Kai’s Tea Eggs

In many children’s picture books, authors have represented activities associated with food—its growth, preparation, and consumption—as a way to explore various themes pertaining to family and community. In recent years, numerous picture books with Asian characters have explored the significance of food within their respective communities’ specific cultural contexts and collective histories. These include Gillian Sze’s My Love for You Is Always, Flo Leung’s The Tray of Togetherness, and Anne-Marie Fortin’s My Delicious Garden, among others, each of which address the importance of food in affirming communal bonds and their mutual sense of shared resilience within Asian-specific cultural contexts.

Told from the third-person perspective, Karina Zhou’s Kai’s Tea Eggs is a sensitively told story about a young Chinese girl named Kai who learns more about her family’s heritage and geographical roots, through which she gains a better appreciation about who she is. The story reflects a progression of Kai’s self-development from her feelings of uncertainty and fear about being different from her peers towards a positive mindset of excitement and acceptance of her cultural heritage as a unique part of her identity. In contrast to picture books that may focus more on the positive aspects of food, Zhou’s work addresses Kai’s feelings about being different from her classmates and concern about what they will think about her mother’s Chinese cuisine. Framed by the upcoming Multicultural Day in Kai’s school, the book begins with Kai’s feelings of discomfort and trepidation about bringing her family’s Chinese food to school, feelings which prompt her to run away in order to escape her feelings of embarrassment. However, the appearance of a Chinese dragon named Ming helps Kai to acquire more positive perceptions of herself.

As picture books have limited space for narrative development, there may be a tendency to simplify complex issues for a young audience out of necessity or due to the author’s personal choice. In a sense, Kai’s Tea Eggs is a fairly straightforward narrative that moves towards an optimistic resolution around Kai’s feelings about her heritage. However, this book exemplifies how authors, despite the spatial limitations of the picture book genre, can effectively explore sensitive topics with personal resonance without diluting their psychological and emotional complexity. The narrative unfolds in a realistic manner that does not feel forced or rushed and works towards a satisfying resolution for Kai’s situation. Even after her journey with Ming, Kai still feels nervous the next day when she brings her mother’s food to school, revealing how her self-doubt persists and does not simply disappear overnight. Instead, Kai feels relieved and happy only after her classmates compliment her and apologize for their previous comments about her Chinese food.

Complementing each other, the book’s text and illustrations enhance the narrative’s impact by drawing readers into Kai’s perspective and conveying her emotional state. The story will appeal to readers of all backgrounds as everyone, regardless of their background, can identify with feeling different, standing out, and wanting to fit in. Evoking a sense of intimacy with Kai, these illustrations will elicit readers’ sympathy and identification with her experiences, even if the readers do not share her Asian heritage.

For example, one page’s three-panel illustration conveys the progression of Kai’s reaction towards her mother’s eagerness about cooking some cuisine for the class’s Multicultural Day. In the first panel, Kai looks preoccupied and picks silently at her bowl of food while her mother looks at her. In the second panel, Kai tosses away her chopsticks and shouts, “No!”, the loudness of which is accentuated by the word’s appearance in big black letters above Kai’s head. In the final panel, Kai has left the table where her bowl of food remains uneaten and toppled over. The following page’s illustrations further conveys Kai’s frustration as the phrase “No! No! No!” appears in big, red, capital letters with purple zigzag lines encircling them, punctuating the white space behind Kai as she leaves the kitchen. Adjacent to this page are close-up images of Kai’s feet as she runs away, images which convey a sense of urgency and focus on her desire to escape.

Other illustrations will further encourage readers to identify and sympathize with Kai’s situation. Early on in the narrative, a classmate makes a face at Kai’s food while his friend chuckles beside him, a facial expression which contrasts with the distress shown on Kai’s face and the frown of her classmate beside her. She feels inadequate and does not want to stand out, and this scene sets up the narrative for the subsequent scenes when Kai informs her mother about the Multicultural Day. In another scene, the illustration shows the dragon Ming and Kai sitting on a park bench with Ming listening sympathetically to Kai while she mentions that she does not want to be different from her classmates.

In contrast to these scenes, the latter half of the book evokes a sense of joy around experiencing Chinese culture and history, something which readers will gain insight into through Kai’s eyes after Ming transports her to a small town in China. During her time there, Kai becomes immersed in Chinese culture and history as she watches a lion dance, rides a dragon boat in a race, and eats numerous Chinese delicacies. The illustrations’ vivid colours, bold lines and onomatopoeic captions convey the excitement and dynamism of the lion dance and dragon boat race. Similarly, the bright colours and attention to detail both enhance the realism of the Chinese foods that Zhou conveys through her drawings, such as in the illustration of a rice dish wrapped in bamboo leaves. As part of this experience, Ming encourages Kai to help with preparing a delicious meal. In one illustration, Kai rushes into the kitchen eagerly with some ingredients. Through these experiences, Kai learns to be proud of her heritage as it’s an integral part of who she is and connects her with her family and predecessors. As Ming emphasizes to her, family is the most significant aspect that is at the root of Chinese culture, and it is family which brings everyone together through the passing down of traditions and cultural practices.

After returning home, Kai feels more comfortable with herself and confident with sharing her food with her classmates. Although she still harbours some doubts about how they will react, her classmates praise her for the delicious food. One of the book’s closing scenes parallels a scene earlier in the book as it includes the same boy and friend who have made fun of Kai’s food. In contrast to the earlier scene, however, the boy apologizes for his previous comments and says that he likes the food. The book closes with a nighttime scene in which the dragon Ming sleeps with his tail wrapped around Kai’s house, symbolizing Kai’s acceptance of her cultural heritage.

Zhou reveals her book’s autobiographical influence in an article from BC BookLook, a resource that focuses on British Columbia’s literary culture. Reflecting on her experiences growing up, Zhou mentions how she has found it challenging to cope with feeling different. Echoing her character Kai’s feelings, Zhou mentions, “I felt embarrassed whenever I brought my Chinese food to school.” Through Kai’s Tea Eggs, Zhou conveys optimism and hope for readers by demonstrating, via Kai, that, regardless of the situations in which they find themselves, they do not need to compromise who they are in order to belong and fit in. Indeed, the book extolls the value of cultural differences in shaping everyone’s uniqueness and their potential in bringing people together through the mutual sharing of traditions and practices, rather than as something that is negative or that may pull people apart. For readers who would like to try making a Chinese dish, the end of the book includes a recipe with easy-to-follow steps for making tea eggs.

The publisher has categorized the book for children who are between three to seven years of age. However, its subject matter could be better appreciated by a slightly older audience who can reflect on and discuss the issues covered, particularly with respect to the book’s exploration of what it is like to be different. Children under the age of five could understand the story on a basic level, but they may not fully comprehend its significance and may need assistance in interpreting it.

Kai’s Tea Eggs will be a valuable addition to libraries that would like to increase the cultural diversity of their picture book collections or, more generally, their collection of Canadian children’s writers who depict the experiences of characters from diverse backgrounds. University and college libraries could also acquire this book to increase their representation of authors of Asian heritage and Asian-themed experiences in literature. Since this book is intended for young readers, teachers can use it as a way to introduce children to Asian culture and as a starting point for discussing what it means to be different, the ways in which these differences are expressed, and how people can provide a welcoming environment that encourages a sense of belonging. Older readers could potentially consider this same topic in terms of the negative impacts that people experience because of their differences and how this may connect with current events. Since the book deals with food, it could stimulate discussion about the types of food that are unique to different communities around the world and the cultural significance attributed to these foods, but also the ways in which these foods may share similarities.

Originally from Surrey, British Columbia, Karina Zhou is a writer and artist who currently studies animation at San Francisco’s California College of the Arts. Kai's Tea Eggs is her first book.