  | Book Details Title: Mindy Kim and the Yummy Seaweed Business (1) |
Book DescriptionAbout the Author Lyla Lee is the author of the Mindy Kim series as well as the upcoming YA novel, I’ll Be the One. Although she was born in a small town in South Korea, she’s since lived in various parts of the United States, including California, Florida, and Texas. Inspired by her English teacher, she started writing her own stories in fourth grade and finished her first novel at the age of fourteen. After working various jobs in Hollywood and studying psychology and cinematic arts at the University of Southern California, she now lives in Dallas, Texas. When she is not writing, she is teaching kids, petting cute dogs, and searching for the perfect bowl of shaved ice. You can visit her online at LylaLeeBooks.com. Dung Ho was born and raised in Hue, Vietnam, where she studied graphic design at the Hue University College of Arts. After graduating, she worked in the design and advertising industries before discovering a great passion for illustration and picture books and becoming a freelance illustrator. Currently, she lives and works in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam. Ho draws inspiration from nature and the interaction between people and nature and especially loves to draw children. When not drawing, she enjoys cooking and watching movies. Read more Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Chapter 1 Chapter 1 My name is Mindy Kim. I’m seven and a half years old. That’s old enough to ride a bike around our street, but not old enough to have my own puppy—or at least that’s what my dad said. I don’t really agree with him, but our old apartment in California wasn’t big enough for a puppy anyway. I looked it up, and the experts on the Internet say that puppies need lots of room to run outdoors. Now that we’ve moved into a house with a big backyard, we can really get a puppy! I just have to convince my dad that it’s a good idea first. So far, no such luck. Dad wants me to prove that I can be “responsible” enough for a puppy first… and then he’ll “consider” getting me one. I decorated my own room to show Dad I’m “responsible.” I’m trying to be more grown-up, so I only put three dog stuffed animals on my bed. There are ten more under my bed, but Dad doesn’t need to know that. They’ll just have to take turns. After I finished, I was looking through a website on huskies, one of my favorite kinds of dogs, when I heard Dad say, “Mindy? Can you help me with these boxes?” CRASH! “Dad!” I ran downstairs to see him standing over a box of broken dishes. “Oh no!” he said. “These were your mom’s favorites.” He looked so sad, like he was about to cry. I wished I’d brought one of my stuffed dogs with me. I’d even let him hug Snowball, my favorite white husky. I miss Mom, but I know Dad misses her a lot more. She died a few months ago because she was really sick for a long time. Read more Customers Review: Mindy Kim is a sweet girl, who deals with a situation almost any kid can relate to, while presenting a bit of cultural diversity along the way.After the passing of her mother, Mindy and her father have moved from California to Florida, and that means they finally have a house with a yard. That makes Mindy one step closer to reaching one of her dreams: having a puppy to call her own. But that’s going to have to wait thanks to other challenges. She’s going to start a new school with the problem of finding new friends, and her father is still very sad about the loss of their mother. Mindy might have a way to solve both problems…maybe.This is such a lovely story, and so easy to sink into. Mindy is a girl, who’s hard not to like from the very first moment. She’s kind, a little shy, wants to help where she can, but still faces the same problems of an average seven-year-old and doesn’t always know how to deal with them. When she steps into the school for the first time, it’s easy to understand her insecurity and feel for her as she sits at the lunch table by herself. Her attempts to make things work bring a smile to the face, and the stumbling blocks as well as her mistakes, make her into the kind of person most kids would want as a best friend.The story rolls along in such a smooth way that it’s hard to put down. And not only is the story one kids can sink into, but there’s an important message as Mindy works through whatever she faces. The author also slides in aspects of Mindy’s heritage, letting the reader learn a little bit more about an Asian culture along the way.Summed up, this is a wonderful read I can see many kids really enjoying and can’t wait to see where the rest of Mindy Kim’s adventures will take her…and catch up on the ones, which have already are out there. This one gets a two thumbs up from me!I received a complimentary copy and enjoyed this one so much that I’m leaving my honest thoughts.
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9 reviews