When a girl visits her grandmother in Chinatown, she likes to show her how to dress a Barbie, and GninGnin shows her how to make rice dumplings. But one day she joins GninGnin at work at the crab chong, or factory, and sees another side of GninGnin's life. Laboring from sun up to sundown, GninGnin cracks crabs till she is exhausted - earning only enough for bus fare, a fish for dinner, and a bit left over to help her grandchild go to college. And so the girl comes to truly appreciate what her GninGnin's life is like.
Lenore Look's touching story is based on her own childhood memories, and sensitively illustrated in Caldecott Honor medalist Stephen T. Johnson's exquisite pastels.
