Pacy's mother explains that the Year of the Dog is the best year for celebrating friends and family and finding one's true identity.

Pacy's mother tells the story of how grandfather earned his wealth by compassionately treating an injured street vendor for free.

Pacy's family receives hong bao, red envelopes containing money, as part of the Chinese New Year celebration.

Pacy and Lissy stay up discussing their futures; Lissy chooses medicine, but Pacy remains uncertain about her talent.

The lunch lady refuses to serve Pacy, mistaking her for another student; Pacy then meets the new girl, Melody.

Pacy and Melody dye eggs red together to bring to Pacy's newborn cousin Albert's celebratory party.

At Albert's party, Pacy learns that the traditional Taiwanese greeting 'Ja-ba bei?' is a way of asking how someone is doing.

A NASA scientist judge declares Pacy and Melody's science fair project flawed because they lacked a properly controlled environment.

Becky tells Pacy she cannot audition for Dorothy because Dorothy is not Chinese, and Pacy withdraws from the auditions.

On the night of The Wizard of Oz performance, Pacy receives applause from the audience instead of the laughter she had feared.

While planting Chinese vegetables with her mother, Pacy gets the idea to write her book about ugly vegetables.

At a TAC art class, a group of girls mocks Pacy for not speaking Chinese and calls her a 'Twinkie.'

Pacy's mother tells the story of her first friend in America, Mei, who helped her adjust to life in the United States.

An announcement reveals Pacy's book won fourth place and $400 in a national contest; she declares she has found her talent.

Melody's family arrives with oranges for good luck, and both families celebrate the Year of the Pig while reflecting on the past year.

The story begins as Pacy's family celebrates Chinese New Year, and her mother explains that the Year of the Dog is the ideal time to discover one's true identity. Pacy meets Melody, a fellow Taiwanese American, and the two become instant best friends as they navigate school and family traditions together. Pacy faces setbacks in the science fair and is discouraged from auditioning for Dorothy in the school play due to a friend's thoughtless comment about her heritage. She eventually finds her voice by writing and illustrating a book about Chinese vegetables, supported by her family and teacher. After a painful encounter at a Taiwanese American Convention where girls mock her for being too Americanized, Pacy questions where she truly belongs. The year closes triumphantly when her book wins a national contest, she discovers her talent as an author and illustrator, and both families ring in the Year of the Pig together.

Pacy's year-long journey from uncertainty to finding her talent.

Pacy's father eats both Chinese candy and M&Ms from the mixed New Year tray and declares the combination is 'just like us.'

Pacy's father explains that every food at the Chinese New Year dinner represents a special meaning, most symbolizing wealth and prosperity.

Pacy asks her mother how to identify her heritage when others ask; her mother simply tells her to say she is American.

Pacy invents a fictional unicorn day to spare Becky's disappointment about the Chinese zodiac; Melody picks up on the lie and plays along.

At Melody's house, the girls draw animals together and accidentally eat an entire jar of vitamins while searching for snacks.

At dinner at Melody's house, Pacy cannot eat the extremely healthy food with no sauces, no fried items, and brown rice.

Pacy's family dresses in formal Chinese clothes and makes the long car trip to baby Albert's Red Egg party.

Pacy wakes with a sore neck at Albert's house; her grandmother paints a tiger and pig on her neck as a remedy.

Pacy and Melody keep a secret notebook tracking Teddy Jackson's behavior to determine whether he has a crush on one of them.

Pacy's mother tells the story of her own mother drawing piano keys on paper so she could practice without a real piano.

Pacy and Melody design their science fair experiment, testing how orange juice, milk, ginger ale, and water affect plant growth.

Ms. McCurdy displays every student's completed book in the library before submitting them all to the national contest.

Pacy's family and Melody's family arrive together at the Taiwanese American Convention and spend a fun first week together.

After the TAC, Pacy's family visits Chinatown in New York City, where a store owner gives each girl a box of chocolate caramels.

Melody wins the school Halloween costume contest dressed as a laundry basket; Pacy's homemade cat costume does not win.

This pool traces the cultural traditions, budding friendship with Melody, and supporting events that give texture to Pacy's year. It opens with the symbolic details of the New Year celebration, including the mixed candy tray and the meaning behind each dish at dinner, before following Pacy and Melody as they bond over vitamins, vitamins-fueled trouble, and an awkward first dinner together. The cousins' Red Egg party introduces more Taiwanese customs, while Pacy's crush on Teddy Jackson creates a small but revealing test of the girls' friendship. Family storytelling fills the middle section, with Pacy's mother sharing the paper piano memory to inspire her daughter's book project, and the science fair's experimental design showing the girls' earnest effort before failure. The pool ends by moving through the TAC trip, a joyful detour to New York's Chinatown, and the Halloween costume contest, closing just before Pacy learns the results of the national book competition.

The traditions, friendships, and everyday moments that shape Pacy's world.

Pacy's mother explains that staying awake all night on New Year's extends parents' lives; Pacy lies awake worrying she will fall asleep too soon.

Pacy's mother tells the story of falling asleep standing up at a school assembly in Taiwan, joking that it was her own hidden talent.

Pacy learns the story behind her American name: a teacher insisted on calling her Grace because it was the easier name on the roster.

Pacy imagines partnering with Teddy Jackson for the science fair instead of Melody; Melody grows quiet, and Pacy realizes the friendship matters more.

When Pacy and Melody discover Teddy likes Sophia instead of either of them, both girls smile at each other in shared relief.

Pacy struggles with writer's block on the book project and begs Ms. McCurdy for a solution; the teacher advises her to be patient.

Pacy reflects that Chinese people are never shown as important in films or books; Melody challenges her to go write her own.

Pacy's mother tells the story of her grandmother waiting all day at school with painfully bound feet, teaching Pacy not to fear being seen.

Ms. Malone casts Pacy as the munchkin who presents Dorothy with a gift; Pacy worries the audience will whisper about a Chinese munchkin.

Pacy writes and revises her illustrated book all night with family help; her father buys her new high-quality paint and insists she is not a beginner.

Pacy earns an A+ on the completed book project and celebrates with her mother and Melody by eating candy made from red bean paste.

Pacy sobs in the hotel room after the TAC mocking while her father visits the art teacher to address what happened.

Pacy tells her mother she is too Chinese for Americans and too American for Chinese people; her mother says she can be neither and both.

Pacy asks for a china pioneer doll for Christmas but receives a Chinese doll instead; she decides it can still be a pioneer girl.

Pacy's family prepares for the new Chinese New Year by thoroughly cleaning the house, buying new clothes, and getting haircuts.

This pool focuses on the inner turning points that mark Pacy's development from a self-doubting child into a confident young person with a clear sense of identity. It begins with Pacy's quiet worries about New Year traditions and her curiosity about talent, then traces the small but meaningful revelations along the way, such as learning the origin of her American name and discovering that Teddy's crush matters far less than her friendship with Melody. The middle section charts her creative struggle, from writer's block and the hurt of erasure in storytelling, to her mother's reassuring stories and her own breakthrough idea. A painful crisis at the TAC camp forces Pacy to confront what it means to belong to two cultures, and her mother's response offers her a new way of seeing herself. The pool closes with Christmas misunderstandings that become a small symbol of acceptance, and the family's warm preparations for a new year that mark how much Pacy has grown.