Today's post is on American Panda by Gloria Chao. It is 311 pages long and is published by Simon Pulse. The cover is blue with picture of a pretty Asian girl on it with a cup of cocoa on it. The intended reader is someone who likes realistic young adult stories and stories about growing up. There is no foul language, no sex, and no violence it in this book. The story is told from first person close of the main character Mei. There Be Spoilers Ahead.
From the dust jacket- At seventeen, Mei should be in high school, but skipping fourth grade was part of her parents' master plan. Now a freshman at MIT, she is on track to fulfill the rest of this predetermined future: become a doctor, marry a preapproved Taiwanese Ivy Leaguer, produce a litter of babies.
With everything her parents have sacrificed to make her cushy life a reality, Mei can't bring herself to tell them the truth--that she (1) hates germs, (2) falls asleep in biology lectures, and (3) has a crush on her classmate Darren Takahashi, who is decidedly not Taiwanese.
But when Mei reconnects with her brother, Xing, who is estranged from the family for dating the wrong woman, Mei starts to wonder if all the secrets are truly worth it. Can she find a way to be herself, whoever that is, before her web of lies unravels?
Review- A cute story about a young woman choosing to live her life not the life planned for her. Mei feels trapped by her life, her parents have her life pre-planned without asking her what she wants, her brother has been disowned but she still wants to see him, and worse of all she has a crush on a Japanese boy. Mei just does not know what to do. Mei has some really hard choices to make for herself and this is story about how she does it. It is not pretty but it is real with all the problems that comes with it. Mei does learn so much over the course of the book, she grows, she changes, and she starts to become the person she is meant to be. I was pulling for her to learn about herself and learn to take what she wants from the world. I really enjoyed this book and was moved by Mei's journey.
I give this novel a Five out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I borrowed this book from my local library.
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