Finally Seen

December 15, 2022
A Chinese girl moves to America to be reunited with her family. When she was 5, Lina's parents and baby sister left her in Beijing with her grandmother. Now she arrives in Southern California as a 10-year-old stranger to her own family. And what of the American dream? Her scientist father toils (sans green card) for a villainous, bigoted organic farmer, while her mother, unemployed since the pandemic put the nail salon where she worked out of business, makes bath bombs to sell online. They live in a one-bedroom apartment whose back rent is due in six weeks. Why isn't Lina in any of the pictures displayed in their home? School is worse. Bullied by mean girls for her English, she vows never to speak again. But with the help of her ELL teacher, the school librarian, and a new friend, Lina begins to find her confidence and her voice through reading. Yang covers a lot of ground, from immigrant experiences and socio-economic inequities to climate change and middle school angst. The plotline that really stands out, however, is when Lina discovers that books can comfort the struggling, link people together, and create changes both internal and external. This theme propels the action through the book's satisfying climax when she must decide whether to use her voice to stop a book that she loves from being banned in her classroom. Timely and pointed. (Fiction. 8-12)

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January 2, 2023
Five years after her parents left her in Beijing with her maternal grandparents, Lina Gao eagerly awaits being reunited in America, where she’ll be starting the fifth grade. Though she’s sad to leave her beloved Lao Lao behind, she’s enthusiastic about what she perceives as the American dream: endless Frappuccinos and saying “I love you” all the time without embarrassment. But American life isn’t how her parents have described it in letters. The two-story house she’s been told about is actually an apartment, its back rent looming ever since the pandemic closed the salon that employed her mother. To make ends meet, Lina’s mom sells bath bombs online, while her father works long hours for an irritable, xenophobic farmer who engages in shady business practices. As Lina attempts to adapt, facing bullying at school, she finds solace in the form of an encouraging teacher, new friends, and the school library. And gradually, when a class book selection that resonates deeply with Lina is challenged, her growing confidence develops into a tool she can use to speak out. In a thematically wide-ranging, character-driven novel, Yang (Front Desk) highlights the importance of representation alongside one child’s experience of navigating a complex reality. Ages 8–12. Agent: Tina Dubois, ICM Partners.

January 1, 2023
This contemporary immigrant tale follows a Beijing girl as she reunites with her parents and younger sister in California after five years of separation. Lina Gao, ten, thinks that her father is a successful microbiologist who owns a big house. -Reality kicks in when the fifth grader discovers that her father is a farm worker, the family lives in a cramped apartment, and her mother sells bath bombs online in hopes of covering the back rent. Yang does a skillful job in portraying Lina's multitude of emotions. There's the sadness of leaving her grandmother behind in a Chinese nursing home and the isolation and loneliness stemming from language barriers. Issues of racism and class come up when her parents struggle to be paid fairly and to get updates on their green card applications, Lina is teased at school, and a graphic novel with an Asian American protagonist is targeted for censorship. The most poignant scenes occur as Lina slowly removes the "invisible thread" that prevents her from freely expressing herself, especially when ESL teacher Mrs. Ortiz tells her that even though immigrants are "burdened with a lot of guilt," it is important to remember that "your dreams matter. You matter. Never forget that." Michelle Lee

(Copyright 2023 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

Starred review from December 1, 2022
Grades 4-7 *Starred Review* Lina was five years old when her parents and two-year-old sister moved from China to America, leaving Lina with her beloved grandmother. For five years, Lina has wondered why she was left behind. Now she is flying to Los Angeles to grow up with her sister and her parents. Confused by the disconnect between her dreams of America and the reality of her family's poverty, she helps her mother make and sell items in hopes of avoiding eviction from their small apartment. Lina feels guilty about leaving her aging grandmother, and she avoids speaking English at school for fear of ridicule. But after she begins to accept help from others, Lina discovers allies, learns to express her emotions through words and pictures, and even finds the courage to speak up before the school board when a wealthy parent seeks to ban a book by a Chinese American writer. In this involving, realistic chapter book, a likable character overcomes a series of obstacles while forging strong connections with her parents, her sister, and two friends. Yang, the author of Front Desk (2018), writes with a beguiling combination of clarity, simplicity, and immediacy in a new story exploring the practical and emotional challenges of immigration as experienced by children.

COPYRIGHT(2022) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from September 29, 2023

Gr 3-7-Arriving in Los Angeles from Beijing after five years away from her parents and little sister Millie, fifth grader Lina Gao has a lot of challenges. First, she found that her parents have been lying about their lives in the U.S.-her microbiologist dad is not a scientist as he claimed in his letters; he is an organic regenerative farmer who works at least 15 hours a day in the field. Her family does not live in a two-story blue house with a white fence, but in a cramped apartment in Los Ramos where she sleeps on a bunk bed. And her mother and little sister make and sell bath bombs on Etsy to repay the extensive back rent they owe from the pandemic. Lina also discovers her parents' green card applications still haven't been filed, after years of waiting. On top of that, Lina has a lot of adjustments at school, including making friends and speaking English. Luckily, she is assigned to work with a special education teacher, Mrs. Ortis, who is a young immigrant from Guatemala. With support from Mrs. Ortis and school librarian Mrs. Hollis, who recommends books that speak to her experience, Lina begins to adjust to her new life. Yang's latest depicts Lina's courage, kindness, and hard work to navigate her first year in the U.S. while building relationships new and old. VERDICT A great novel that depicts the challenges of being a Chinese immigrant in the U.S. while highlighting universally relatable themes of feeling like an outcast for middle schoolers.-Anna Ching-Yu Wong

Copyright 2023 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2023
This contemporary immigrant tale follows a Beijing girl as she reunites with her parents and younger sister in California after five years of separation. Lina Gao, ten, thinks that her father is a successful microbiologist who owns a big house. Reality kicks in when the fifth grader discovers that her father is a farm worker, the family lives in a cramped apartment, and her mother sells bath bombs online in hopes of covering the back rent. Yang does a skillful job in portraying Lina's multitude of emotions. There's the sadness of leaving her grandmother behind in a Chinese nursing home and the isolation and loneliness stemming from language barriers. Issues of racism and class come up when her parents struggle to be paid fairly and to get updates on their green card applications, Lina is teased at school, and a graphic novel with an Asian American protagonist is targeted for censorship. The most poignant scenes occur as Lina slowly removes the "invisible thread" that prevents her from freely expressing herself, especially when ESL teacher Mrs. Ortiz tells her that even though immigrants are "burdened with a lot of guilt," it is important to remember that "your dreams matter. You matter. Never forget that."

(Copyright 2023 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)