Ugly Vegetables Book

I read this author-illustrator's Dim Sum for Everyone! and I liked it but was not wowed by either the illustrations or story.

I liked this book, her first book, much better.

For my entire life I've wanted a vegetable and herb garden. Flowers have never done it for me as much as does an edible garden.

So, this story, told by a little girl (thinly veiled as it's obviously about the author) whose mother grows Chinese vegetables instead of flowers, when all the neighbors grow pretty flowers, had me on the mother's side. The little girl narrator and the neighbors eventually are won over too, and it's wonderful to see every single household make some changes. It's very heartwarming when, near the end of the book, the neighborhood shares a meal together. I have to admit that (even though I'm a lifelong vegetable lover) it crossed my mind that it might not be entirely realistic how everyone, including every single neighborhood child, are instant fans of vegetable soup, especially one with unfamiliar vegetables.

There is a "The Ugly Vegetables" page in the back that lists each vegetable in 4 ways: with Chinese characters, as a picture, in English alphabet for pronunciation, and a description of each vegetable. There is also a recipe for "Ugly Vegetable Soup" which unfortunately isn't vegan or even vegetarian, but could easily be veganized; the recipe as is has both chicken broth and chicken in it. I thought I'd know all the vegetables but a few were ones about which I'd never known.

The art style here is similar to the Dim Sum book but it worked better here partly because there was so much more detail in the illustrations. The story was also more of a real story.

I have at least a couple more of Lin's books on my to-read shelf and I hope to get to them.