Tea with Milk

TEA WITH MILK

By Allen Say

 

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Say, Allen. (1999). TEA WITH MILK. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN 978-0-547-
       237473.
      

PLOT SUMMARY:

Tea with Milk, is the story of Say's parents Masako and Joseph. Masako was born near San Francisco and lived there until she graduated from high school. After graduating, her parents were homesick and decided to move back to Japan. Masako, or May (her American name), was considered a foreigner and didn't fit in. She had hopes of going to college but returned to high school in Japan to learn traditional things such as flower arranging, calligraphy, and the tea ceremony, that she didn't learn in California. After her mother meets with a matchmaker and plans an arranged marriage, May decides to plan her own life. She goes to the city and finds a job running an elevator in a department store. When an English speaking family needs help communicating and getting directions, May is able to guide them. May is promoted to working with the customers that speak English. In her new position she meets a young businessman that is Japanese but was raised by English foster parents. They become friends and discovered that they both grew up drinking tea with milk and sugar. When Joseph is transferred to another city, they decide to marry and start a new home together.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS:

Tea with Milk not only shows Say’s family history, but it also shows his mother’s dual cultural identity and how difficult it can be to be from two cultures but not fully of either one. In the beginning of the book, May eats a breakfast of rice, miso soup, and plain green tea while her friends have pancakes, muffins, and tea with milk and sugar. At home, her parents call her Ma-chan, which is short for Masako, and speak to her in Japanese. Everyone else speaks to her in English and calls her May. The first illustration shows a very young May standing in front of a traditional American home, flying an American flag. She is wearing western style little girls’ clothing. The next illustration shows a grown Masako transferred to Japan, wearing a traditional kimono and standing in a drafty, paper Japanese home. She is completely unhappy.

Now that she is in Japan, her plans for college are put on the backburner as she must attend high school again in order to learn Japanese. The other students call her gaijin which means “foreigner” and nobody will speak to her in English. She is also instructed in the womanly arts of Japan such as flower arranging, calligraphy, and the tea ceremony. One picture shows May kneeling in traditional dress learning about the tea ceremony with an older gentleman who is also dressed in traditional clothing. Her mother even hires a matchmaker to find her a good husband from a good family. She rebels against her parents and their traditional ways. She puts on her brightest, western-style dress and departs on her own for the big city of Osaka. The illustrations show the Japanese people in a very realistic way—almost like photographs. Their hair styles, color, clothing, eye color and skin color all reflect the Japanese culture of the time period. The more western-style clothing and architecture of Osaka are also represented.

May applies for a job at a department store and is actually thankful for the calligraphy lessons as she fills out the application. She is hired as an elevator girl. Her mother would not be happy as she believed that “it was shameful for ladies to work.” When she has an opportunity to assist an English-speaking family, she is promoted for her language skills. She becomes the store guide for businessmen. This is how she eventually meets Joseph, her future husband. He is a perfect match for her—raised in the west and speaks English! The picture that shows them at their first meeting in a restaurant also shows another couple. The other woman in the picture is wearing a traditional Japanese kimono and covers her mouth in modesty. Joseph finds out he is being transferred to Yokohama and wants May to join him and start their own life together and build their own home. The last picture shows a very happy couple who would marry and become the parents of Allen Say.  

AWARDS:

Riverbank Review Book of Distinction
Bulletin Blue Ribbon
SLJ Best Book
ALA Notable Book

REVIEWS:

Publishers Weekly:  “Say's masterfully executed watercolors tell as much of this story about a young woman's challenging transition from America to Japan as his eloquent, economical prose. Raised near San Francisco, Masako (her American friends called her May) is uprooted after high school when her parents return to their Japanese homeland. In addition to repeating high school to learn Japanese, she must learn the arts of a "proper Japanese lady" flower arranging, calligraphy and the tea ceremony, and is expected to marry well. Declaring "I'd rather have a turtle than a husband," the independent-minded Masako heads for the city of Osaka and gets a job in a department store. With his characteristic subtlety, Say sets off his cultural metaphor from the very start, contrasting the green tea Masako has for breakfast in her home, with the "tea with milk and sugar" she drinks at her friends' houses in America. Later, when she meets a young Japanese businessman who also prefers tea with milk and sugar to green tea, readers will know that she's met her match. Say reveals on the final page that the couple are his parents. Whether the subject is food ("no more pancakes or omelets, fried chicken or spaghetti" in Japan) or the deeper issues of ostracism (her fellow students call Masako "gaijin" A foreigner) and gender expectations, Say provides gentle insights into human nature as well as East-West cultural differences. His exquisite, spare portraits convey emotions that lie close to the surface and flow easily from page to reader: with views of Masako's slumping posture and mask-like face as she dons her first kimono, or alone in the schoolyard, it's easy to sense her dejection. Through choice words and scrupulously choreographed paintings, Say’s story communicates both the heart’s yearning for individuality and freedom and how love and friendship can bridge cultural chasms.”

School Library Journal: “[A] thoughtful and poignant book that will appeal to a wide range of readers.”

Kirkus Reviews: “ In describing how his parents met, Say continues to explore the ways that differing cultures can harmonize; raised near San Francisco and known as May everywhere except at home, where she is Masako, the child who will grow up to be Say's mother becomes a misfit when her family moves back to Japan. Rebelling against attempts to force her into the mold of a traditional Japanese woman, she leaves for Osaka, finds work as a department store translator, and meets Joseph, a Chinese businessman who not only speaks English, but prefers tea with milk and sugar, and persuades her that ``home isn't a place or a building that's ready-made or waiting for you, in America or anywhere else.'' Painted with characteristic control and restraint, Say's illustrations, largely portraits, begin with a sepia view of a sullen child in a kimono, gradually take on distinct, subdued color, and end with a formal shot of the smiling young couple in Western dress.”

 

CONNECTIONS:

Other books by Say:

Say, Allen. 1993. GRANDFATHER'S JOURNEY. Houghton Mifflin/Walter Lorraine Books. ISBN-13: 978-0395570357

Say, Allen. 1998. STRANGER IN THE MIRROR. Houghton Mifflin/Walter Lorraine Books. ISBN-13: 978-0395938836

Say, Allen. 1989. THE BICYCLE MAN. Houghton Mifflin/Walter Lorraine Books.
 ISBN-13: 978-0395506523

Say, Allen. 2005. KAMISHIBAI MAN. Houghton Mifflin/Walter Lorraine Books.
 ISBN-13: 978-0618479542

Lesson plans: http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/04/lp340-03.shtml

Information about the author: http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/authors/allensay/author.shtml