What's the Name of That Book??? discussion

Coming of age. Family moving to America. Read between 1999 - 2002. A girl is traveling on a ship to America. When she befriends a Japanese boy also traveling to America. When he pulls is hair during a disagreement. She shows that she is actually a girl because she is wearing earrings. There is also a part in the book where the main character's dad eats three different desserts. And he tells his wife not to worry about him always eating like that in America. One of the three desserts in strewberry jello.

Beth, your header is too vague. Please add plot details to it, from what you've already written.

We close threads with vague headers.

I don't know how to word it. I'm trying.

did you close this one?

Do you remember what country the girl lived in before she boarded the ship?

Google says Jello first became popular in 1900. What was the approximate decade the book took place in?

Why did the Japanese boy not know she was a girl at first? Did she dress or disguise herself as a boy?

I want to say maybe the 1945 on because the little girl was Japanese maybe.. I read this when I was twelve. I'm 34 now. I just remembered that happening lol.

I'll see what I can find!

As for the header, I might change it to "Children's/YA fiction. Family moving to America. Girl meets Japanese boy on ship. Read 1999-2002"

It's always kind of tricky because if you make too long, the site won't let you save it, lol.

Was the girl a preteen?

Results to check. https://www.librarything.com/tag/hist...

I want to say yes. about 9 to 13 years old.

Are you sure the girl and the boy were Japanese?

Immigration from Japan didn't happen during WWII, and I'm not sure it would have been common after the war either.

Do you remember why the girl was moving to America? Were they fleeing oppression? Was she Jewish, by chance? Jews fled to places like China and Cuba during the war and may have headed to the US afterwards.

I'm almost positive they were coming to America because the scene with the dad eating three desserts on the ship. he told his wife he would not eat like that every day in America. that he just wanted to try all the desserts because they all looked good. and he said the red jiggly stuff tastes like strewberry. they never said it was jello. I just assumed it was. it was a little girl that had her hair cut like a boy to make others believe she was a boy. the family I believe was Jewish.

Dang, so much of this sounds super familiar, lol.

Journey to America and Aniela Kaminski's Story have girls on ships traveling to America right around WWII, but I couldn't find the Jello scene in either of them.

it's not either of these.. what about where the little boy gets upset with the main character. and pulls at her hair and reveals she is actually a girl because she is wearing earrings.

the main character is traveling with her dad, mom, and two older brothers.

and meets who she thinks is a boy her age.. but it's actually a girl.

who is Asian.. maybe Japanese.

Ohh, I was totally confused before!

So they are both girls, but when the MC met the other girl, she was dressed as a boy. And that girl was Japanese (probably) and the main girl was Jewish?

Let me know if I've got that right.

yes. thats it!

Thanks, that helps!

I'll do some more searches to see what I can find.

thank you so much

I may have misspelled it. sorry

Not sure if it would be on this list since they are on a ship ... https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/8...

it was not on that list.. sad face

I read the book between 1999 - 2002.

Made the year range 1990-2002. Pretty vague search but might find it within the results.
https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=kw%...

She Flew No Flags.. thank you! it was on that list! thank you! I was way off about the plot. sorry.

She Flew No Flags by. Joan B. Manley

That's fantastic to have this one solved! Yes, sometimes the best one to find it is the original poster but it helps to make posts like this to write out details and browse to eliminate, even when the search results are vague.

thank you so much!

Yay, super glad it's solved!

The book is on openlibrary.org, free to borrow.
https://openlibrary.org/works/OL34970...

Couldn't resist reading it. Interesting, good cover art and the sort of book I would have picked up at the library had it been there. Jello is mentioned as "Jell-O".

One of the reviews mentions that the book has a subplot about sexual abuse? That was unusual for middle grade back in the day, at least outside of standard problem novels.

I've only got up to the Jell-o mention, still reading. It touched on poverty and illness in India and the different perceptions of family members in what they paid attention to.

One of the crew mentions the girl shouldn't be alone as they could not testify to the trustworthiness of all of the passengers.
There's a mystery surrounding the Chinese boy the kids befriend. A stranger danger element but he has to leave the library room on the ship if an adult comes in. Presumably this is to do with the subplot? But it is subtle.
It's amazing the variety of food they are offered at meals. No wonder it is memorable.

Old thread, but I was going over the contents on Archive.org and can confirm the abuse subplot.

Lily, the girl disguised as a boy, was sexually abused by her father.

"Her father was . . . was abusing her . . . abusing her in the ... in the most unspeakable way."

"Beating her?" I asked in horror.

Kevin broke in, "Jannie, he was pretending to love her in . . . uh, physical ways a father shouldn't do."

I had no idea what he was talking about. But, looking at everyone else's horrified expressions, I was reluctant to ask another question at the moment.