I am a big fan of PJO and this was my first book from his Rick Riordan presents series.

Stacey Lee created a bunch of very diverse complex characters. Winston and his family is dealing with the aftermath of his father's death and how grief creates strangers amongst family. His relationships with his mother and sisters is his primary focus, feeling as if he needs to step up in his father's place.

Winston Chu vs the Whimsies is fun and whimsical- the titular character himself is one that you root for. I have been reading a lot of Chinese mythology retellings and this book brings in a lot of the mythology and superstitions in a way that my students would enjoy.

This is a book that I would definitely recommend to all my students and I am very excited for this book to hit the shelves.

A new Rick Riordan presents book focuses on Winston Chu. He is trying to be good at culinary academy to keep the peace with his mom when he inadvertently stops a robbery at Mr. Pang's shop of whimsies. He is told he can pick any item he wants, but the first thing he touches is what he gets. He accidentally picks up a broom (and gets the dustpan too). Soon things start disappearing and Winston realizes he got more than he bargained for.

Not my favorite of the Rick Riordan presents books I've read, but a solid middle grade book!

Thank you to #NetGalley, Disney Publishing Worldwide, and Rick Riordan Presents for allowing me the opportunity to read a digital ARC of Winston Chu vs. The Whimsies by Stacey Lee. This middle grade novel will be published February 7, 2023. All opinions are my own.

In this reimagining of a classic Chinese folktale, 12-year-old Winston Chu must learn to think before he he acts. The story begins with him accidentally thwarting a robbery at Mr. Pang's Whimsies, an oddities shop in Chinatown. As a reward, Winston gets to select an oddity. He's warned that the first thing he touches will be his reward. In an attempt to capture a bird that flew into the store, Winston picks up a broom and dustpan and they become his prize. He soon learns that the pair are enchanted and house the spirits of the Cloud Weaver and Cowherd from the folktales his father used to read to him. After bring the broom and dust pan home, things and people start to disappear. Winston and his friends will have to break into Mr. Pang's to save the day.

I very much wanted to love this book. I really enjoy mythology and learning about other cultures, myths, and folktales through the Rick Riordan Presents Imprint. That being said, this book just fell short for me. I'm not familiar with the Cowherd and Cloud Weaver fable and the story is never fully explained in the novel. Additionally, I felt many of the characters were underdeveloped and the story had a tendency to bounce around leaving me feeling lost.

I liked the idea of the whimsies and the odd magical combinations they held. I wish this would have been explained and explored more fully. I did enjoy Not-Coco (you'll get it if you read the book) and that the book focused on Winston's family and the lasting effects of the death of his father. I do think there was supposed to be a theme about forgiveness and mourning somewhere in there, but it wasn't as fully formed as it could have been.

Overall, this is an okay story that had so much potential and that I badly wanted to like, but the story fell flat and I found I had to force myself to finish the book. There were some solid jokes that made me laugh, but I would have enjoyed the book more if there had been more explanation of the original folktale, additional character development, and stronger world-building.

I was given an advanced copy of this book for the following honest review.

I really wanted to like this book. Desperately wanted to enjoy it. But I couldn't. The story follows Winston Chu, a middle-schooler in San Francisco, and his friends as they search for his baby sister who has been taken by the mischievous Mr. Pang and his Whimsies. The overall idea of the story was fun and something I thought my students would enjoy. The execution needed work.

This story relies on the reader being familiar with the Cowherd and Dreamer Chinese fable (I was not). The fable is not fully explained, so I was confused about why things were happening most of the time. A little more explanation at the start of the book (like when Coco is looking at the book. Have Mom read it to her so the reader knows the story too) would have gone a long way.

The story focuses solely on Winston, but I would have liked to see more of the other characters including his sister Phillippa.

I found myself not really wanting to read this book the further I got into it, but I was committed to finish it. The writing is very heavy on figurative language and that gets in the way of the reading. A metaphor and simile here and there are great and can add to the story, but it felt like there was one every other sentence. Passages of this book would be helpful when teaching figurative language--examples of the different types and how to not use them.

Overall, this story had a lot of potential. Some of the jokes were funny and the original idea was very creative. The cast of characters was distinct, but I would have liked to see more of them and in ways outside of just talking about how terrible Mr. Pang is. I wanted to like this book a lot, but the execution fell short for me and it's one I won't be revisiting.

This was such a fun middle grade fantasy book! I loved Stacey Lee's YA book, The Downstairs Girl, so when I saw that this book was coming out, I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. There was adventure, magic, middle school shenanigans, folklore, interesting family dynamics, a terrific group of friends, a crush, some really hilarious hijinks, and great potential for a sequel. It was just so much fun.

There was a lot (A LOT) going on in this book, so let me highlight a few things that I enjoyed.

- The good guys. Our hero was 12 year old Winston, a typical middle school boy, who was a very relatable main character. He was grounded by impatient, impulsive but logical. He seemed like the middle school boys that my daughter often comes home grumbling about. This book had a very wide cast of characters. Winston's main support groups were his family (his mom, his older sister Phillipa, and his toddler sister Coco) as well as his friends/soccer teammates.

- The whimsies aka enchanted items. This was so cool. Winston discovers Mr. Pang's magical shop of whimsies, and ends up taking home an enchanted broom and dustpan. But there were so many treasures in Mr. Pang's shop! So many peculiar things such as far seeing eyeballs, kicking boots, a dancing cactus that came to life when Ariana Grande's name was mentioned, a were-bear, truth telling eggs, unicorn pinatas, and so much more. It was so incredibly imaginable and vivid.

- The bad guys. The bad guys weren't that bad. Or were they? Who were the bad guys? It actually wasn't clear and I love it when things aren't always black and white. There were a lot of hidden complexities and motives woven in.

- The setting. Living in the Bay Area and working in San Francisco, I love any book that takes place in San Francisco! From Chinatown to Fisherman's Wharf, to Golden Gate Park, to the SF Peninsula, the setting was a delight.

- The folklore. I wasn't familiar with the Cloud Weaver and the Cowherd but I loved that this story incorporated that myth into the plot.

- The soccer references. You don't have to be a soccer fan to get the references but since I read this during the World Cup and while my own daughter was going through club soccer tryouts, it was fun to see soccer get so much limelight.

- Not-Coco. You'll understand when you read it. I don't want to give anything away. But Not-Coco was a highlight.

I know the 6th graders in my book club would adore this book! Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for a chance to read it ahead of time and review it!

In Winston Chu vs. the Whimsies, Winston and his friends stumble upon a peculiar store that seemingly appeared out of nowhere one day. The store is filled with magical objects ranging from a ukulele that can calm people when played to a canoe that can float in the air. In the store Winston accidentally touches the most boring, normal objects: an old broom and dustpan. Mr. Pang(the owner of the store) forces him to take the broom and dustpan as a parting gift and Winston doesn't think much of it until peculiar things start happening like his most beloved items going missing and his little sister seemingly turning into a completely different person...? Winston and his friends take on the challenge to confront Mr. Pang and find out who is really at fault for Winston's missing items.
I thought this middle grade novel was extremely cute and refreshing. I loved reading about Winston and his friends and all of the different situations that they found themselves in together. I loved Winston's older sister Philippa and all of the other characters that help Winston out along the way. I thought a few of the magical items were literal genius like the Peeps standing guard and the eggs of truth; I don't know how Stacey Lee does it. I LOVED the cultural references to the Rainbow Connection and Ariana Grande. I'm not usually a person that particularly likes cultural references but I thought both of those were used SO WELL. My only qualm with this book was that I felt like the beginning dragged a bit too much and then the climax and the conclusion flew by. I felt like nothing was concluded and I feel like there were definitely a few pieces that could have easily been better concluded with an extra paragraph or two. Otherwise I thought this story was really fun and I would definitely read more like it in the future!

I wanted to enjoy this but was overly unimpressed with the relationships, the dynamic, and the plot felt convoluted.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for letting me review this book. This was a fun read and another great mythology book! I liked how Winston and his friends didn’t let anyone or anything stand in their way. This definitely makes me want to read more about Chinese myths!

This was such a well written book, I didn't know the Chinese myth that this was based on so I looked it up after reading this. Stacey Lee has a great style of telling a good story, I enjoyed getting to know the characters in it and was excited going from chapter to chapter. I was invested in the use of magic and it does such a great job in telling the story that needed to be told. I enjoyed the way Stacey Lee wrote this and look forward to more from her.

"So that’s how the magic was done? Our faces stared back at us through the windows of the machine, which shone under the recessed ceiling lights like the prized car in a dealership. “It allowed me to put the spirits of Cloud Weaver and Cowherd into their earthly vessels. Sure, that slows them down somewhat, but at least the Mother can’t get them if they’re inside.”

This was such a fun middle grade novel! I cannot wait to pass this along to the kids in our library!

Another wonderful and fanciful entry in the Rick Riordan Presents series. I love what this imprint does in terms of bringing awareness to stories from around the world, and Stacey Lee writes engagingly in this book. Recommended for young readers (and older readers who have come to know and love the world of Riordan).

This is a good addition to the Riordan Reads. I found it a little awkward but did enjoy the Whimsies and the way the family supports each other.

I recently read The Luck of the Titanic and was thrilled to see that Stacy Lee wrote a MG novel! This story was amazing. It had everything we would expect from a great Disney-esque story. I loved the Chinese folk lore and the Whimsie shop was a lot of fun.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the digital ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions expressed are completely my own.

Thank you, Disney Publishing Worldwide, Rick Riordan Presents, for allowing me to read Winston Chu vs. the Whimsies early!

This is the sort of level of fun and craftsmanship I expect from this imprint's catalogue. Winston Chu vs. the Whimsies delivered a compelling and hilarious adventure, I couldn't stop reading.

I received an eARC so I could review this book. Thank you for the opportunity.

Winston is trying to take a pie home when it flies out of his hands, just in time to thwart a burglary at a very, very strange shop....and then, things start happening. This new entry in the Rick Riordan Presents series, like the others, does an amazing job of updating folklore/legends to a contemporary setting and will be enjoyable for children-and fantasy/mythology loving adults. This is a highly recommended book in a highly recommended series.