Yang the Youngest and his Terrible Ear

The Yang Family #1

by Lensey Namioka

Everyone in the Yang family is a talented musician except for nine-year-old Yingtao, the youngest Yang. Even after years of violin lessons from his father, Yingtao cannot make beautiful music.

Now that his family has moved from China to Seattle, Yingtao wants to learn English and make new friends at school. Still, he must make time to practice his violin for an important family recital to help his father get more students. Yingtao is afraid his screeching violin will ruin the recital. But he's even more afraid to tell his family that he has found something he likes better than music.

Together he and his new friend Matthew think of a sure way to save the recital. They are certain nothing will go wrong.

Genres: Fiction, Childrens, Realistic Fiction, Baseball, Cultural, Middle Grade, Music

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Namioka was born in Beijing, the daughter of linguist Yuenren Chao and physician Buwei Yang Chao. The family moved often in China. In 1937, the Chaos were living in Nanjing, and fled westward in the face of the Japanese Invasion. They eventually made their way to Hawaii, then Cambridge, Massachusetts. Namioka attended grade school in Cambridge and excelled at mathematics.

Namioka attended University of California, Berkeley, where her father was a professor of Asian Studies. Here she met and married Isaac Namioka, a fellow graduate student in mathematics. The Namiokas moved to Ithaca, New York, where Isaac Namioka taught at Cornell University, and Lensey Namioka taught at Wells College.

In 1959, the Namiokas' first daughter Aki was born, followed by a second daughter Michi, who was born in 1961. The family moved to Seattle in 1963, when Isaac Namioka accepted a position at the University of Washington.

In the 1970s, on a visit to Japan, Namioka visited Namioka Castle. The experience inspired her to learn more about the samurai. This study culminated in The Samurai and the Long-nosed Devils, which was published in 1976. Namioka expanded this book into a whole series of books about samurai. Namioka also wrote a series of books about a Chinese American family named Yang, and several books about young women and girls facing difficult choices.

Lensey Namioka is the only person known to have the first name "Lensey." Her name has an especially unusual property for a Chinese person born in China: there are no Chinese characters to represent it. Lensey's father, Yuenren Chao, was cataloguing all of the phonemes used in Chinese. He noted that there were two syllables which were possible in the Chinese language, but which were used in no Chinese words. These syllables could be written in English as "len" and "sey." His third daughter was born soon after, and he named her "Lensey."

Reviews

[QNPoohBear · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yang Yingtao and his family have recently moved from Shanghai, China to Seattle, Washington, USA. The entire family plays string instruments, including Yingtao, Youngest Brother, who does not have an "ear" for music. His father doesn't understand and keeps insisting that if he only practiced more he would get it. Yingtao doesn't want to play the violin. Adjusting to American culture is hard and his only friend is Matthew, a budding violinist himself, who longs to play in the quartet with the Yangs but is pressured to do well at baseball with his family. Can they come up with a solution that works for everybody?

This story took a bit to get into. I wasn't sure where the plot was heading but there IS a moral to the story. At first the story is about Yingtao adjusting to American life. His English is imperfect and although his sister collects words, they are unclear about idiomatic expressions and American culture. Then he meets Matthew, a kind boy who helps Yingtao learn English and adjust to American ways. I like how Yingtao explains the differences between China and America and the different values HIS family has vs. the values of Matthew's family. One thing he notes is that poor is a relative term. Matthew's dad was "laid off" (he didn't lie down on anything, he was let go, fired lost his job isn't working right now! The mom has a part-time job and the boys have paper roads routes- they deliver newspapers on their bicycles every morning to pay for things like new school clothes and comic books. YET they have a whole house to themselves and Matthew has his own bedroom, they have a kitchen and enough money for food. (Tuna casserole, if that counts as food). Yingtao's family had a one room apartment in China with a small kitchen and that was a luxury most people didn't have. Here in Seattle they have a house they share with another family (duplex maybe?) and they don't have their own bedrooms. His mom gets discarded broccoli leaves from the grocer to cook for dinner. To Yingtao, Matthew's family looks rich.

The fathers in this book are quite awful. They're two-dimensional and narrowly focused on what THEY want their kids to do because THEY enjoy it. Neither dad wants to nature their son's interest and help the kid succeed in whatever it is he chooses to do. It's dad's way or no way. Yingtao's family is poor but instead of asking the kids to help out, his dad thinks jobs would take time away from practicing music. I get that he's in a new country and that's the only skill he has to make money but the kids are still young and need to explore their own identities. Matthew's father is the same way with baseball, as if somehow baseball will make his son more American, more masculine, more OK in his mind. To him, a son who plays the violin is a disappointment. The mothers don't do anything to support their sons either.

I like Third Sister, "Mary." She's the only one who understands her brother is tone deaf and doesn't like playing. She understands their older siblings' teasing is hard on Youngest Brother and tries to help him out. She's a bit mischievous and the one who is adjusting best to American life.

I think this one might be semi-autobiographical since the author bio notes she was tone deaf in a musical family. She looks like an older lady in her picture and this is an older book so she may have based the Yang family and their life in China on what she remembered or knew about from her early childhood. Some of her other books sound semi-autobiographical as well.

I think I would not recommend this one. It's not a bad book but there are other books about the immigration experience that are newer and less two-dimensional.

[Kathy Roderer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a chapter book about Yingtao, the youngest child of the Yangs, a family of musicians, recently emigrated from China to Seattle. Yingtao does not have an ear for music, but instead is more interested in baseball. He is having a rough time fitting in with his family, in addition to being in a new country and a new school. He meets a friend, Matthew, and the two discover that they have similar views about things, but their families are a lot different. The author, like Yingtao, also was born in China herself, and moved to America when she was a child. The authenticity shines through, and this book will teach the reader about Chinese culture, as well as give a child who doesn’t feel that he or she is fitting in a worthy role model. As Matthew and Yingtao work together to creatively solve their problems, they gain new appreciation for their similarities and differences, and the reader will, too. A Venn diagram would be a useful organizer in reading this book, either for comparing the Chinese and American cultures, or for comparing Yingtao and Matthew.

[Eileen W · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read with my 10 year old son for Reading Olympics. Nice little story about the 4th child in a Chinese family who comes from a family of musicians, but music is not his passion. Kids can learn something about the differences between the Chinese and American cultures.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

Parents always have high expectations on their children, especially the oldest child in the family. For the middle ones, it is said that they are always ignored. They are asked to follow the good example set by the elder child, and in the meantime, taking care of the younger ones. The youngest one is believed to be the dearest in the eyes of the grandparents. In this way, are the youngest the luckiest as they are assumed to be spoiled in a family?

Yingtao is the youngest boy in the family and his story tells us that the little ones in a family may live under pressure too. Yang the Youngest and His Terrible Ear is about a 11-year-old boy who is gifted in sports but was born in a family where all family members are talented in violin, viola and cello. But Yingtao is an exception - when he 'draws his bow across the violin strings, it screeches'.

The Yang's family moves from Shanghai China to Seattle in America. Yang's father is a violin teacher, while Yang's siblings are very good vioin players. His siblings are all musically gifted except him. To earn more money and support the living, Yang's father suggests organising a string-quartet performance at home to attract more students in the neighbourhood , in which all family members will play their part, showing off their violin skills.

The story is abut the struggle of a little boy Yang who had a really poor ear in music. He does not like music but in order to fulfil his father's expectation, he spends a lot of time on practising. He even gets a place in the school orchestra because his father wants him to. The struggle of Yang is common to all teenagers. It is not uncommonly to see that parents always impose high expectation on their children. Some of them may not feel proud of their kids real talent and they only hope that their children will follow their footsteps or the plans that they set for them, as they think this is the best for their children.

However, young people may see the high expectations from parents a burden. They will not be happy only if they walk their own path. Though, like Yang, children would push themselves to waste their time and effort to satisfy their parents' desires, with the limitations in talent and ability, they can never to able to do really well. In the story, Yang, to avoid losing face in front of the audience in the family performance, he asked his best friend to play for him at the back of the curtain. The writer keeps the interest going until the little secrets of the curtain trick is revealed. From Yang's experience, we know that young people, like anybody else, want to be listened, accepted and understood. Lying is the last resort.

The story is simple and well-told. It is a light-hearted story about growth, parent-child communication, searching for one's identity and culture shock.

[Felix · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adventure of music,baseball,newspaper route etc

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to give this more stars. I liked that Yang and his family are Chinese immigrants and that the story made an effort to show how being an immigrant is different from being Chinese American. I liked the challenges of language, because learning English is hard with all its irregularities. I liked the story line of two kids whose parents wanted them to be interested in one pursuit and each was decidedly interested in a different pursuit. There is a lot of good in this book.

I couldn’t give this more stars though. Written in 1994, I had a really hard time with understanding how a family with four children could move from China to the United States. The one child policy was introduced in 1979. Prior to that, having fewer children was already encouraged if not officially enforced. Was the book set in an earlier time, perhaps the 50s or 60s when larger families were still encouraged? Was the family actually from Taiwan, which is quite separate from China? Based on the financial strain the family faces in the story, it’s hard to imagine that they had multiple children and faced potential fines in China for the sake of a large family. Oh, maybe they were they minorities? Along with these questions when the story takes place is also the detail that there weren’t many Asians in Seattle. I don’t picture that being the case in the 90s. Unfortunately, this was a really big detail to not clarify in some way in the story. Now I’m thinking of giving it fewer stars, but since this is a children’s book and I’m probably not the intended audience, I’ll stick with three.

[Courtnie Sepe · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Yang the Youngest and his Terrible Ear", is an ok book. I felt that due to it being a realistic-fiction I was able to appreciate the struggles that he and his family had when they moved to America. I found it interesting coming from the view of a 9 year old boy. I also found it interesting about cultural differences and ways that he was able to adapt to life in America. I thought this was a great book for young readers to understand what it would feel like to be new to this country. Such as our fast pace lives, the way students respect teachers differently in China, family traditions compared to the new families he met, and the differences in focuses of academics and music compared to sports. This book made me realize some things that other countries value and appreciate. I loved that his family loved music and it was something very important to them. But I also liked how two families could share things of interests of sports and music and help two children find and appreciate who they are. Overall, I thought this was a wonderful book.

[Katt Hansen · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story of Yang is one that's sometimes hard to understand, simply because it's mired in so much cultural history. Yingtao is a boy in a high achieving family of musicians who cannot play his violin at all well despite trying very hard. Honestly? He'd rather play baseball.

His struggles to be accepted by his own family were sometimes hard to read. I felt for this kid. The lengths he had to go to just to not have to play the violin were kind of sad.

There's a lot here about Chinese-American culture. Those parts of the story I enjoyed as it gave a glimpse into a world I didn't know much about. I do like the loyalty of his siblings and the hints that even someone as highly accomplished as they were, still had struggles of their own.

Overall? The book was ok but not great. I felt like there should have been something more it it. Maybe more character development or something as too many of the characters didn't quite feel true and the ending of the book was just too convenient all the way around.

[C.J. Milbrandt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yingtao is the youngest of the four Yang children and the only one who can't make music. He's tone deaf. He's supposed to play with his siblings in a string quartet, but he'd rather trade his violin for a baseball bat and glove. Family obligations and social expectations. Showing respect and eating with chopsticks. Idiomatic confusion and cultural differences. Carp in the bathtub and bow syncing in the orchestra.

A straightforward, simple storyline suited to lower middlegrade readers. The cultural tidbits are interesting, and the frames of reference fascinating. (What is wasteful, what is needful, what is respectful.) The contrast between American assumptions and the Yang family's priorities made me pause for thought. I liked it. And I'm glad to see that there are three more books in the set (one for each of the Yang siblings).

[Cindy Sarnowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Story of a family of musicians who move to America from China. Yang, the youngest child, struggles to adapt to American ways, but is fortunate to find a friend, Matthew. Yang and Matthew share a love of baseball and a music stand in school orchestra where they play the violin.

The boys share their cultures with one another and become a part of each other's family. Each boy experiences frustration at home as their father's pressure them to do well in the father's chosen activity. Both families are stronger for the interaction.

[Littlerhymes]

Yingtao is the youngest of four in a very musical family - he's a constant disappointment because he's tone deaf and can't play violin to save his life, or to save his father's musical school recital. But at least he's good at baseball.

Then he makes a friend, Matthew, who is good at violin but bad at baseball. The two wish they could swap, or at least make their families see the other perspective.

Sweet, short and quite charming story of an immigrant Chinese family. The beats are not going to surprise you terribly but I thought the families were both really endearing.

[Nekochimachan (⁠｡⁠•̀⁠ᴗ⁠-⁠)⁠✧ · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you like something then pursue it. Yang the youngest isn't good at playing the violin but his father forces him because they're a family of musicians. Thankfully, Yingtao is able to have a friend by the name of Matthew. The two always have a good time hanging out and practicing what they like. Matthew is into music and Yingtao is into baseball. There's a lesson in this story. One, let your kids do what they like. Two, don't call them names that are hurtful or mean. Three, be proud of them for trying. That's all.

[Letitia Jap · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book growing up and picked it up again as a young adult. It is a super fun and easy read, in part because I feel like the writer writes the story in a way that is very easy to feel like you are in the main character’s shoes. There are so many cultural differences that mentioned in the book that shows up in the plot that makes it fun and comical to read. I appreciated the way cultural differences were written in the book in a creative way. A fun read! I’d have my kids read the books just for fun.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A charming, quick read that's fast-paced and relatable enough to appeal to even reluctant readers, while providing a great starting ground for discussion related to adapting to a new culture, accepting others' differences, appreciating different gifts and talents, and families. Would make a fantastic paired read with In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson, or possibly be a good alternate book for lower-level readers.

[Madeline Masluk · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book I think is important for children to read because it teaches children that it is ok to be different from your family members and that we are all special and unique in our own way. I think that is the message that the author was trying to let the audience know and that everyone is good at something even when they think they have problems with the other thing.

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yingato recently moved from China to Seattle. He has to give a violin performance to help his father get new students. The problem is that Yingato is tone deaf. Eventually, Yingato meets Matthew who has the exact opposite problem than Yingato. They then devised a plan that helps free them from their families expectations.

[Katy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a sweet, sometimes funny, sometimes poignant story about the youngest child in a family of Chinese immigrants. A lot of story and themes packed into a short book! The illustrations are fun too. I'm interested in reading about the other children in the family now.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recently selected this book for my grade 3/4 book club. Like many of the children in my community, the main character's family immigrates from China. There are many comparisons of Chinese and North American culture. Plus the kids in the book are very relatable.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book from the 1990s with an immigrant Chinese family who all play music, and the youngest boy, who doesn't, and how he makes friends in America that helps him settle in both to his new country and his family.

[Erica · Rating 3 out of 5]

My son was telling me all the things he was learning about China and Chinese culture from this book so I felt I should read it too.

[Om · Rating 5 out of 5]

the story is very intresting

[Sandra Winans · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book to bring to light how a family may not encourage talents a child has

[Katy Lovejoy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this was a good spur of the moment find

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Play the violin
Do the maths
The AI in the supermarket is really a good person.
故意塑造的小妹和大姐
小妹easy to accept American culture

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

recommended for EL310 at Chase Academy

I liked this book way more than I thought I would. I expected the book to be heavy handed on the East vs West theme, but I found that Lensey Namioka did a fair job of contrasting both cultures (Chinese vs American) through the perspectives of Yingtao and his friend Matthew, without suggesting one cultural perspective is better than the other. I mean, there's a little bit of that, but I liked the fact that she wasn't suggesting that either culture was superior or that we have to find a middle ground between both cultures. Simply, we exist in a world of different cultures and my family may not see or experience life in exactly the same was as your family.
I also liked the varying perspectives with Yingtao's family.


In addition to this approachable and engaging discussion of cultural perspectives, offers an interesting message that when we love something (e.g., music or baseball) we are willing to work hard at it, and as a result of our efforts, we succeed.

Beyond these discussion points, I think EL310 students will enjoy the story, especially the Singing in the Rain scheme where Matthew plays the violin behind a curtain as Yingtao "performs" out front with the quartet.

[Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

THis book was a great book to read from the start. i had confronted this book before when i was a little youngin and thought that the book would be sooo boring. instead, i recently read it and really liked it. it was about yang, the youngest in a family of music players. however, because of his bad ears, he would not be able to play as well, he was really tonde deaf, bad player all that junk. but he meets this boy who is white, and yangs parents help teach him how to play. when push comes to shove, the reader learns about chinese culture, and about what families do when they are not rich and are living in poverty. well they werent really poor, but they did what they could so that they all lived a satisfactory life. i really loved this book and would recommend it to anyone with eyes for a great book! =)

[Phoebe · Rating 4 out of 5]

An amusing, endearing look at life in a traditional Chinese-American family, with parents who try to hold on to their culture while hoping their children can assimilate. The Yangs are musicians, passionate about music, but tonedeaf Yang the Youngest, Yingtao, discovers that his passion is baseball. How will he ever convince his father that his terrible violin playing is not because of a lack of trying? Meanwhile, his friend Matthew longs to play the violin, but his father would rather he played baseball. The two boys wish they could switch places. Funny and sweet. 4th grade and up.

[Crystal · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was very fun and entertaining. Yang is part of a very musical family and he is tone deaf. His family is unable or unwilling to believe this and so must then assume that he is just not trying hard enough. Poor kid. What he does excel at is baseball. I zipped through the book pretty quickly and think that it would make a fun read aloud. Because Yang becomes friends with a boy who isn't Asian, there are also some interesting interactions around culture too as they each have some things to learn about the other's way of doing things.

[April Helms · Rating 3 out of 5]

My favorite of the Yang books I've read. The youngest sibling has a terrible curse in a family of gifted musicians -- he is tone-deaf. Can he make his family appreciate his own, special talents as an athlete?

[Danielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book for elementary readers. Musical family moves from China to Seattle. Shows the differences in cultures in a beautiful and even sometimes humorous way. A great classroom book celebrating cultural diversity.