I am so pleased to share this next diverse picture book with you. The Ugly Dumpling, written by Stephanie Campisi is a yumtastic book for kids of all ages. If you love food, if you love Chinese food, if you books, whatever, you love, you will LOVE The Ugly Dumpling!
Isn’t that lil dumpling ADORBS??? It is so yummy I could eat him! And the story is delightful too. There are so many lessons to learn from this story I don’t know where to begin. We have a little dumpling who feels ugly when comparing himself (herself?) to the other dumplings. The dumpling befriends a cockroach (ew, I know! but so cuuuuuute) who shows the dumpling how wonderful the world is and that it’s great to be different.
And guess what?? You know why the dumpling feels ugly next to the other dumplings?
I’m NOT going to tell you. That would be a spoiler and I have a no spoiler policy around here. What I WILL tell you is that when you’re done reading the book you will feel beautiful, valuable, and learn the value of friendship. I could not love this book any more. Parents, caregivers, and teachers, the teaching opportunities are endless: bullying, self esteem, cooking, peer pressure, friendship, travel, are the first topics off the top of my head.
There is so much to love about this book! Even a dapper gender neutral cockroach. See? Something for everyone. I almost forgot: the illustrations include people of all kinds: single parents, brown people, white people, old, young, married, etc. It’s BEAUTIFULLY diverse.
I’m swooning here.
I’m part of a tour, you can check it out below.
The book is perfect for Chinese New Year and will qualify for the Diversity Reading Challenge!