Cockroach Cooties by Laurence Yep

Yep, Lawrence. 2000. Cockroach Cooties. New York: Hyperion. ISBN 0786804874

Summary
When Teddy's little brother Bobby talks back to the neighborhood bully, Teddy steps up to defend his little brother. "If you pick on my little brother, you make it my business (Yep, 2000 p 5-6)." Unfortunately the bully is bigger that Teddy. The boys accidentally discover that Arnie the bully is afraid of cockroaches and Bobby decides that keeping a cockroach as a pet is the best way to protect themselves. Sadly, Hercules the cockroach gets squished by the boys' father and they must devise a new plan to keep Arnie away. In the process they learn a lot about bugs and ultimately about Arnie too.

Analysis
This story takes place in Chinatown and all the characters in the book are Chinese. There are many cultural markers. Some of the cultural markers from the book... all three boys study Chinese at school. Teddy and Bobby go with their parents to a banquet. At the banquet everyone eats many courses with chop sticks. Bobby and Teddy's neighbor, Mr. Wong, brews medicines in his apartment. And Teddy and Bobby's father mentions Chinese time and American time. I have never heard this expression before but from the context I think he means arriving late. "Father tapped his watch. "I'm trying to set an example for the boys. They should use American time, not Chinese time (Yep, 2000. p. 70)."

The character who seems to contradict most Chinese stereotypes is Arnie, the bully. Arnie can barely read and write English, but he is great in Chinese school. "He'd gone from being the dummy in the American classes to being the star in the Chinese class (Yep, 2000. p. 31)." So Arnie is not the stereotypical good student. Arnie also comes from a poor, broken home. Teddy and Bobby discover that Arnie hates bugs so much because they are all over his apartment. His mother works two jobs to support them and when she has time off she must rest.

While there are so many cultural markers in this story like setting, characters, and food, the Chinese culture represented is more of a backdrop rather than a main focus. The boys act like any set of young siblings. Bullies are everywhere and being bullied at school is not a unique problem. The author does a good job of presenting a good story with an authentic Chinese-American background. I recommend this book.

Connections
This book could be used to discuss bullying.
The kids could read this book as part of an author study.
The kids could do a compare/contrast of Teddy and bobby's family and their own.
Since there are so many insect facts worked into the story, this book could be used to build science lessons about bugs.

Review Excerpts
In School Library Journal Elizabeth Maggio says, "Set in the Chinatown section of San Francisco, this modern-day tale is about two brothers, eight and nine, previously featured in Later, Gator (Hyperion, 1995). Teddy, the older child, narrates. Bobby feels responsible for getting Teddy involved with a treacherous bully at school, so he devises a plan to scare the fiend with a cockroach that he obtains from "The Bug Lady," a neighbor studying entomology."

Publishers Weekly says, "Full of the sights and sounds of San Francisco's Chinatown, the tale zips along at a brisk pace, percolating with snappy dialogue."

Works Cited
Forecasts. 2000. "forecasts: Children's Books." Publishers Weekly 247, no. 7: 200. Academic Search Complete database. Last accessed July 31, 2009.

Maggio, Elizabeth. 2000. "Cockroach Cooties (Book Review)." School Library Journal 46, no. 5: 159. Academic Search Complete database. Last accessed July 31, 2009.

Yep, Lawrence. 2000. Cockroach Cooties. New York: Hyperion.