I had mixed feelings about this book, but overall I think it is a good multicultural book. One reason that I liked this book is because it showed a global perspective about what life is like for a child in a Greek village. Yanni, the main character, has to collect trash throughout the village on an old wagon run by a donkey to help support his family. His father is often away working, and his mother also has to work. This sort of job is very uncommon in America due to the technology we have today and to the good fortune a lot of children experience, especially at the young age of eight. Not to mention, most of the readers probably have little knowledge of what a poor Greek village looks like, so they are able to understand what it is like there. One reason I didn’t enjoy this book is because of the alternate message that could be taken away from the book. After some of Yanni’s friends made fun of him for collection trash and gave him the nickname of “Yanni Rubbish,” Yanni decides to fix up his wagon in the hope of getting his friends to stop calling him that name. All of his friends are really impressed with his new wagon and want to take a ride in it, and all is well with the friends. I think this sends the message that if you spruce up your material possessions, people who used to bully you will now want to be your friend because you have new cool things, which isn’t the best message to be sent. Overall, I think the biggest idea of this story is that work ethic is a valuable quality to have and that it really pays off to help support your family. ( )