Fun book to read with kids. Interesting facts and teaches kids about diversity and differences. Good illistrations. Would recommend this book.

I read this to my Toddler, and she loved it. I loved it. I highly recommend this book!

Not a favorite. I guess a child might encounter a neighborhood somewhere, or even a school so diverse, but, sadly, none that I know. Too many different people, from really far flung places, in one place. Generally, ethnic groups stay together in enclaves. It's hard to imagine individuals so varied would end up together on one block...nice, but not very realistic; I can think of many examples of this in my own state...

This should be required reading for students who are interested in living abroad. Fabulous.

Chan, a little immigrant from China tries to make new friends with other kids on his street. He meets 11 other children on the street from 10 other different countries. Each child or pair of siblings greets Chan in their home language, invites Chan to play, explains what their parents do, and then shares a traditional dish from their country with Chan before he goes home.

I was trying to figure out where Chan was supposed to be living where he had so many fellow young immigrant neighbors, who all say they were born in a foreign country, but currently have parents who were seemingly rather quickly able to find jobs such as police officer, lawyer, etc. I went back to that page before the title page that only us librarians probably look at and realized that the book was originally published in Dutch. This is the first English translation. I can picture this in a European city a whole lot easier than any city in the US, and one of the immigrant girls is British, so you also know it isn’t the UK. It still takes a little suspension of belief that there are <i>that</i> many immigrant kids on one street without a single repeat country <i>and</i> with parents who all work in a broad spectrum of different careers that aren’t typical immigrant careers. I also needed to suspend belief that Chan’s parents just let him go spend a whole day with all these brand new acquaintances they haven’t even met and that he eats a meal with every single one that first day of friendship. As the meals racked up I started thinking Chan’s parents were saving a lot of money on feeding him by sending him to play with all these neighbor kids. Chan’s a mooch! But that’s taking the book in the wrong light. So the lesson is, forget about the “plot” or you’ll ruin the book. It’s not meant to be read for the plot. It’s really about introducing the readers to 11 different cultures, the greeting in each language, goodbye in each language, and one cultural food dish. It’s also meant to show that despite the differences, the kids from different cultures can be friends and have similar interests too. I like it for both of those aspects, and for the broad variety of countries chosen to be represented. The formulaic pattern to Chan’s visits help readers quickly recognize the similarities and differences between cultures. And I really appreciated the vocabulary guide on each page with pronunciation helps. A decent book to pick if your goal is to introduce kids to a variety of cultures. Not the best book if you’re just looking for a good story.

A little boy moves from China to. . . somewhere else, it’s never said, but it must surely be a fantasy land, since everyone on the block is from a different country and they all get along.
The first thing you see is him waving at you from his front door; notice the cat is also waving. From there he goes from house to house meeting other kids, none of which are in school and all let strangers in despite their parents being at work. After each “day in the life” of kids from other cultures there are a few words in the language of the new friend, mostly “hello,” “goodbye,” and food. Bosnia, Indonesia, Poland, Afghanistan, Turkey, Belgium, Suriname, England, South Africa, and Italy are all represented.
It’s really simplistic, but I suppose for this age group it’s to be expected. It’s formulaic to the point where in every story they say hi, play, get tired, and eat, so it might get a little boring.

Chan is living in a new country and he wants to meet his neighbours. He is hoping to make some friends. Every friend he meets is from a different country including England, South Africa, Afghanistan, Italy and more. This is a great book to teach about the multi-culturalism in communities. The children teach each other how to say hello and good-bye. They also share their favourite foods from their native countries. There is a mini dictionary entry on each page showing the native words used, what they mean and how to pronounce them. Chan also finds out what all his new friends' parents do for a living. This is a great book to use when learning about other countries. It would be a great one to use to introduce that unit. It could also be used when learning about community helpers and jobs. This is a great jumping off point before doing research projects or presentations on heritage. The students will love ending this unit with a heritage lunch showcasing their favourite foods.

Chan is a sweet boy from China who is interested in the new friends that he will find on his street. Each day he travels to a new door with the hopes of meeting a new neighbor--and he does! His neighbors come from Bosnia, Indonesia, Poland, Italy, Afghanistan, Turkey, England, Belgium, Suriname, and South Africa. With each introduction the reader learns a few words in the native language of the child ("Hello", "Goodbye" and the name and description of their favorite food).
This is a sweet book to introduce a few new cultures to your children. Something that might be fun if you read this book frequently would be to try some of the foods that the children mention as their favorite.

I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for my unbiased review.

I love the concept and the organization of this book. I so appreciate the access it gives to children who have made the United States their new home, while bringing unique narratives with them that they share through their food and clothing and the stories that fill their hearts. I like the vocabulary. The only critique I have is, that it seems that almost every single legal immigrant family portrayed, were upper middle class. That felt almost forced and purposeful to me, perhaps with good intent in balancing the stereotypical threads that might currently exist. I think having several families who were working class, would offer more kids who are looking in the mirror, a more accurate reflection. I think that it would also offer those children looking through a window, a realistic foundation to build empathy and more critical conceptions about diversity upon. I love the title. I love the numbers and urban setting and how the end papers support the whole.

Chow Mein and Potstickers is a wonderfully diverse book that teaches children how alike they are no matter skin tone or place of birth.

Chan is a little boy from China that has moved to a new country and is looking to learn more about his new environment and neighbors. Many of his neighbors are immigrants too, and each neighbor has a unique story they relate to Chan explaining where they originate from and what they enjoy doing. Chan discovers he has a lot in common with his neighbors and picks up some new vocabulary from each of his neighbors in their own native language.

Such a wonderful book for the age range that highlights a person's uniqueness as well as similarities.

When I was a child, in Los Angeles, I had friends from many countries, and nationalities. And like Chan in this book, it was fun to find out how to say things in different languages and eat different food. This is a great teaching book, about different cultures, as well as just a fun book to learn different ways to say hello and good bye.

What is sad, is that in the current state of affairs in America, we are trying to keep our children from this kind of education, by keeping people out.

This book was translated form the Dutch, and I would love to believe that they are more inclusive.

Good book for libraries, and for home. A lot of fun, and bright colors.

Now if only we can recreate Chan's international street more often.


Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.