From School Library Journal
Grade 9 Up–This novel is a mostly successful exploration of teen hapa (half white, half Asian) life and the struggles unique to those who live between two distinct cultures. High school sophomore Patty Ho feels like she doesn't fit in anywhere: in her family, she is a distant second to her older brother; she sometimes feels out of place among her white friends; and she is decidedly concerned about fitting in at the math camp that she's getting ready to attend. When she arrives at Stanford University, however, Patty starts to see her situation a bit differently. The good-looking Asian boy she meets on the first day just might meet her strict mother's approval, and her new roommate is someone who, Patty notes, breaks all the rules. Just when she's starting to enjoy math camp, her domineering mother arrives and, convinced that Patty is spending more time having fun than studying, threatens to bring her home. There are some funny and thoughtful moments in the narrative as the teen undergoes significant changes in her feelings about herself and her family. The first 75 pages set up her situation at home and at school; they are both funny and telling. However, some readers might be disappointed because they can't see Patty back in her real world, and how her life has changed. In spite of these drawbacks, Headley's voice is a new and much-needed one that shows great promise.
–Amy S. Pattee, Simmons College, Boston Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
Gr. 8-11. In a wisecracking, first-person narrative reminiscent of Gaby Triana's
Cubanita (2005), half-Taiwanese Patty Ho calls herself "a Freakinstein cobbled together from Asian and white DNA." The 15-year-old feels as uncomfortable at school as she does at home, where her domineering Taiwanese mother subjects her to installments of the "Mama Lecture Series"--one of which ends in horrified Patty's enrollment in Stanford Math Camp. To her surprise, she actually likes the brainy, spirited campers, who encourage her to celebrate her
hapa (half-Asian) background and spur awakenings about both her intellect and her desirability (she upgrades from "ugly duckling" to "fiery hot chicky babe" by summer's end). Through a supportive aunt who lives near the camp, Patty also comes to a richer understanding of her tough but loving single parent. Headley lays on the empowering revelations with a trowel, and the stream of comic riffs, some of which miss the mark, slow this debut novel's pace. But Patty's contemporary, immediate thoughts about finding direction and relating to family have universal resonance, while her specific struggles will speak directly to biracial teens.
Jennifer MattsonCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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