Book Review: The Great Wall of Lucy Wu

Book: The Great Wall of Lucy Wu by Wendy Wan-Long Shang

Rating: 5 stars

Review:

11 years old Lucy Wu loves basketball and even plays on her school's team. She thought this was going to be her best school year ever, now that she was going to be a sixth grader. Not only is she going to try out for the captain of the sixth grade basketball team which will be played against the teachers but she also has plans for her bedroom which thanks to her know it all big sister Regina going off to college means that she would finally get the bedroom to herself.

However, there were quite a few hitches tossed in that would mess up her plan. First, Yi Po, her great-aunt from China will be her new roommate for several months. This is an aunt she had no idea she had because she didn't know her late grandmother had a sister.

Second, while Lucy and her best friend Madison Jameson were getting excited for the upcoming Saturday basketball practices their classmate Talent Chang added another hitch to her perfect school year plan. Talent told Lucy's mom about a Chinese school that will be on Saturdays and unfortunately for Lucy it's at the same time as basketball practice. With her parents eager to have Lucy attend the school her Saturdays are starting to look dreary.

Third, Lucy is being bullied by Sloane Connors to drop out of the run for captain of the sixth grade basketball team. To all the teachers Sloane is little miss sweet and perfect but the students know that she's anything but that. Sloane's horrible bullying tactics are making Lucy start to rethink the idea of even trying out.

In this well written and very touching story, Lucy had to learn that sometimes things don't go according to plan but sometimes it works out even better than you could have imagined.

There was also a generation and cultural gap between Lucy and her aunt initially but what I love is that Lucy's stubbornness to get to know her aunt started to fade as the story went along. Lucy got to know not only a lot about her aunt but about herself as well. She learned an invaluable lesson on the importance of family and friends.

This was a excellent book, that dealt with the highs and lows of Lucy Wu's life that at times made me laugh, upset and even made my eyes mist up a bit. I'm glad I found this book it's a good read through and through.