EL本棚紹介(36) Mooncakes, by Wendy Xu and Suzanne Walker

[Welcome to the EL Book Introductions series. These posts are all short (<180 words) introductions/reviews of books in the EL library. They focus on telling you what we think will be interesting for you, a college student and English learner, so use them to help you find the right book for you. You can also use the tags to find books about topics you might be interested in.]

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Do you like witches? Magic? Werewolves? How about young romance? A diverse ethnic mix of LGBTQ characters? A man who has a pigeon’s head? Mooncakes has all of this and more. It is a story of a family of witches attempting to protect their town from a dangerous horse demon…until they find out the surprising truth behind who summoned the demon in the first place, and why.

Mooncakes is a light read and has some colorful and sometimes creative artwork. The art style, characters’ speech, and values all feel exactly like contemporary internet culture. It is not just an interesting story. This book is also a good window into youth culture today—youth culture, from a much more feminine perspective than most of the other books in the EL library.

My two cents: This book has a non-binary character. Instead of “he” or “she,” they use “they/them” pronouns. You should become used to using these pronouns, even though they are probably not taught in your English textbooks.