"Nobody liked grandpop much. He spoke his mind and had a sharp tongue too. So he was always getting into fight with someone. On any given day, he feuded with half of Chinatown."

In The Imp that Ate My Homework, Laurence Yep introduces young readers to Jim, a young Chinese boy who lives in Chinatown with his family. An essay assignment about his grandpop turns into a scary adventure for Jim because an imp confronts him.  The imp shows up in Jim's bedroom one morning and makes life miserable for the boy. After Jim realizes the imp, a green four-armed creature, is seeking revenge on his granpop, the two band together to destroy him. As a result, Jim quickly finds out there is more to his cranky old grandpop than meets the eye.

Huang's black and white pencil drawings include various lifestyle images of Jim's Chinese-American family.  The illustrations showcase the family having a traditional dinner of rice and mixed vegetables. Paintings of the imp, a demon in Chinese folklore, portray the creature as a dark and hairy creature with horns!   Yep is successful at combining tradition with adventure. Jim is required to attend "Chinese School" and is scolded by grandpop, because he refuses to practice various Chinese traditions. Huang's drawings creatively connect vivid images of the imp and Jim's family to Yep's in-depth, descriptive, and hilarious text.