Liao, Jenny. Everyone Loves Lunchtime but Zia. Alfred A. Knopf, 2023.  978-0-593-42542-8. Unpaged.  $18.99. Grades PreK-1.

In her picture book debut, Liao tells a charming story of a Chinese-American family and Cantonese cuisine, based on her own childhood. Zia is a young girl who likes school, but does not enjoy lunchtime, unlike her classmates. Zia is embarrassed by her homemade lunches, which look, smell, and feel different from the bag lunches of her peers.  They remark on its strange appearance and wonder how she can eat it. Zia loves her parents’ cooking at home, but asks if she can begin taking sandwiches to school. Her parents, realizing the problem, decide to make lunch special by packing dishes that have special meaning. On Tuesday, Zia has cha siu bao, a barbecued pork bun, representing treasure. That day, the librarian hands Zia the book she was waiting for. She gets a gold star for her painting, after eating see yao gai, a soy sauce chicken, bringing her success. After sharing rice noodle rolls with a new friend, the young girl realizes that her family’s ethnic cuisine is something to be proud of. To celebrate Zia’s birthday, her parents serve all her favorite foods to the class. In the back matter, the author explains that there are many different styles of cooking in China depending on the region. There is a recipe and an illustrated glossary of various Chinese dishes, also spelled in Chinese characters. Dream Chen’s colorful illustrations are sure to make the reader hungry from endpaper to endpaper. 

THOUGHTS: This picture book is a good read aloud and promotes discussion about the wonderful variety of gastronomy in the world. 

Picture Book