Young Adult Diverse Books Book Club Goes to Boston!
On Thursday, February 15, the Young Adult Diverse Books Book Club took Last Night at the Telegraph Club to Boston! Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo is this year's Vermont Reads book. It is a queer love story that takes place in the 1950s in San Francisco's Chinatown. The Young Adult Diverse Books Book Club wanted to learn more about Lily's Chinese American cultural identity and the group experienced that through a food walking tour in Chinatown and the Lunar New Year celebration at the Museum of Fine Arts.
In response to a question about her favorite part of the trip, Sequoia Barbour stated, "While I enjoyed everything on the trip, my favorite part was probably the walking tour. I really enjoyed being able to try a lot of new things that I wouldn't normally get the chance to. My favorite foods we got to try were the egg custard tarts, the barbeque pork bao buns, the noodle dish at dim sum, and the scallion pancake." As we walked the winding streets of Chinatown, we were led by expert tour guide and food critic, Jacqueline Church. She taught us the history of Boston's Chinatown and shared the Chinese American experience in Chinatown with us through Chinese food, art and culture.
Commenting on connections they made between the book and the food walking tour, Luca Morris stated, "Walking into one of the shops--I think it was either the Chinese medicine shop or the Chinese barbeque shop--I saw a poster for a candidate in a Chinatown pageant, which reminded me of Shirley from the book and her campaign for Miss Chinatown. Also, I saw some foods in the shops or at the dim sum lunch that I remembered reading about in the book. For example, BBQ pork filled steamed buns."
After the food walking tour of Chinatown, we went to the Museum of Fine Arts for the Lunar New Year celebration where we saw a dragon dance for the Year of the Dragon, a Tai Chi demonstration, students participated in Chinese brush painting of bamboo and we saw a lion dance. Pivotal scenes in Last Night at the Telegraph Club take place during the Lunar New Year Celebration and these demonstrations and activities gave students the opportunity to be immersed in those traditions.
The Young Adult Diverse Books Book Club would like to thank the Vermont Humanities Council for the Project Grant that made this trip possible.
To read more about the YADB Book Club's trip to Boston including a day at the Boston Public Library and to see more photos, please click here for the From the Library newsletter.