The Year of the Rat: Grace Lin

This was a children's book, but for some reason was on my "to read" list. It may have been one of the first of it's kind and was one in a series of "Chinese New Year" titles. Since the Year of the Rat is one of change, the main character, Grace (an autobiography of sorts for the author)deals with losing her best friend who moves across the country. The story deals with Grace's year and how she grew up from different experiences. It captured the personality of the child, as everything had to be about the main character and she sort of pouted when she wasn't the center of attention. I think this was a risky characterization, because the character borders on dislikable, but it is also a person in their purest form, so it was a successful character development.