Tea with Milk
Bibliography
Say, A. 1999. TEA WITH MILK. New York, NY: Walter Lorraine Books. ISBN 0395904951
Plot Summary
Masako, who also goes by May, is a young Japanese girl living in the United States with her father and mother. She has assimilated well into American life and enjoys everything that has to do with America. She even liked to drink her tea with sugar and milk. Once she graduated from high school, her parents told her that they would be moving to Japan. Her parents wanted her to learn the Japanese language and culture. Although she tried to assimilate herself to the Japanese traditions, she was not able to do it and decided to leave her village. Masako then ended up in Osaka, where she found a job and a boyfriend. Later they both moved to Yokohama, where they married and had a family.
Critical Analysis (Including Cultural Markers)
TEA WITH MILK is a great fiction picture book that authentically depicts the life of a young Japanese girl born in America and then taken back to Japan. The story has elements of fiction. The author was able to include the characters, settings, conflicts and resolution. The author was able to instantly tell the reader that the characters were Japanese. This development will connect to the conflict in the story. Although the setting in the beginning starts in San Francisco, the family will then move to Japan. It is this action that contributes to the main character's feelings and actions in the story, which will develop the conflict. Masako has been living in the U.S.A her entire child and young adult life, and she is afraid that she might not know the culture and language well.
The author also includes some text culture markers that connect to Japanese culture. The first text marker that is connected to Japanese culture is the introduction of the main character (Masako). Her name is Masako, but her parents called her Ma-chan and the author also states that her parents spoke to her in Japanese, which explains the family’s native language. The reader can then conclude that her parents are originally from Japan.
The author also utilizes interlanguage in the story, which authentically connects to Japanese culture. This occurs when Masako attends school in Japan and feels like an outsider. Because she had to attend Japanese language classes, the other students called her a “Gaijin”. The author was also able to translate the word, which means “foreigner”. This event was important to the story because that is how Masako felt. This made her very unhappy, which contributed to her leaving for another city.
The mention of the cities in the text also contributes to Japanese culture. Because the author is from Japan, he was to describe the city of Osaka. “Noises of trolley bells clanging, car horns blaring, trucks rumbling! And tall buildings with windows like mirrors!”. The author was also able to mention the city of Yokohama, which is his birth place. This would be the final place where the characters would get married and have their own family (which mentions that the author was their first child). In knowing the author’s background, the reader can tell that the author (Allen Say) utilized a lot of his life in the story. He was able to give an insider's perspective on the life of a Japanese American.
The next important cultural marker that connects to Japanese culture are the traditions that Masko had to follow. The first tradition is the foods that Masako ate while at home. At home she had rice and miso soup with plain green tea. While in Japan, she had to wear kimonos and sit on the floor and was expected to speak in Japanese. She also had to learn calligraphy and the tea ceremony. Because Masako had spent so much time in America, she found all of these traditions to be very frustrating. Especially the tradition of an arranged marriage (Omaiai) by a matchmaker (Nakodo). It was this tradition that prompted Maskao to leave her village and go to Osaka, which is a big city like San Francisco. Masako’s dream was to finish college and be on her own and having an arranged marriage would ruin her plans. All of these details enhance the story and give it an authentic Japanese perspective.
Allen Say was also the illustrator of TEA WITH MILK. He was able to use authentic illustrations that connect with Japanese culture. The first page illustration depicts the main character as an Asian American. The reader can also conclude that they are living in America, because of the American flag flying outside her home. This is important because all she had ever known was America and being forced to move contributed to the conflict in the story.
Another Asian American cultural marker are the clothing that are depicted in the illustrations. The family moved Masako back to Japan, so she was forced to wear the traditional Japanese kimono. This incident played an important part in the story because she struggled with her cultural identity. Other female characters in the story are also wearing kimonos.
The illustrations of the places including her home in Japan are very descriptive. The illustrator was able to draw the buildings with Japanese writing and flags that are found in Japan. By looking at the illustrations the reader can also conclude this story might have taken place in the early 1900s. The cars used in the illustrations are those used during that time period.
Overall this is a great story that has authentic Japanese cultural markers. The author was able to include many markers in the text as well as the illustrations.
Review Excerpts
School Library Journal Best Book
Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Seal Award
Riverbank Review Children’s Books of Distinction Award winner
Kirkus Review: In describing how his parents met, Say continues to explore the ways that differing cultures can harmonize; raised near San Francisco and known as May everywhere except at home, where she is Masako, the child who will grow up to be Say’s mother becomes a misfit when her family moves back to Japan. Rebelling against attempts to force her into the mold of a traditional Japanese woman, she leaves for Osaka, finds work as a department store translator, and meets Joseph, a Chinese businessman who not only speaks English, but prefers tea with milk and sugar, and persuades her that “home isn’t a place or a building that’s ready-made or waiting for you, in America or anywhere else.” Painted with characteristic control and restraint, Say’s illustrations, largely portraits, begin with a sepia view of a sullen child in a kimono, gradually take on distinct, subdued color, and end with a formal shot of the smiling young couple in Western dress. A stately cousin to Ina R. Friedman’s How My Parents Learned To Eat (1984), also illustrated by Say. (Picture book. 7-9)
Connections
Grandfather’s Journey by Allen Say
Teachers and librarians can use this book to conduct a character development analysis using a graphic organizer to organize the main character's feelings, actions and dialogue.
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