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This “timely and compelling” (Kirkus Reviews) middle grade novel about courage, hope, and resilience follows an Asian American boy fighting to keep his family together and stand up to racism during the initial outbreak of the coronavirus.
When the coronavirus hits Hong Kong, ten-year-old Knox Wei-Evans’s mom makes the last-minute decision to move him and his siblings back to California, where they think they will be safe. Suddenly, Knox has two days to prepare for an international move—and for leaving his dad, who has to stay for work.
At his new school in California, Knox struggles with being the new kid. His classmates think that because he’s from Asia, he must have brought over the virus. At home, Mom just got fired and is panicking over the loss of health insurance, and Dad doesn’t even know when he’ll see them again, since the flights have been cancelled. And everyone struggles with Knox’s blurting-things-out problem.
As racism skyrockets during COVID-19, Knox tries to stand up to hate, while finding his place in his new country. Can you belong if you’re feared; can you protect if you’re new? And how do you keep a family together when you’re oceans apart? Sometimes when the world is spinning out of control, the best way to get through it is to embrace our own lovable uniqueness.
This “timely and compelling” (Kirkus Reviews) middle grade novel about courage, hope, and resilience follows an Asian American boy fighting to keep his family together and stand up to racism during the initial outbreak of the coronavirus.
When the coronavirus hits Hong Kong, ten-year-old Knox Wei-Evans’s mom makes the last-minute decision to move him and his siblings back to California, where they think they will be safe. Suddenly, Knox has two days to prepare for an international move—and for leaving his dad, who has to stay for work.
At his new school in California, Knox struggles with being the new kid. His classmates think that because he’s from Asia, he must have brought over the virus. At home, Mom just got fired and is panicking over the loss of health insurance, and Dad doesn’t even know when he’ll see them again, since the flights have been cancelled. And everyone struggles with Knox’s blurting-things-out problem.
As racism skyrockets during COVID-19, Knox tries to stand up to hate, while finding his place in his new country. Can you belong if you’re feared; can you protect if you’re new? And how do you keep a family together when you’re oceans apart? Sometimes when the world is spinning out of control, the best way to get through it is to embrace our own lovable uniqueness.
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Community Reviews
What a phenomenal, extraordinary novel! With the pandemic still (unfortunately) raging in our world, this story needed to be told. Based on many true events in Kelly Yang's journey, this book tells the story of a mother and her three children who leave Hong Kong for America just as the virus starts to spread. They believe that coming to the US will be safer as the virus will be less likely to come there and infect the masses. This story is about hard work, resilience, bravery, and making the difficult choices. Throughout the journey, we see just how difficult it is and probably was for many families to make that kind of move in the middle of a pandemic with prices rising and with it harder to find jobs. We also see just how Asian Americans were treated when news reports were convincing so many that this pandemic was China's fault or the "Asian" germs. There were times reading this book that I thought, this must be fiction but unfortunately for Yang and many more this was real life. There was one line that really stuck with me throughout this story: "Love is the vaccine for racism and words of hate will always be overpowered by words of love." As our world continues to deal with this pandemic, this is one book that I believe everyone should read!
Quotes I loved:
"I think it's important to contain the virus and protect people. But I also think that we should not use this as an excuse to be hateful toward people just because of where they came from. In moments of human tragedy, we need to show compassion and kindness." Pg. 16
"Still, I know from experience, just because you have a lot of people around you doesn't make you less lonely. It just makes your loneliness more squished" pg. 26
"I smile. It feels good to know I have options. That I'm not the only kid in the world going through this. And that I finally have a friend who gets it" pg. 115
"The point is, there are going to be people in life who try and make you feel bad for being different. Don't let them" pg. 237
"That's why the chancellor recognized me. It was for my efforts to help others. That's the true marker of success" pg. 328
"Hand in hand, we walk up the hill in our face masks with our parents. Things might be completely unpredictable. One day, we might be in the middle of a pandemic. The next day, we might be swimming in toilet paper. But somehow, we'll pull through it as a family" pg. 354
Quotes I loved:
"I think it's important to contain the virus and protect people. But I also think that we should not use this as an excuse to be hateful toward people just because of where they came from. In moments of human tragedy, we need to show compassion and kindness." Pg. 16
"Still, I know from experience, just because you have a lot of people around you doesn't make you less lonely. It just makes your loneliness more squished" pg. 26
"I smile. It feels good to know I have options. That I'm not the only kid in the world going through this. And that I finally have a friend who gets it" pg. 115
"The point is, there are going to be people in life who try and make you feel bad for being different. Don't let them" pg. 237
"That's why the chancellor recognized me. It was for my efforts to help others. That's the true marker of success" pg. 328
"Hand in hand, we walk up the hill in our face masks with our parents. Things might be completely unpredictable. One day, we might be in the middle of a pandemic. The next day, we might be swimming in toilet paper. But somehow, we'll pull through it as a family" pg. 354
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