I really enjoyed this story. It is the tale of Ming, a Chinese immigrant living in America in the 1930's. She longs to belong and to have a Christmas tree as beautiful as the one in a department store.
Ming's mother is against having a tree so Ming's father takes her on a trip to the mountains to see family members.
It is nice to have a different take on a Christmas story and the colour and illustrations are very pleasing to the eye
I would definitely pick this up in a bookstore.

At the beginning of the story, Ming is concerned with being left out of the school Christmas choir, but her focus quickly shifts to the goal of having a Christmas tree. To her, a Christmas tree is her gateway to being included and being seen as more American. Her very traditional mother pushes back on the idea, and while her she is meant to seem traditional, the illustration of her is a bit too stereotypical to me, bordering on racist. This is very concerning. The rest of the book is actually very pleasant. The time Ming spends with her father and their family friends help her find peace with her Chinese identity and find a way to reconcile that with their American life. Unfortunately, the visual portrayal of her mother totally ruined this book for me and I would not buy or recommend it.

This review is based on digitial review copy provided by NetGalley and Shadow Mountain Publishing. The review is cross-posted to Goodreads and Instagram.

If I happen to touch this book in the bookstore, I wouldn't leave it behind.
For all the wrong and the right reasons.


The 'wrong' reasons being that the cover is so beautiful (don't look at that compressed picture here ☺️; the actual cover is made to lure you and me and it works!); the illustrations inside is more captivating (leave alone the kids. The adult me who pretends to buy such books for kids will be happy to just flip the pages of this book everyday, especially after a day of hard work and need some Winter peace) and even if there are no kids to read out loud this book too, I would get it for myself.

The 'right' reasons being the characters and the story!

1930s.

This is the story of a Chinese immigrant family in America in which the daughter, Ming, really wants to celebrate the season with a Christmas tree trying her best to convince her mother to give her the permission to get one.

But yes, when one parent (especially if it's the mom!) disagrees, it becomes really difficult.

The discrimination faced my immigrants and the mix feelings of not belonging either to the place of origin nor to the place where they gets settled are presented well in this story.

Ming gets to travel with her Pop to a far off place and gets to return back home with her dreams fulfilled. Happy ending, happy vibes!

Beautiful illustrations (I guess I made my point before too ☺️).

I would have loved the story more if there was a closure part with the mom.

It's still perfect by the way.


Thank you NetGalley for the advanced reader copy.

The book is so cute, I loved the story and I loved the illustrations they’re soo cute and beautiful.
This story is about Ming a girl who live in California but has parent immigrants from China.
She doesn't feel like she fits in.
In school she wants to sing carols but don’t let her because were she’s from and at home she wants to have a Christmas tree as the one she sees everywhere on the streets and stores but her mom doesn't let her because it’s not a tradition so she feels bad.
Until one day her dad take her to see an old friends and find out more about her past.
Just loved it, and I think is perfect for the children

Ming's Christmas Wishes is an adorably fun children's book!

This is such a lovely tale about family during Christmas time. All Ming wants for Christmas is for her family to have a Christmas tree. This is not what her Mother wants since it is not a Chinese tradition. Along the way, Ming learns how to blend traditions.

The illustrations are absolutely gorgeous and make this feel like the whimsical Christmas tale it is supposed to be. The colours are very rich, which really stood out to me as a reader. I loved the entire style of these illustrations and hope to see more of the illustrator in the future.

Four out of five stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Shadow Mountain Publishing for providing me a free copy of this book in exchange of an honest review.

Beautiful Illustrations, Mixed Messages

Let me start by saying that the illustrations in this book are absolutely gorgeous. I particularly loved ones towards the back of the book when Ming and her father went to the mountain to visit an old family friend and then visited a redwood forest. I lived in the redwoods for 10 years, and the artist did a great job of capturing these majestic trees look like, showing the otherworldly feel of a redwood forest at times. Some other illustrations, like the interior of the cabin in the woods, are very intricate. But I'm not sure about the book's messages. While I am not a first-generation American, I could feel for Ming when she doesn't feel accepted at school—not allowed to join the Christmas choir year after year because she's Chinese—but not wholly in tune with her family because her mother strongly resists American culture. To me, the end messages were mixed. While I liked that Ming and her father found a Chinese Pine in a redwood forest and brought it home for their celebration, Ming's father's comments to her just didn't sit right with me. To me, it seems like Ming wants to blend her worlds of school and family—of American culture and her Chinese heritage—together so she feels comfortable with both of them. This doesn't seem unreasonable to me. In fact, I strongly dislike that adults would put a child into the spout that her teacher and her mother put her into. She just wants to belong in both worlds. But in the end, her father states that she pushes too hard. So, is the message that children should just accept everything any adult says just because they’re the adult? Should Ming really have to accept that she cannot be a part of the Christmas choir because she is Chinese? Or that she shouldn't enjoy a Christmas tree, which she sees as so much of part of the American culture she belongs to, because it isn't Chinese and offends her mother? I guess I've grown very accustomed to books that empower children; this book's message seems to be the exact opposite, and that doesn't feel right to me.

Thank you for giving me a chance to read this book beforehand.

Although "unfinished", I enjoy the story, about a little Chinese girl named Ming who didn't fit in her situation. A Chinese in America. I surely can relate, and grateful that nowadays the racism is not as rampant as before, and I can do stuffs that Ming might not be able to.

Ming wants a Christmas tree. Not knowing the meaning of it, kids always attracted to pretty and glowing things. And this story gave an alternative. A good read (and a quick one).

As I browsed Netgalley, this book from Shadow Mountain Publishing caught my eye. The cover illustration is so beautiful and colorful. I wasn’t expecting such a heartwarming story inside. I was only hoping for a cute story to read to my little ones this year, but I received so much more. I cannot speak to the cultural accuracy, but it is a story of generations. And did I mention to illustrative artwork is stunningly beautiful? I can’t wait to get a final copy to read at Christmas time this year and to learn more about the culture with my little ones.

What a beautiful book, both in the meaning and in the illustrations! This book has many lessons and drawings to explore. It is perfect to use in discussion of family traditions.

I'm not sure that my elementary students would check it out but a classroom teacher could definitely use this in lessons.

#MingsChristmasWishes #NetGalley
Beautifully illustrated and written. Ming just wants to fit in at school, she wants to sing Christmas songs in the choir, but is turned away. Ming takes a road trip with her father and learns about her heritage. A sweet story that tells the importance of telling your life story to your children.

Ming wants to participate in Christmas. As the daughter of Chinese immigrants, she is not allowed to sing in the school Christmas choir. But anyone can have a Christmas tree, if only her mother will go along with it. When things don’t go her way, Ming, luckily, has a wise father who helps her understand.

This is a cute Christmas story of family and culture. The illustrations are fantastic and really help to tell the story of this little girl caught between two worlds. I fully enjoyed this sweet story and its insight into what it’s like to be new in a foreign country.

This sweet Children's book talks about balancing trying to fit in with staying true to yourself and your heritage. Ming is a relatable character who just wants to be like everyone else but Ming's dad teaches how to find the balance and stay respectful of your past.

Ming's Christmas Wishes would be a great story to teach different cultures around the holidays as well as a good resource for teaching about staying true to yourself and being different from others.

Ming is upset because she doesn't fit in at school or at home. All she wants is to be a part of Christmas but neither her teacher nor her mother will allow it. Ming then goes on a trip with her father where she learns about her family history. This is a sweet book, and I felt for ming from the first page. Definitely a good read for children as well.

What a sweet story of not fitting in and not understanding why things are done differently in your family to others to then embracing and loving your culture for what it is.

Young Ming really wanted to be just liked everyone else in her school, sing in the choir and decorate a Christmas tree in the house, but that’s not part of her families culture and her mom says no every time. Then her dad takes her on a wonderful trip for her to understand everything.

It was honestly such a sweet book, it had a great lesson within it and great illustrations too.

I received this ebook in exchange for a fair and honest review. This book was a wonderful story that brought the past into the present. Being a child’s book it was short but the author did a great job of explaining the history of this family and we got a glimpse of their beliefs. I will buy this book when it is published and read it for my classes.