Ly-Lan and the New Class Mix-Up by Ha Dinh (Zonderkidz, 2025) is the first in the early chapter book Ly-Lan Finds a Way series, which features a spunky third grader who has a strong sense of right and wrong. Our main character faces ordinary kid challenges and seeks solutions through a Christian perspective. In this first book, Ly-Lan (pronounced Lee-Lan) takes exception when things in school don’t match up with her expectations. She had planned for third grade with her best friend to go one way, but now she finds that her friend is put in a different class. How can she right this wrong?
Our main character is immensely likeable. She is Vietnamese-American girl, and her family conversations gives a young reader a window into a family that speaks two languages. She comes across as a regular kid, however, and so the glimpse into her life simply gives the reader a unique perspective without being foreign. It strongly reminded me of the Mindy Kim series that my daughter and I read a a few years ago. The difference, however, is that Ly-Lan’s book is told with a Christian perspective as well: Ly-Lan turns to prayer with the expectation that all will be as she asks for it to be.
I liked this aspect of the book, as did my daughter. My daughter, who is currently in fourth grade, had the insight to say “I don’t think that’s how prayer works, Mom!” This is the ultimate realization that Ly-Lan has, and she must come to terms with the new situation. It is a chance to make new friends, after all.
The second book, Ly-Lan and the Unfair Book Fair (ZonderKidz, 2026), gives Ly-Lan a new mission: making sure everyone can get a book at the book fair. Ly-Lan earns money from her parents for herself, and with her kind heart she remembers other people too. she learns that life sometimes doesn’t seem fair because not everyone has money for “wants” because there are not always enough of everything to go around. Can she help make things more fair, like God is fair?
As with the first book, the reader sees a bit of Vietnamese culture, this time with pho soup and a few words in Vietnamese as Ly-Lan speaks with the girl in her class who recently moved from Vietnam. I really like that the author provides a QR code so the reader can scan it to hear how to Vietnamese words sound.
The Ly-Lan Finds a Way books are a low reading level early chapter book. In addition to the reading level, the main character’s age makes it best suited to first and second graders, best for children younger than third grade. We read the first book when my daughter was in third grade. She was a late reader and so it was just the right reading level for her, but as a third grader she still felt “older” than Ly-Lan. (And now that the second book has come out, she’s moved on. Boo!)
I do think the reading level and the story would best interest the younger early elementary readers. Young kids will relate to Ly-Lan as they consider her situation as a third grader and feel excited they are reading about an “older” kid. Maybe they, too, will say “Hm, I don’t think prayer works like that!” or “I agree, that isn’t fair!” when they read the books and see life through Ly-Lan’s eyes.
I received a copy of each book for review consideration.
