In Taiwan, having sons is considered good luck. When ten sons are born in the same family, the people of the town take notice and follow these ten brothers in their journey through life. In Ten Little Dumplings, Larissa Fan draws on stories from her father’s childhood, being one of ten sons, as well as a traditional Taiwanese story called “Ten Brothers” to highlight a different perspective. You see these ten brothers also had one sister. One sister, always in the background, excelling and making her way in the world.

One of the beautiful things about this story is the surprise at the end. You read assuming you know what the story is about but then you are gifted a surprise at the end which in turn causes the reader to begin the story again reading it from a different perspective.

This book has a very Madeline quality to me. The beautiful illustrations by Cindy Wume, a Taiwanese illustrator, combined with the words conjured up a Madeline image in my mind. I think it’s the brothers, going everywhere together that I found so familiar.

Ten Little Dumplings is a beautiful Own Voices story. Written and illustrated by two women of Taiwanese descent reminding us to always look for the other perspective, always look for who is missing in the story and look more closely to find them.

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. This is a story about family and being different, yet same.

I requested and received this book from Larissa Fan and Penguin Random House Canada through NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

This was a sweet book. I loved the reveal and the different perspective for the last part of the book. I loved that the author included beliefs from Taiwan in this story loosely based on her father and his siblings.

A cute and interesting take on a mix of traditional folktale and family inspiration. This little book is a subtle challenge to cultural attitudes about gender. I appreciated the author’s note at the end.

Ten Little Dumplings by Larissa Fan is a wonderful and uplifting story based on the true account of a Taiwanese family who were blessed with ten sons, their very own good luck dumplings. Imagine being the lone daughter in such a family, forever in the collective shadow of ten brothers who were so unique that the villagers wrote songs about them. Such is the case for our narrator, who continues to watch, learn, and grow alongside her brothers to become a fully realized and successful person in her own right.

This beautifully illustrated story is truly inspiring, and a reminder that whatever our circumstances, our individual light can never be diminished. Recommended.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Penguin Random House Canada and Tundra Books for the opportunity to read this ARC.