Janet S. Wong(1962-) was born in Los Angeles. She graduated from UCLA with her B.A in history and then Yale Law School. She worked at Universal Studios Hollywood as a lawyer. However, she changed her career from a lawyer to a writer for children’s literature. Janet has achieved many successes as a result of her career change, and she and her books have received many awards and honors. She has a Korean-American mother and a Chinese-American father, and these three different cultures are shown on her books.
“Apple Pie 4th of July” also shows a different cultural aspect from America in the point of view of young girl. A girl who was born in America could not understand her parents who prepare to sell Chinese food even on 4th of July. She feels dissatisfaction about her parents since she thinks her parents do not understand the America Holiday. She wants to enjoy the America Holiday like other Americans but she is disappointed with the differences of her parents from others. The clear and colorful illustration describes well her feelings through her facial expressions. The girl full of discontent says, “Chow mein? Chinese food on the Fourth of July? No one wants Chinese food on the Fourth of July.” Many children who have a different culture from the major culture where they live sometimes might feel shame or uncomfortable about their own culture. The parents and teachers need to let children whose culture is either the majority or minority know the variety of cultures in the world. In not only various countries, but also different homes in the same country, their own cultures exist. When children read this book, they can think about the diversity of cultures, and the parents and teachers need to guide children to have the correct concept about cultures.
Wong, J. S. (2002). Apple Pie 4th of July. Orlando, Florida: Harcourt, Inc.
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Tagged with 4th Of July, 4th Of July Orlando, Apple Pie, Career Change, Chinese Food, Chow Mein, Different Culture, Different Cultures, Discontent, Dissatisfaction, Facial Expressions, Fourth Of July, Harcourt, Janet S Wong, Korean American Mother, Orlando Florida, Parents And Teachers, Universal Studios, Universal Studios Hollywood, Yale Law School.
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“Apple Pie 4th of July” (2002) by Janet S. Wong (“This Next New Year”,”Buzz”) could have a multitude of functions in your classroom, depending on the age of your students and your subject. For older students in Language Arts (3rd-5th), this book will provide an example of character development. In this story, a Chinese-American girl tells her Chinese parents that their customers do not want to eat Chinese food on the 4th of July. The girl believes that people only want American food like apple pie on such an American holiday. Her parents continue with their plans of offering Chinese food in their market. Your students will enjoy reading about this girl and discovering whether or not she is correct. You will appreciate the manner in which Ms. Wong develops this character. Since the girl’s parents were born in China, this book will function as an introduction to immigration for younger students (K-2). As the girl is living within two cultures, this book will serve you well in a unit on multiculturalism (K-2). You should include in any discussion the colorful illustrations by Margaret Chodos-Irvine and the fact that the girl is dressed in red, white and blue. The illustrations depict a cultural blend of the traditional 4th of July parade and fireworks with Chinese main characters and foods.
Very unique book that offers a realistic perspective on Chinese-American children. Can be used with any other culture when teaching children about adapting to the American way of life.
I found the book great at identifying the problems Asian Americans face growing up in the American culture.
Janet S. Wong(1962-) was born in Los Angeles. She graduated from UCLA with her B.A in history and then Yale Law School. She worked at Universal Studios Hollywood as a lawyer. However, she changed her career from a lawyer to a writer for children’s literature. Janet has achieved many successes as a result of her career change, and she and her books have received many awards and honors. She has a Korean-American mother and a Chinese-American father, and these three different cultures are shown on her books.
“Apple Pie 4th of July” also shows a different cultural aspect from America in the point of view of young girl. A girl who was born in America could not understand her parents who prepare to sell Chinese food even on 4th of July. She feels dissatisfaction about her parents since she thinks her parents do not understand the America Holiday. She wants to enjoy the America Holiday like other Americans but she is disappointed with the differences of her parents from others. The clear and colorful illustration describes well her feelings through her facial expressions. The girl full of discontent says, “Chow mein? Chinese food on the Fourth of July? No one wants Chinese food on the Fourth of July.” Many children who have a different culture from the major culture where they live sometimes might feel shame or uncomfortable about their own culture. The parents and teachers need to let children whose culture is either the majority or minority know the variety of cultures in the world. In not only various countries, but also different homes in the same country, their own cultures exist. When children read this book, they can think about the diversity of cultures, and the parents and teachers need to guide children to have the correct concept about cultures.
Wong, J. S. (2002). Apple Pie 4th of July. Orlando, Florida: Harcourt, Inc.
I did like the story. I read it to my 7 yearold son and we thought it was a good story to read. The little girl in the story did not think that her food that her parents prepared and sold would be something Americans ate on their holiday celebration of the 4th of July. How wonderful to be in America and have a place that makes oriental foods right down the street from whereever we live. The little girl is surprised that customers do start coming and her mother and father are quite busy preparing the food. The parents are not surprised, they seem to understand a little better than their daughter about the retaurant business in America. Americans love to eat!
With Michael Tilson Thomas and the magnificent Chicago Symphony Orchestra in top form, this collection includes some of the best, most colorful works by this American master. Of the four holidays, “The Fourth of July” is irresistible – about seven minutes of extreme orchestral complexity, flaring up just like the rockets themselves and then expiring in exhaustion. Ives packs more into this score than some composers do in an hour, with colliding rhythms, blaring fortissimos and “Columbia, Gem of the Ocean” sailing above everything else. It is as exhilarating a ride as any composer has ever given us. “Decoration Day” eventually arrives at a somber moment at the cemetery with a touching trumpet solo playing “Taps,” then ends with a joyously raucous march back to town. The moody “Washington’s Birthday” and the stirring “Thanksgiving” complete the set, and by the end you may be thinking there has never been a composer who has captured the vivid, clashing emotions of the holidays with such accuracy.
Similarly melding the gentle with the explosive is the extraordinarily evocative “Central Park in the Dark,” written in 1906. This densely written gem finds time to include the ragtime classic, “Hello, my Baby,” among other tunes that make their surprise appearance during the chaotic climax.
Perhaps the most unusual feature of this disc is the inclusion of both versions of “The Unanswered Question,” a gentle evocation of some of the sublime mysteries of the universe. The differences between the two versions are small, but
significant – and I won’t spoil the thrill of discovery by revealing them here. Suffice to say that the piece is haunting in its quest to define the indefinable, and will likely linger in your mind long afterward.
Michael Tilson Thomas is one of the most exciting and knowledgeable interpreters of this music anywhere, and the Chicago orchestra shows why many people consider it one of the best ensembles in the world. This is perhaps not a recording for a quiet morning, but it is absolutely a candidate for “Top Ten Discs of 20th-Century American Music.” A hugely exciting disc.
This is a “must” album. Altho’ I personallly object to some of the finer editorial work in the “original” version of “UnQ” (very esoteric stuff–ask me) I’d stilll recommend this album as a “must have.” — D.G. Porter, Editorial Coordinator, The Charles Ives Society
Take the insight of Michael Tilson Thomas, who’s been conducting Ives throughout his career (his old Boston Symphony “Three Places” is still one of the best around), add one of the finest orchestras in the world and its celebrated brass section (Ives said he conceived all his music as if through “sort of a brass band with wings”), and finish with some genuinely inspired playing, and you’ve got a recording for the ages. It was a broadcast of the Chicago live performance, heard by chance on the radio, that gave me the idea to write my biography of Ives. Meanwhile the Holidays Symphony is one of Ives’s greatest and most communicative works, and the “Decoration Day” movement one of the summits of his music. When Stravinsky was asked to define a masterpiece, he answered with “Decoration Day.”
Since becoming my favorite “classical” composer some many years ago now, Ives’ incredibly unique and uncompromising music has an unexplainable quality that works magic over repeated listens. With the Holidays, this is a case in point.
Not only do I consider Ives Holidays to be sitting at the pinnacle of Ives orchestral oeuvre (along with Robert Browning, Orchestral Sets Nos. 1 and 2, and the mighty Fourth), but you will not find a better or more convincing performance on disc as of late 2007. To my ears, the only competition is Sinclair’s excellent “Washington’s Birthday” on Naxos (coupled with a tremendous Third Symphony), but sadly that is only one of the four movements. The Two Contemplations also found here are excellent, with one of the finest and most mysterious “Unanswered Question” on any recording to date.
Just a few words in my own not-so-humble opinion regarding this music…
All too often, music such as this by Ives gets thrown around as highly “experimental”. Nothing could be further from the truth. To label this extraordinary music as experimental is belittling Ives’ creative vision and heartfelt aesthetics. This music was not written as a “test” to see whether it passes or fails, but rather music that is simply visionary and unprecedented at the time at which it was written, and even by today’s standards. Careful and repeated listens will reveal hidden themes, sometimes so subliminal that they escape even the most attentive of listeners. Also, Ives’ unbelievably creative use of polyrhythms and interrelationships of multiple polyphonic lines and melodies shows this composer in complete mastery of his idiom. Some “scholars” today say that this was all thrown together in some haphhazard manner to see what would happen – that to me is completely unfair and unjustified. Use your OWN ears to make your own judgment here, folks.
As for sound, this recording is quite excellent (a 1986 recording), but to compare it to the best of 2007 digital recordings will begin to show its age slightly. Nonetheless, more than worthy.
In sum, if you are serious about Ives and want to hear one of the FINEST recordings ever made of his music, get this disc. Nothing is glossed over here and MTT and the Chicago Symphony need not apologize in their realization of Ives’ craggy and sometimes downright rough-and-tumble music. If the incredibly transcendent ending of Thanksgiving and Forefather’s Day doesn’t convince you, then maybe ‘ole Charlie isn’t for you afterall…
Michael Tilson Thomas and James Sinclair should be considered when looking for any Ives recording, as they are arguably two of the finest conductors of Ives on the planet.
This recording is essential and amazing.
The “Holidays Symphony” of Charles Ives, comprised of four movements to symbolize the passing of the four seasons by connecting them to important American holidays, was originally intended to be four standalone works, each of which could be performed separately in conjunction with its respective holiday.
Only later did Ives combine them as a four-movement “symphony.” So, on this Thanksgiving Day of 2003, I chose to “deconstruct” them, just so that I might concentrate – for the occasion – on “Thanksgiving and Forefathers’ Day.”
This movement should, in my opinion, be numbered among the finest Ives compositions of all. It is brilliantly written and scored, with many original instrumental touches, particularly for percussion, where Ives calls upon low church bells, tubular bells and celesta, as well as an offstage ensemble of 4 horns, trombone and contrabassoon, all to marvelous effect. The ending, where the chorus enters singing to the words of the hymn tune “Duke Street,” is simply breathtaking in its spirituality; truly transcendent and sublime.
But there are aspects to this movement that I’ve not seen anyone else mention, aspects that are startling in a prescient way, and therefore worth some mention. There is a quiet interlude, at about midpoint, scored for a reduced chamber ensemble of woodwinds, cornet, strings and celesta, that is “proto-Copland” in its sound texture, typical Coplandesque “Americana” yet written decades before “Appalachian Spring,” which this section anticipates in a most remarkable way, with nearly identical chamber orchestra textures and, even, thematic ideas. The interlude then is followed by a penultimate section, prior to the choral entry, that has textures – and harmonies for that matter – similar to what William Schuman would, like Copland, write decades later. This brief section provides a perfect transition to the choral entry. And this is precisely where words fail me, because what Ives achieves here simply turns me to jelly. Only at the end of “From Hanover Square North” (from his Orchestral Set No. 2) and in the final movement of his masterpiece, the Symphony No. 4, was Ives able to match this “Holiday” in transcendent beauty.
The other three holidays/seasons (“Washington’s Birthday”/Winter, “Decoration Day”/Spring and “The Fourth of July”/Summer) are all of a piece with this Thanksgiving one. Tilson Thomas has this music in his blood, having been an Ivesian from a very young age as conductors go. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, famed for its brass choir, earns kudos for ALL of its choirs in this performance, easily the best available and one not likely to be topped any time soon. And of course it doesn’t hurt to have the Margaret Hillis-directed CSO Chorus for the conclusion of “Thanksgiving and Forefathers’ Day” (the one movement that I just HAD to listen to, not that I excluded the rest of the work, or the disc for that matter).
The album is nicely rounded out with Ives’s two contemplations: “A Contemplation of a Serious Matter” and “A Contemplation of Nothing Serious,” more commonly known as “The Unanswered Question” and “Central Park in the Dark.” Better yet, “The Unanswered Question” appears in two versions: the original as written in 1906, and a revised version, written some 20-odd years later, in which the trumpet and woodwind phrases are somewhat altered to add to the enigmatic nature of the work. In both versions, the Chicago strings play with an atmospheric perfection rarely heard. The ragtime piano in the foreground of “Central Park in the Dark” is hard to top, also. But for this particular “contemplation” I do have a preference for James Sinclair’s (British) Northern Sinfonia Orchestra performance (on Naxos #8559087), for which I had written, “Much of Ives’s music is all about space and distance, and the bar-room piano heard very faintly in the background truly gives this sense of space, as well as a sense of evening mist in the park.”
The renowned Ives biographer Jan Swafford writes on this page, “My vote for the finest Ives orchestral recording ever made.” I’m not of a mind to argue with Swafford, Ives expert that he is, especially on this particular day, and equally especially by virtue of the phenomenal performances that Tilson Thomas elicits from his Chicago orchestral and choral forces throughout.
Cue it up, folks. It’s “what’s for Thanksgiving.”
Bob Zeidler