Say, Allen. 1999. Tea with milk. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. ISBN: 0-395-90495-1.
Tea With Milk shows the experience of what it is like to be bicultural. May (or Masako) was born in the United States. Her parents were immigrants from Japan. At home, she learned aspects of Japanese culture (they spoke to her in Japanese 4.) But everyone else�everywhere else�called her May. She learned English. She spoke English. She ate American food. She dressed in American clothes. She thought of herself as American. At home she had rice and miso soup and plain green tea for breakfast. At her friends' houses she ate pancakes and muffins and drank tea with milk and sugar (4). She grows up in America. She graduates from highschool.
As May is preparing to enter college in America, her parents decide to return (with her) to Japan because they are tired of being treated as foreigners. May, of course, did not want to go to Japan and leave her home. Once they arrived in Japan, she felt even worse. Her new home was drafty, with windows made of paper. She had to wear kimonos and sit on floors until her legs went numb. No one called her May, and Masako sounded like someone else's name. There were no more pancakes or omelets, fried chicken or spaghetti (6). May also had to attend high school all over again so she could learn Japanese. At school, no one wanted to be her friend because she was a foreigner. They saw her as an American�not as Japanese. Her struggles continue when her parents try to arrange a marriage for her. She just does not want to take on the role of a proper Japanese lady. She wants to be an American. She wants to have the freedom to work, the freedom to drive a car, and the freedom to choose her own husband. So she runs away from home and finds a job in the city. After working a while at a store, she discovers her talent. She becomes a tour guide for businessmen who speak English. She meets a young man, and they fall in love. On their first date, she notices that he drinks his tea with milk and sugar. They court for awhile, and then they decide to marry and make their own home together�in any country they come to live.
The book ends very sweetly, So they were married in Yokohama and made a home there. I was their first child. My father called my mother May, but to everyone else she was Masako. At home they spoke English to each other and Japanese to me. Sometimes my mother wore a kimono, but she never got used to sitting on the floor for very long. All this happened a long time ago, but even today I always drink my tea with milk and sugar (32).
The illustrations (by Say) are wonderful. They are exquisitely wonderful. May's expressions throughout the book are very complimentary to the text. One can see the distaste and unhappiness on her face when she returns to Japan. One can see the happiness and joy on her face as she finds her real identity and where she does truly belong. The illustrations are perfect for the text, and vice versa. Say does an excellent job with both.
I loved this book. I have read it many times. It is a favorite of mine that I keep returning to. I think it is a perfect example of how a person can feel trapped between two cultures.
Culture Five focuses on Asian American literature for children and young adults. Selected readings were as follows: