Dear TBR:
The Read Harder Challenge that Book Riot does every year hasn’t been something I’ve felt too much need to participate in, because it was originally started to expand people’s reading horizons, and… I like mine where they are? Meaning, I do make a point of trying to read a leeeetle nonfic, quite a few books by writers of other ethnicities and cultures, including queer and disabled cultures, and a couple of books in translation per year. That said, this book snuck up on me. It’s …brilliant. And? I wish that there had been – or were – Squee Camps for all kids in a racial minority with a 90’s hyphenated identity (I say this acknowledging that some people reject the labels of “Whatever-American” and just say Black or whatnot). I worked at a summer camp for six years, and served on its board for a few years, so I’m all about summer camp books, but this one is a step above! If I’d read it in junior high, I would have wanted to be Chinese-American, just to include myself in the sense of belonging that the characters in this book eventually find.
Phoenny Fang isn’t ready for her last summer at Chinese cultural camp. The Summertime Chinese Culture, Wellness, and Enrichment Experience – “SQUEE” to those in the know – ages out its campers in the eighth grade, and so, this summer is IT – it’s going to be the BEST summer of Phee’s life, and she’s here for the special camp things – the crafts, the games, and the bonding. With her squad of ten close friends, she expects to have the Best Time, Ever. Of course, being that this is real life, nothing goes as planned. For one thing, Phee and friends are NOT in the same dorm. She’s rooming with her best friend, fortunately, but some of the rest of the girls she’s been hallmates with since forever are on aren’t close by. Second, there are two new girls in her the group, and it’s clear that they’re hostile. They hate camp, they hate cultural Chinese stuff, and they seem to hate Phee especially. EVERYTHING Phee does is wrong – including Mandarin words in conversation. Asking questions about their Chinese names. Even smiling at one of the new counselors in training – who has also been smiling at Phee, which makes her feel…feelings. Phee is spiraling. Not being with her friends, not getting her first choice in activities, and dodging weird feelings and hostile new girls is making what should be fun hard. Squee has always been a haven that Phee as looked forward to every year. Why are these new girls even at SQUEE if they hate Chinese culture so much? Why is everything coming apart?
Phee’s plate seems overfull already when the SQUEE socials are attacked by anti-Asian trolls. Suddenly there are new safety rules, a craft making holders for security whistles, and a renewed sense that the real world is intruding. All Phee wanted was to have the best camp experience ever, to end her time as a SQUEE camper on a high note, just like the previous summer. But, when it becomes clear that she’s trying to hang on to something that will never happen again, that she’s trying to keep Squee exactly the same as it always was – even when the new girls’ experiences make it clear that it needs to evolve and expand – Phoenny realizes that in order to have a memorable final summer at SQUEE like she wants, things have got to change.
One of the things I love about this book is that it is honest and speaks genuinely about the experience of being a hyphenated American. Phoenny is unhappy about the changes that have come to the camp, but one of them is Hall Meetings, where the campers give Snaps, Squawks and S’Ups each evening to kind of discuss their day. Snaps are compliments – and everyone is required to share those, Squawks are complaints, and S’Ups are questions they have for their counselors. As it turns out, these Hall Meetings are where the author put some of the most baldly honest interactions between the characters. Some might argue that the conversations between the characters aren’t quite realistic, and that no tween is that honest or articulate, but I would argue that this being a work of fiction for middle grade/junior high kids, that honesty is important. Here the characters discuss their feelings about being at a cultural camp when they’re Chinese kids adopted by white parents, they discuss cultural heritage trips, which are a real life joint effort by the government of China and the U.S. to encourage Chinese-born Americans to return to visit, and they discuss the pitfalls of speaking Cantonese or Mandarin well, or not at all. They discuss feeling like a “bad Asian” because of the perception of their white peers — or of their Chinese relatives at times — that they don’t know enough, aren’t acting Chinese enough, and aren’t good enough as they are. Most hyphenated-Americans I know would cherish these types of conversations if they allowed themselves to be honest enough to have them. This book would work best, to my mind, for OLDER MG readers. I would LOVE to read this book with a book club or a social studies/literature class – the discussion prompts here are worth gold.
Acknowledging that there are hundreds of new books from various children’s lit publishers every year, I was nonetheless annoyed that I had missed this one. Where are its accolades and fans? This is just as important a book as many other books coming out in March 2024 which have gotten ALA props. Still, this won has a ⭐️ Kirkus, was featured on The TODAY SHOW: Read with Jenna Jr. 2024 Summer Reading List, is a 2025 Charlotte Huck Honor Book for Outstanding Fiction for Children, a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection, and was honored as a Horn Book 2024 Summer Reading: Middle School selection. So, okay. I am now officially less annoyed. Respect to Andrea Wang, and here’s to more excellent books like this one.
Fresh onto the TBR:
- Somebody’s Daughter, Ashley Ford
- The Friend Zone Experiment, Zen Cho
- The Tribulations of Ross Young, Supernat PA, A.J. Sherwood
We are more than our outsides, more than looks that tags us with a label and put us in a box. Here’s to books to help us remember we all have worthy insides. Stay reading!
Until the next book, 📖
Still A Constant Reader