Gigi and Ojiji

This level three I Can Read book was both written and illustrated by Iwai, and is a delightful story of getting to know a family member who has a different cultural background. Gigi is exuberant in her plans for her grandfather, and utterly crushed when they don't work out. Young people often have high expectations for new experiences that often aren't met; I remember that my daughter was so excited to get braces... until she realized how much they hurt! This would be a great book to read to a child who was going to meet a grandparent for the first time, but is also just a fun story to read.

I was such a big fan of I Can Read books as a child, and would reread piles of them. I enjoyed finding details in the pictures that weren't mentioned in the text, and the books were simple enough that I could read them to my younger brother as well. I would have loved looking at the details of Gigi's drawings or her room, and would have flipped through to find different pictures of Rufus, the dog, so I could compare his facial expressions. There is a great list of a few Japanese words at the back, and I probably would have practiced saying those and used them with my family. There are a lot of elements that make I Can Read books successful, and Iwai incorporates all of my favorites.

It's good for young readers to see different perspectives, and to understand that not everyone is exactly that same. Read Gigi and Ojiji along with Pomerantz's The Outside Dog, where a girl and her grandfather disagree about a dog in Puerto Rico, Hall's Carla and the Christmas Cornbread, where a girl and her grandmother have a misunderstanding about baking, and Lilly's Let Me Fix You a Plate, where a girl visits two different sides of her family for celebrations.