Everyone Loves Career Day but Zia: A Zia Story

by Jenny Liao, Dream Chen (Illustrator)

Overview

Chinese American Zia helps her mom tell her classmates about her job as a seamstress through translation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780593425459
Publisher:	Random House Children's Books
Publication date:	07/02/2024
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	198,755
Product dimensions:	11.38(w) x 9.31(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	3 - 7 Years

About the Author

Jenny Liao is a Chinese American author of stories that inspire children to find pride in every part of their identity. Her work has also been featured in the New Yorker and Bon Appétit. Jenny is the author of Everyone Loves Lunchtime But Zia.

Dream Chen is an artist with a background in both illustration and animation. She received her BFA in animation at Communication University of China and completed her MFA in visual art at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. Her illustration and animation work has won awards from competitions and festivals worldwide.

Editorial Reviews

2024-04-20
In this follow-up to Everyone Loves Lunchtime but Zia (2023), a young Chinese American girl wishes that her classmates could see how talented her seamstress mother is.

Zia’s class is hosting Career Day. When her teacher asks whose parents can come to school to talk about their jobs, Zia keeps her hand down, uncertain that Mama will be able to come. When she asks, Mama says she’s worried that the students won’t understand her English. “I can teach you more English,” Zia responds. But Mama can’t miss work. When Mama makes Zia a beautiful red dress to wear to Career Day, Zia has an idea. On Career Day, after the other students’ parents have talked about teaching art, building phones, treating sick animals, and staying at home to look after children, Zia connects a laptop to a larger monitor. There’s Mama, showing everyone how she makes a dress, with Zia translating Mama’s Cantonese into English. Large swaths of brilliant red and yellow fabric billow out from the computer screen to fill the page, conveying both Zia’s enthusiasm and Mama’s expertise. Throughout, charming artwork expressively communicates Zia’s gamut of emotions while propelling the story forward. Liao lovingly weaves together the threads of immigrant life and allows Zia to take the initiative to solve the problem in a thoroughly modern way.

This rich and multifaceted story is a perfect fit. (author’s note, glossary) (Picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews

"Liao lovingly weaves together the threads of immigrant life and allows Zia to take the initiative to solve the problem in a thoroughly modern way. This rich and multifaceted story is a perfect fit." —Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher