Freckled Rice

Stephen C. Ning's "Freckled Rice" also has a roving teen-ager at its center, in this case a 13-year-old Chinese-American boy. Joe (J. P. Wing) and his parents are scheduled to move from Boston's Chinatown to New Hampshire, where his father plans to open a Polynesian restaurant; in the meantime, Joe wanders off to join his older brother, whose Americanized manner has brought about a major rift with his more traditional parents. "Freckled Rice," with a title that means to suggest the conflict of these two cultures, is in both Cantonese and English, and tells its story in a simple and credible manner. - NY Times