A NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER AND NOTABLE BOOK OF 2021 โข ONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2021 โข A TODAY SHOW #READWITHJENNA PICK โข The moving story of an undocumented child living in poverty in the richest country in the worldโan incandescent debut from an astonishing new talent
In Chinese, the word for America, Mei Guo, translates directly to โbeautiful country.โ Yet when seven-year-old Qian arrives in New York City in 1994 full of curiosity, she is overwhelmed by crushing fear and scarcity. In China, Qianโs parents were professors; in America, her family is โillegalโ and it will require all the determination and small joys they can muster to survive.
In Chinatown, Qianโs parents labor in sweatshops. Instead of laughing at her jokes, they fight constantly, taking out the stress of their new life on one another. Shunned by her classmates and teachers for her limited English, Qian takes refuge in the library and masters the language through books, coming to think of The Berenstain Bears as her first American friends. And where there is delight to be found, Qian relishes it: her first bite of gloriously greasy pizza, weekly โshopping days,โ when Qian finds small treasures in the trash lining Brooklynโs streets, and a magical Christmas visit to Rockefeller Centerโconfirmation that the New York City she saw in movies does exist after all.
But then Qianโs headstrong Ma Ma collapses, revealing an illness that she has kept secret for months for fear of the cost and scrutiny of a doctorโs visit. As Ba Ba retreats further inward, Qian has little to hold onto beyond his constant refrain: Whatever happens, say that you were born here, that youโve always lived here.
Inhabiting her childhood perspective with exquisite lyric clarity and unforgettable charm and strength, Qian Julie Wang has penned an essential American story about a family fracturing under the weight of invisibility, and a girl coming of age in the shadows, who never stops seeking the light.
