Younger children will like the happy ending older ones can muse on the subtler lessons. The story ends with the family members sitting on their urban rooftop, watching fireworks and eating apple pie, but suddenly the scene seems infused with history and meaning. Wong resists the urge to have the wise mother say, ''Maybe egg rolls are part of America, too.'' She also resists the tired idea of the smart, savvy American kid knowing more than the hopelessly old-fashioned parents. But this lesson is not beaten over the reader's head - it's not even articulated. And as her parents dish out plates of chicken chow mein and sweet-and-sour pork, our narrator learns that being American isn't a cliché of apple pie on the Fourth of July. The narrator sits bored, watching the Chinese food get cold, sure she will be able to say ''I told you so'' by closing time.īut when the parade is over and dusk settles, people do want to eat Chinese food - dozens of people. ''They were not born here.'' The city scenes are beautifully captured by Margaret Chodos-Irvine's illustrations, which have vibrant colors and simple shapes reminiscent of cut-paper work. Wong's unnamed narrator says, sitting in the family store while the parade literally passes her by. ''My parents do not understand all American things,'' Janet S. ''Apple Pie 4th of July'' is the story of a Chinese-American girl trying to convince her immigrant parents that no one wants to eat Chinese food on the Fourth of July.

Apple Pie 4th of July by Janet S. Wong