If you’ve executed any quantity of air journey, you already know that airports are good locations for people-watching. And should you’ve ever encountered a flight delay, you’ve seen firsthand how overcrowded terminals mixed with the frustration of modified or canceled plans can grow to be a recipe for a uniquely demanding setting. That combination makes a busy Chicago airport the proper setting for You Are Here: Connecting Flights, a set of linked quick tales written by a dozen of essentially the most acclaimed Asian American writers for youngsters and younger adults and that includes Asian American characters discovering their strengths and voices.
You Are Here opens with Christina Soontornvat’s contribution, which follows a boy named Paul as he prepares to move by airport safety along with his dad and mom, little sister and grandmother for a flight to Thailand. He learns that his grandmother has a secret in her carry-on bag, which begins a sequence response that reverberates all through a number of different tales.
The assortment takes place on the weekend earlier than Independence Day, so many characters are heading off on summer season adventures, corresponding to Mike Chen’s Lee, a gifted Chinese American guitarist who’s en route to go to his uncle, and Susan Tan’s Ari, who’s navigating the current divorce between her Jewish mom and her Chinese father. Others are getting ready to find their heritage by visits to their household’s nations of origin, although Meredith Ireland’s Mindy isn’t as keen to go to her Korean birthplace as her white adoptive dads appear to be.
Many characters expertise racism and should discover methods to counter stereotypes, together with some which might be internalized. Characters’ paths cross identical to they’d at an actual airport, and cautious readers will get pleasure from discovering how the tales intertwine in intelligent and revealing methods.
You Are Here was edited by We Need Diverse Books co-founder Ellen Oh, and it’s the primary launch from Allida, a brand new imprint at HarperCollins Children’s Books led by creator Linda Sue Park and editor Anne Hoppe; each Oh and Park additionally contribute tales to the quantity. In the e book’s again matter, biographies of every creator point out who wrote which story and what contributors like Grace Lin, Minh Le and Erin Entrada Kelly have in frequent with their characters.
You Are Here vividly illustrates the skills of a various group of creators in addition to the wealthy and different vary of Asian American experiences and identities.
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