Author: Kelly Yang
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Canada

From the New York Times bestselling author of Front Desk comes a poignant middle grade novel about courage, hope and resilience as an Asian American boy fights 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.

In trying to tackle four different themes – understanding the COVID-19 pandemic as it first unfolds, dealing with ADHD issues, tackling racism and dealing with a forced family separation – this novel falters. The writing is compelling enough and the three siblings’ dynamics are certainly realistic. But the first half drags for being mostly meandering dialogue and little action (endless banter, mundane exchanges), and the author’s failure to choose one primary focus weakens the novel’s overall impact.

Told from the first-person point of view of the middle boy (age ten with siblings six and twelve), the novel picks up nicely the second half, and works hard at delivering its anti-racism and it’s-okay-to-be-ADHD messages. But how many people want to read about the pandemic at all these days, let alone outdated initial fears and reactions? Plus, I found it astonishing that the kids’ blatant forging of their father’s resume, faking his job applications and even impersonating him in interviews not only went unpunished, but was praised. Finally, this novel is incredibly long for a middle grade book.

On the other hand, the novel offers good insights into being a new kid, especially a targeted immigrant. And it serves as a historical record of COVID-19’s arrival. In summary, it’s too bad the author couldn’t have settled on a primary focus and let the others hover more in the background. But readers interested in any or all of the issues, especially racism, will find it entertaining and enlightening.

- Pam Withers