The Ugly Dumpling

Written by: Stephanie Campisi

First line: Once upon a time, perhaps last week, or even last night, at your local dim sum restaurant...there was an ugly dumpling.

Why you should read this book: The ugly dumpling is sad and lonely and uneaten and unloved, until a helpful and romantic cockroach takes the ugly dumping under its wing, so to speak. Cockroach shows dumpling all the beauty of the world (restaurant) and eventually the ugly dumpling realizes that it's not an dumpling at all; he's a perfectly normal steamed bun. Even the discovery of its cockroach companion and the ensuing disgust cannot dampen the steamed bun's elation or its ardor for the cockroach.

Why you shouldn't read this book: Cockroach.