Chapter 1: Kira’s First Day

Kira just moved to Toronto, from Chongqing, China. She spent her summer learning all about Canada and was excited to impress her new classmates with her knowledge about their country. Kira was a big fan of maple syrup, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Justin Bieber. So, she felt that her chances of making friends were pretty good.

Kira put on her blue Leafs jersey and slipped on her red Roots mittens. Kira was ready for her first day at a new school.

Kira rushed into her dad’s room and jumped on the bed. “Are you ready yet?” she said.

Her dad carefully lint rolled his suit. “Just about.” He took one last look in the mirror before straightening his tie. “Okay let’s go.” He turned on his heel and led the way out of the house and into the car.

“Finally.” Kira eagerly followed behind.

“Woah, you’re sure eager to get to school. Are you feeling nervous at all?”

“No, not really. People in Canada are supposed to be really friendly. I love everything about Canada so far. So what is there to feel nervous about?”

Kira’s dad nodded his head. “That’s a great attitude.” He turned on the radio, and soon Kira was by herself in front of her new school. She walked in, talked to a receptionist, and made her way to her homeroom.

Kira walked into the room. She was one of the first students there and looked around the room. She spotted her name on one of the desks and walked over to it and sat down.

Shortly after, a tall blonde girl walked up to Kira, stopped, and gave her a weird look. “What kind of weird name is Yichen?” a tall blonde girl with a ponytail blurted out from behind Kira.

Kira frowned. “Yichen is my Chinese name. My Canadian name is Kira. Nice to meet you.” Kira forced a big smiled and stuck out her hand.

“Uh, okay.” The other girl raised her eyebrows before she sat down in the seat next to Kira and turned around to talk to the student on her other side.

My name’s not weird. It’s common in China, but I guess not here in Canada. Kira sighed. She took a deep breath and plucked up some courage before she turned around “Hey,” she smiled half-heartedly and waved to the boy sitting next to her.

“Hey,” The boy said and smiled but quickly turned to talk to his friend sitting behind him.

This isn’t how things were supposed to go. People are supposed to be friendly and welcoming here in Canada, but so far they have just been rude, Kira thought. She put her head in her hands. She wasn’t feeling excited about school anymore. Hurt from the rejection, Kira stared at her shoes until the teacher walked in and class started.

“Good morning, everyone. I hope you all had a good summer. For those of you that don’t know,” The tall teacher stared at Kira, “My name is Mrs. Anderson.” Kira blushed and looked away, when she looked back the teacher was still staring at her. “We have a new student. Yichow, why don’t you stand up and tell us all a bit about yourself.”

“My name is Yichen...”

Mrs. Anderson interrupted, “We stand up when we answer here.”

Kira sighed and stood up. “My Chinese name is Yichen, but you can call me Kira. I love maple syrup and the Maple Leafs even though I’m from Chongqing, China.”

The boy beside Kira said, “Chongqing? Is that like Kung-fu?” All the students and even Mrs.Anderson laughed. Defeated again, Kira sat back down. Ugh, what do I have to do to fit in here? Even the teacher is a bully.

Chapter 2: Magic Maple Syrup Mooncakes

Kira’s dad picked her up. “How was your first day?” he said.

“Ugh, it was awful,” said Kira.

“Oh, no. Why? You had such high hopes this morning. Didn’t you make any friends? What about your great knowledge of Canada? Didn’t you impress them?”

“I tried, but everyone either ignored me or made fun of me. Even the teacher laughed at me.”

“Oh? What did they make fun of? Did they tease you because you are so beautiful or did they make fun of you because you are so much smarter than the Canadian students?”

“No, Dad. They made fun of me because of my weird Chinese name, and they make a joke out of the name of our hometown, and they even thought that I must be some sort of kung-fu master just because I’m Chinese.”

“You aren’t weird. You and your name are beautiful. Being different isn’t a bad thing. Being different makes you special. I’m sorry that you had a bad first day at school, but I think I have something in mind that should make tomorrow go better.”

“What could possibly help?”

“Well, I thought that since the Mid-Autumn festival is coming up, that even though we won’t be able to go see Grandma and Grandpa or make lanterns, that we could at least still make some mooncakes all together. Even though your new classmates might not love you yet, they will once they try our ancient family mooncake recipe.”

“Dad, they don’t celebrate the Mid-autumn festival here. This sounds pretty risky.”

“If you share something about yourself that will capture their interest, then they won’t be able to help themselves but want to get to know you.”

Kira rolled her eyes, “Dad, that is never going to work.”

“Maybe not. But what do you have to lose?”

Kira shrugged. “I suppose you are right.”

Kira and her dad went home and started cooking. They sifted flour, cracked eggs, and kneaded dough. Soon Kira’s troublesome day was behind her, as she felt loved by her parents and could smell the sweet treats baking in the oven.

Ding! The oven timer went off. “Yay, they’re ready!” said Kira.

“Yes, but be careful, they are hot.”

“Ooh, can we put maple syrup on them?”

“I don’t know, it is an ancient family recipe. Does bean paste and maple syrup go together?” said Kira’s mom.

“Why not? Now that we are in Canada, maybe we should incorporate part of our new culture into our old. Besides, Kira loves maple syrup and so do Canadians. I’m sure that it will be a hit with the Canadian kids at school.”

“Yeah! I can’t wait until they all get a taste of my magic maple syrup mooncakes,” Kira cheered.

Chapter 3: Kira’s First Friend

The next day at school, Kira carried a big plastic container filled with the freshly cooked magic maple syrup mooncakes into school. “Mrs. Anderson, is it okay if I give out some mooncakes to the class?”

“Yes. But only on one condition.”

“What’s that?” Kira asked.

“That you give me one first.”

Kira smiled. “Okay.” She opened the container and the smell of the sweet treats wafted into the air. Kira pulled one of the mooncakes out and handed it to her teacher.

Mrs. Anderson accepted the mooncake and bit into the cake. “Woah, this is really good the bean paste and the maple syrup go surprisingly well together. I’ve never had a mooncake like this before.”

“Wow, you’ve eaten mooncakes before?”

“Yes. My husband used to always make mooncakes before.” The teacher turned and looked out the window.

“Why doesn’t he make mooncakes anymore?”

“I’m sorry, I haven’t been myself the past few years since he passed away. I usually make the new students feel welcome, but I ...”

“Don’t worry about it Mrs. Anderson. I’ll make you mooncakes every year from now on.”

“Oh, that’s so sweet. Kira. Don’t worry about the other students teasing you. I’m sure that in no time you will fit right in. I’m sure that they will love your mooncakes, and if not it's their loss. And from now on, I’ll keep an eye out for you.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Anderson.”

Kira sat in her seat and waited for morning break. After their second class ended, Mrs. Anderson announced, “Kira brought in a special treat to share with the class. Because it is close to the mid-autumn festival and Kira is away from her family back in China, she has decided to share with you a Chinese delicacy: Mooncakes.”

Kira got up from her seat and walked around the class with a big container of mooncakes and handed them out. “These are my magic maple syrup mooncakes,” she said.

“Wow, what an interesting texture,” said a short girl with long hair.

“Yeah, and it is rich and creamy for a cake,” said another.

“But what’s in these?” asked the tall blonde girl.

“Well, it is rich and creamy because of the egg yolk and bean paste.”

“Ew, eggs and beans are in here?”The tall blonde girl tossed hers in the trash cans, and some

of the other students followed her lead.

“Those cupcakes Dylan brought in last year were way better, and they didn’t have anything

weird like beans in them.”

“Yeah.”

Kira was shocked. Mooncakes are delicious. Are these people stupid?

Kira went off to sit by herself. Once again, she felt rejected.

A short girl with long brown hair approached Kira and sat down. “Hi, my name is Sarah. Don’t worry about the rest of them. I thought your mooncakes were delicious. Thank you for bringing them in to share with the class. I’ve never tasted anything like them before.”

“No problem. I just wanted to bring in something nice to share as a surprise so that everyone would like me and maybe I could fit in.”

“Don’t worry, most of the girls in this class are so boring anyway. I like you. Really, I’m glad to have someone as interesting as you in our class. All they do is sing and dance. When it’s time for the talent show, you’ll see.”

“What talent show?”

“There is a big talent show for the whole school next week, are you going to enter? The winning class gets to keep the class pet for a whole month.”

Chapter 4: Talent Show

“Did they love the mooncakes or what?” asked Kira’s mom.

“Some of them did. I think the teacher loves me now, and I even made a friend - her name is Sarah. But when I told them that there is bean paste in them, some of the students spat it out.”

“What? How could they not like mooncakes? We’ve been putting beanpaste in our mooncakes for generations, it is part of what makes them so creamy.”

“I tried explaining that. They didn’t care, they just said that Dylan’s cupcakes were better.”

“Anyone can make cupcakes. There is nothing like our mooncakes anywhere else on Earth.” Kira’s mom took a deep breath in and smiled. “Even though not everyone loved the mooncakes, at least your teacher loved them and you made a new friend.

“That’s true. Thanks for helping me make them. I also learned that there is a talent show next week. I’m not sure if I'm going to enter it, but it should be fun.”

“You should play the Zither,” said Kira’s dad.

“No way. Some of them already think I am a weird girl with a weird name who loves beans and is a kung-fu master. I’m probably not going to do anything. I only just started to get accepted by the teacher and Sarah. It would be stupid to put myself out there again just to be ridiculed.”

“No. You said that the mooncakes were risky and it made you a friend and the teacher love you. Trust me. You can do something that none of the other students can do. Focus on the positive. You shared your family recipe and a treat from your culture, and in turn the community started to open up to you. Not everyone is going to like everything you do, so you should focus on the positive. You were appreciated. If you share something as special as your ability to play the zither I guarantee that they will be impressed.” said Kira’s dad.

“If she doesn’t want to do it, we can’t make her. Maybe Kira is right; it isn’t the best idea,” said Kira’s mom.

Kira’s dad looked deeply into Kira’s eyes. “Do you enjoy playing the zither?”

Kira chewed on her lip. “Yes.”

“Is it something that only you can do?”

“Probably, yeah. Sarah said all the other girls only sing and dance.”

“Then it is a perfect talent. Music can transcend culture, and when you share your unique talent, they will be forced to appreciate you for who you are and reimagine how you might fit into their community.”

“I guess that is true. Food goes beyond culture, and the teacher loved my mooncakes. I’ll do it.”

“You won’t get anywhere if you don’t put yourself out there. That is how you find your people. When you are vulnerable and kind, people might not like it, but some people will love it.

Kira brought her Zither to school at the end of the following week. At first, she was nervous because she felt out of place sitting with her zither in the audience. However, as she watched all the girls do the same songs and dances, she realized that her talent was extraordinary.

When Kira’s turn to play came, the tall blonde girl started laughing as soon as she set up the zither. “What does she think she’s going to do with that thing? I hope she doesn’t turn us all into bean cakes.” The students broke out in laughter.

“Shhh!” Mrs. Anderson called out, and the students went quiet. Mrs. Anderson Nodded to Kira and smiled.

Kira slowly started to pluck the strings on her zither and played her song. A hush fell over the room as they were all mesmerized by her playing. Most of the students had never seen a zither so could not fully comprehend its beauty, let alone appreciate the beauty of her playing.

Kira picked up the speed of her playing and as she traversed the strings with precision the students bobbed in their chairs and whispered excitedly to one another. When she finished playing, the whole crowd stood up and clapped. Even the blonde girl with the pony tail stood up and applauded.

Kira beamed as she soaked up the applause. Finally, she felt appreciated.

The judge announced Kira as the winner of the talent show and after she accepted the award she was congratulated for winning the class pet by her classmates.

Even the tall pony-tailed girl approached Kira. “A few of us are in a band. Would you be interested in playing with us sometime? You have some serious skills.”

“Wow, that sounds great. I’d love that.”

Sarah approached Kira. She said, “That was amazing. Where did you learn to do that?”

“In China.”