LS 5903 MULTICULTURAL LITERATURE

A. Say, Allen. (written and illustrated by Mr. Say) ALLISON. Boston: Houghton
Mifflin, 1997

B. PLOT SUMMARY:

Allison is a beautiful little girl about 4 years old. She was adopted as a baby girl from either China or Japan, the book is vague about Allison’s homeland. Adoptive Mom looks to be 35-45 and Dad 40-50 years of age. They love Allison very much and have given her a happy middle class life but have never broached the subject of adoption with their daughter. Trouble starts when Allison’s Grandmother sends her a beautiful red and white silk kimono. When Allison’s adoptive parents see her for the first time she has a doll with her. The doll looks like an exquisite minature Geisha with her unnaturally white, white face and rich multicolored silk garments. Allison has always considered her doll to be her real sister. The doll is a constant companion of Allison and the doll is named “Mei Mei” which is the Chinese word for “little sister” or “baby sister.” Allison has the doll even before her new parents make it over for her adoption in early infancy. The unhappiness begins when Allison is looking in the mirror at herself in the kimono. She is holding Mei Mei and when she sees how much she looks like Mei Mei and that she doesn’t favor her parents she becomes upset and withdrawn both at home and at preschool. Her parents tell her how much they love her and that they went to get her when she was a little baby. During lunch Allison is very quite and Allison begins to ask the hard questions. First was where did Mei Mei come from and her Father answers, “Far, far away, from another country.” Daddy is being honest and Allison is getting more and more insecure and upset. Dad then continues, “Mommy and I went there and brought you and Mei Mei home with us.” Then Allison wants to know about her real parents and why they would leave her, why they didn’t want her. She asks about her birth parents. She wants to at least see their picture but her current parents don’t have one. Allison tells her parents that they aren’t her Mommy and Daddy and asks poignantly, “They didn’t want me?” The dialog is realistically painful. The next day at preschool Allison asks her classmate Eric, “Are your daddy’s eyes like your eyes? They’re blue, he said. Do you have a mommy in another country: No, she’s home, replies Eric.” Allison continues “I mean another mommy who gave you away?” Allison comes home angry, hurt, and most upset. She cuts the hair of her Mom’s childhood doll and attacks her Dad’s childhood ball and glove. An adult cat keeps appearing and Allison becomes attached to her and her parents let her adopt the cat and then the story ends happily ever after. A modern fairy tale that is not true to life.

C. CRITICAL ANALYSIS (With Cultural Markers)

Say has outdone himself with the beautiful paintings of Allison and her little doll Mei Mei. The facial expressions and emotions of the characters in the story are very tight and true to life. Hair and eye colors of Allison’s presumably European American parents and Allison herself seem appropriate and authentic.

The problem here is a story that certainly could have happened, but if it had the positive ending would never have come so easily and quickly with all loose ends tied up and hurt erased.

There is still a big debate about whether children of one ethnicity should be allowed to be adopted by parents of another racial background. I don’t think it is an ideal situation but for once I agree with Bill O’Reilly’s about something. His position that there are not enough loving parents to adopt so many children who are ripe for adoption. O’Reilly says gay and lesbian couples, interracial couples and any loving person willing to sacrifice enough to be a good parent should be given the opportunity. He sees that as preferable to a string of foster homes where there is often abuse and motivation can be economic. People are becoming more accepting as a whole I would venture to guess of international and interracial adoption as people like Angelina Jolie, Madonna, and even Senator John McCain have gotten involved in this for both personal and humanitarian reasons.

The story is believable in that a 4 or 5 year old could figure this out and talk to peers and parents about the issue but the story ends too neatly. Allison wants to adopt the kitty and her parents let her. She tells her doll Mei Mei that she will never give her away. All of a sudden from her bedroom Allison screams out, to her parents, Allison is not my real name, what is my real name?

Say is too bright and influential to have made a careless mistake of giving a doll a Chinese name and dressing the doll and Allison in Japanese kimonos. There is some hidden meaning that is not apparent to laypeople or professional reviewers alike.

Finding your place as an Asian Pacific American is an authentic and popular theme so that is in the plus column for the story. Costume is mentioned and displayed but no talk of customs, traditions, geography ever comes up. Wouldn’t most parents have brought a bit of Allison’s culture into her life before now? When having tea parties letting her know how important tea was in her home country would have been a small help. I would hope that considerate and educated parents as Allison’s appear to be in the story would have been reading folktales for Allison’s home country and close environs, that they would have taught her origami or to eat grocery store suishi, at least something.

I find the book to be an enigma. The message is mixed and the quick resolution makes this not very good literature in my eye. Cats are nice but did this cat belong to a neighbor? Why didn’t any one think of that before they promised Allison she could keep this kitty artfully depicted as well fed, actually a bit overweight. Doesn’t everyone know by now that milk is not good for cats. More than a tiny bit gives them an upset stomach. Why didn’t someone offer the cat tuna or something more appropriate? That is the problem with the book overall that too much suspension of belief is necessary. Heartbreak and confusion about adoption, especially with a preschooler can not be “fixed” in 24 to 48 hours as in the book. Did Allison grow to like her name? Why would she accept it without question in the end after she gets upset about it earlier in the story. This would not be a good first, second, or third book about adoption for most children. The biggest harm to a child I think is in the fact that as quickly as Allison gets mad and upset she gets over it. Any child in this situation will deal with fear, wondering why their parents lied to them and this book might give them the message that their anger and emotional upset are not legitimate and that could certainly cause much unnecessary guilt for a child who is simply going through a normal range of emotions. I’m not sure if I would recommend it to an Oriental child being brought up by a Caucasian family or not. The book is full of half of each story and half truths. It is just way too unrealistic for my tastes. Certainly it is a fairy tale that “white” Americans who have adopted children from Asian Pacific homelands wish were true!

D. REVIEW EXCERPTS:

School Library Journal says,
“The conclusion is abrupt and somewhat contrived. One can't help wondering, too, why Allison don't already know about her past if she is surrounded by cultural reminders and why her parents don't respond to her pain with immediate physical and verbal warmth and comfort. The compelling artwork will surely attract attention.. However, for first choices that combine honesty with reassurance, try Karen Katz's Over the Moon: An Adoption Tale (Holt, 1997) or Fred Rogers's Lets Talk About It: Adoption (Putnam, 1995).?Wendy Lukehart, Dauphin County Library, Harrisburg,

Kirkus review states, “A stray cat who has been hanging around their house provides Allison with another--albeit unstated--view of adoption and she cheers up enough to rejoin her family. Say masterfully captures Allison's expressions: She is surprised, wounded, sullen, hurt and hurtful, and finally reassured. He addresses the dark side of an adoptive child's feelings carefully, and while the resolution is a bit convenient (and may require interpretation for younger children), it still carries truth.”

REVIEWS ACCESSED AT :

http://www.amazon.com/Allison-Allen-Say/dp/0618495371/ref=dp_return_1/103-7575722-4136600?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books&qid=1185504751&sr=1-1

E. CONNECTIONS:

Ed Young’s MY MEI MEI is the story of adopting a young child from China. It is also in picturebook format. It would be a delicate decision about which book to follow or use in place of ALLISON if you were a teacher or parent in a similar circumstance. There are several Reference books on Bibliotherapy. That is the volume I would reach for next. In a perfect world one would reach for that volume first.