While The Surprising Power of a Good Dumpling tackles heavy topics, it does so with nuance and hope. Anna Chiu, a Chinese Australian teenager, struggles to take care of her family while her mother battles a debilitating mental illness and her father runs his restaurant. Many readers will relate to this candid, emotional, yet heartwarming read about cultural identity, familial expectations and the ways in which mental illness can affect our lives.
An authentic novel about growing up in an Asian immigrant family with a mother who is suffering from a debilitating mental illness.
Anna Chiu has her hands full. When she's not looking after her brother and sister or helping out at her father's restaurant, she's taking care of her mother, whose debilitating mental illness keeps her in bed most days. Her father's new delivery boy, Rory, is a welcome distraction and even though she knows that things aren't right at home, she's starting to feel like she could be a normal teen.
But when her mother finally gets out of bed, things go from bad to worse. And as her mother's condition worsens, Anna and her family question everything they understand about themselves and each other.
The Surprising Power of a Good Dumpling is a heart-wrenching, true-to-life exploration through the often neglected crevices of culture, mental illness, and family. Its strong themes are balanced by a beautiful romance making it a feel-good, yet important read.
Wai Chim is a first-generation Chinese-American from New York City. Growing up speaking Cantonese around the house, she absorbed as much Western culture as she could through books, TV, and school. She spent some time living in Japan before making Sydney, Australia, her permanent home. In addition to her writing, Wai works as a digital producer/web developer for The Starlight Children's Foundation, whose programs offer entertainment, education, and technology to critically, chronically, and terminally ill children. Learn more about her at waichim.com.
Heartstopper fans rejoice! The novel that first introduced Nick and Charlie to the world is finally publishing in the United States for the very first time. And for new readers, Alice Oseman’s unflinching debut following Charlie’s older sister, Tori Spring, is a fantastic introduction to the vast (and growing) Heartstopper universe. Oseman’s US editor, David Levithan, knows the ins and outs of these characters and provided a bit of insight into Tori Spring’s struggles and other books that he thinks would resonate with Tori.
