Hello, friends! Our book today is Amy Wu and the Warm Welcome, written by Kat Zhang and illustrated by Charlene Chua, a charming story of cross-language communication and the spirit of inclusivity.

Third in Zhang and Chua’s Amy Wu series, we, along with Amy and the rest of her elementary class, meet new classmate Lin. Lin and his family have recently moved from China, and their teacher bids the class give Lin a warm welcome. Amy takes this to heart, and makes gestures of friendship to Lin throughout the day, yet Lin remains distant and silent. However, after school, Amy observes Lin animatedly speaking with his little sister in Chinese, and sees a different side of her new friend. Amy relies on her talent for pondering, and tries to come up with a way to reach out to Lin. But just when she’s thought of the perfect thing, she develops her own fears of speaking in front of a crowd. Can Amy overcome her fears to offer Lin a warm welcome?

Wonderful. This is our first time reviewing an entry in the Amy Wu series, and we were so pleased to see that this one is just as delightful as the previous installments. While telling a sweet story of hospitality and being inclusive, Zhang also deftly explores the challenges of communicating across languages, especially for those learning a new language in a predominantly-monolingual environment (been there). A nice touch was having Lin’s dialogue with his sister being written in pinyin characters, allowing the reader to feel the sense of being in Lin’s shoes, while also providing translations in the back of the book. Chua’s illustrations are cheerful and colorful, and feature a nicely diverse cast of characters. The length is perfect for an elementary storytime, and JJ really liked it, especially the dumpling-making scenes (side note: this is the second time this week we’ve reviewed a book where the art has made me crave dumplings, and I’m not mad about it). Overall, a great story with a fantastic message, and it’s Baby Bookworm approved!

(Note: A copy of this book was provided to The Baby Bookworm by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.)