The Year of the Rat

The Year of the Rat
Grace Lin

My Rating: 4 out of 5

Genre: Fiction (Multicultural Literature)

The Year of the Rat is the sequel to Grace Lin's award winning, The Year of the Dog. In this story, Pacy is celebrating the Chinese New Year with her family and her best friend, Melody. Pacy and Melody learn that the Year of the Rat means that it is going to be a year of changes. The first change Pacy encounters is the possibility of her best friend moving away, then struggles with continuing with her life-long dream of being a writer and illustrator, and even learns that she has flaws of her own that she needs to change. In this novel, Pacy is forced to deal with prejudice, struggles with acceptance and learns to accept the changes that are inevitable.

Although I have never read The Year of the Dog, I really liked Lin's The Year of the Rat. I enjoyed all of the "stories within the story" which explained many traditions in Chinese culture; bringing a deeper understanding to some of the situations the characters face in the book. Students in fifth through eighth grade will easily enjoy this book, relating to some of the issues that Pacy has to face, while learning some interesting things about Chinese culture.