mins have apparently been in the country for a few generations - or if this is a wider trend in Chinese (Asian?)- American children's fiction.
