Maggie’s Chopsticks

By Alan Woo and Isabelle Malenfant

Poor Maggie struggles to master her chopsticks — it seems nearly everyone around the dinner table has something to say about the “right” way to hold them! But when Father reminds her not to worry about everyone else, Maggie finally gets a grip on an important lesson.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kids Can Press
• Release date: Jul 4, 2013
• ISBN: 9781894786041

Book preview

Reviews for Maggie’s Chopsticks

[ozziemargy · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Chopsticks are so hard to hold. An interesting piece of work.

[meditationesmartini · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Cool to look into learning chopsticks as a cultural rite of passage (and not an "I'm not a yokel, I know how to use chopsticks" rite like for white people), though I couldn't help but wonder why the girl's whole family are so solipsistic and indifferent to her and then her dad comes along and is the nicest man. Aren't the larger family dynamics/cultural ideas playing themselves out here the more interesting story than chopsticks?

[vharsh1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book introduces children to Chinese food and culture. In this book, a little girl named Maggie struggles to hold her chopsticks in the correct way, according to her family members. One aspect that I liked about this book was how relatable the author made the characters. Each character in her family had something to say about the way she is holding her chopsticks. At the end of the book, Maggie’s father tells her not to worry about the way other people use chopsticks but to find a way that works for her. This reminded me of my own family having comments about a certain way to do something. I believe other children would be able to relate to this aspect of the book as well. Another aspect of this book that I like was the fact that the author incorporated Chinese in the book. For example, when she tried to use her chopsticks, she would try to pick up “cha siu bao” (pork filled buns) or “ha gau” (dumplings). The author wanted to expose children to not only Chinese utensils but also Chinese cuisine. The main idea of this story is not worry about what others think or say but to be yourself and do what you think is best.