Hot Dogs and Wild Geese

 Pages 10-11:

"I had to accompany her to the grocery store, the hairdresser, the doctor, and every place else that a kid wouldn't want to go. My reward for doing this was the constant praise of every American we encountered. Hearing a seven-year-old translate Persian into English and vice versa made quite an impression on everyone. People lavished compliments on me."

Sundara faced challenges with the language barrier when she moved to America also. She had to learn English, and helped her family speak it as well. However, her family did learn English, so she wasn't as heavily relied on to translate as Firoozeh is. Firoozeh, being only seven years old, can translate Persian and English while her mother cannot. This is an amazing feat because she overcame the language barrier at such a young age. It must have really shocked so many Americans to see a seven year old Iranian girl be able to speak English while her mother could not. Firoozeh was extremely strong and independent in coming to America, and she was more so taking care of her mom due to her mother's lack of understanding the American language and culture.

Page 12:

"A few weeks later, our washing machine broke. A repairman was summoned and the leaky pipe was quickly placed. My mother wanted to know how to remove the black stain left by the leak. "Ya'll are gonna hafta use some elbow grease," he said. I thanked him and paid him and walked with my mother to the hardware store. After searching fruitlessly for elbow grease, I asked the salesclerk for help. "It removes stains," I added. The manager was called.

Once the manager finished laughing, he gave us the disappointing explanation. My mother and I walked home empty-handed. That, I later learned, is what Americans call a wild-goose chase."

As I was reading, this passage really stood out to me. It made me laugh, and I really like how whimsical the author was about it. The entire book is written extremely well in a fun and creative manner. I like how the author's personality came through in her writing. The concept of "elbow grease" stumped Firoozeh and her mom, but they took it in stride as just another challenge in adapting to the American culture.