"The little girl I was would have been thrilled to encounter Meilan...
having found a character who embraces the complexity of being both
Chinese and American, I would have been able to echo her words: 'I am
not alone.'"
--New York Times Book Review by Jean Kwok
A family feud before the start of seventh grade propels Meilan from
Boston's Chinatown to rural Ohio, where she must tap into her inner
strength and sense of justice to make a new place for herself in this
resonant debut.
Meilan Hua's world is made up of a few key ingredients: her family's
beloved matriarch, Nai Nai; the bakery her parents, aunts, and uncles
own and run in Boston's Chinatown; and her favorite Chinese fairy tales.
After Nai Nai passes, the family has a falling-out that sends Meilan,
her parents, and her grieving grandfather on the road in search of a new
home. They take a winding path across the country before landing in
Redbud, Ohio. Everything in Redbud is the opposite of Chinatown, and
Meilan's not quite sure who she is--being renamed at school only makes
it worse. She decides she is many Meilans, each inspired by a different
Chinese character with the same pronunciation as her name. Sometimes she
is Mist, cooling and invisible; other times, she's Basket, carrying her
parents' hopes and dreams and her guilt of not living up to them; and
occasionally she is bright Blue, the way she feels around her new friend
Logan. Meilan keeps her facets separate until an injustice at school
shows her the power of bringing her many selves together.
The Many Meanings of Meilan, written in stunning prose by Newbery
Honor-winning author Andrea Wang, is an exploration of all the things
it's possible to grieve, the injustices large and small that make us
rage, and the peace that's unlocked when we learn to find home within
ourselves.
