The Unbeatable Lily Hong

by Diana Ma

Overview

A smart, funny, and heartfelt middle grade novel about Lily Hong’s attempts to save her parents’ Chinese school and the town’s community center using all the resources she has—devoted friends, ingenuity, a passion for filmmaking, mediocre dance moves (at best), and perhaps even her archnemesis.

If there’s one thing Lily Hong can’t stand, it’s being second best. That’s why she and Max Zhang have been bitter rivals ever since he swooped into town as the new kid with the cool clothes and his fancy downtown Chinese school and showed her up in the fifth-grade reading challenge.

She had wanted to be the one to win the pizza party for their class. Okay, so that was two years ago . . . her best friends Kelli and Lauren didn’t totally get it, but they were on her side. And that’s why they agreed to help Lily with her submission for the Clarktown’s Got Talent video competition. Filmmaking is Lily’s passion—which means winning is more important to her than ever.

Unfortunately, finding time to work on her video submission is proving harder than ever. In addition to doing regular homework and attending the Chinese school her parents own and run out of the Clarktown Community Center, Lily’s been getting weird vibes from her parents lately and she can tell something is up. Then her mom announces that the Clarktown Community Center is having its first showcase, and the students of Hong Chinese Academy will be performing as a group—traditional Chinese dance!

Lily is more confused than anything else—the community center is practically falling apart and they think this is a good time to put on a show? Could it be that the community center is in trouble and the only way to save it is to make the showcase a huge success? Lily has no choice. She’ll have to juggle the video competition and the art of Chinese dance simultaneously. But when Max Zhang unexpectedly shows up in her class at Chinese school with his perfect Mandarin and his surprisingly good dance skills, Lily might just have to embrace her longtime rival as a key part of her plan to save the community center.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780358617235
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	01/02/2024
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	492,993
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.25(h) x (d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Diana Ma is a Chinese American author who writes young adult and middle grade books that feature Asian American heroes. Diana was a 2019 We Need Diverse Books mentee with Swati Avasthi and a 2021 Highlights Foundation Muslim Storytellers Fellow. Diana lives in a suburb of Seattle and teaches composition, creative writing, literature, and humanities at North Seattle College.

Editorial Reviews

10/23/2023

A Chinese American tween has a dream—and a plan—to save her family business in this humorous middle grade debut by Ma (the Daughters of Dynasty series). Twelve-year-old Lily Hong and classmate Max Zhang are “destined to be archenemies forever.” The two have been competing academically since they were in elementary school, and now they’re battling in Lily’s favorite activity: filmmaking. Lily, along with her best friends, puts her all into getting ready for an upcoming film competition. But when her parents’ financial troubles start affecting the Chinese school that they own, Lily endeavors to help save the business by supporting her family’s efforts to host a dance performance fundraiser. As Lily struggles to keep her family’s financial challenges a secret from her friends, she also juggles taking Chinese dance lessons, completing schoolwork, and preparing for the film competition. She soon discovers that Max is also keeping secrets, and if the two want to accomplish their goals, they’ll have to bury the hatchet and partner up. Strong character relationships and meticulously balanced interweaving plots make this a lighthearted tale that emphasizes how friendship—both expected and unexpected—can help save the day. Ages 8–12. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

A delightfully adventurous romp with a lovably scrappy protagonist. — Kirkus Reviews

"Strong character relationships and meticulously balanced interweaving plots make this a lighthearted tale that emphasizes how friendship—both expected and unexpected—can help save the day." — Publishers Weekly

Ma offers a fresh take on the local fundraiser story by weaving in themes of community, identity, and gentrification. . . . An enjoyable read, especially for arts-obsessed or community-focused tweens. — Horn Book Magazine

From the Publisher

12/15/2023

Gr 5–8—Against all odds, a fiery narrator saves the day in YA writer Ma's debut middle grade novel. Aspiring filmmaker Lily always gets one-upped by her nemesis Max, the only other Chinese student in their small-town middle school outside of Seattle. The competitive heroine is determined to win the annual school district film competition; but her project suffers as she also tries to save the community center where her parents work and she grudgingly attends Chinese school. Lily's distractions pull her away from her loyal friends and closer to Max, who may be helpful in rescuing the center. Lily is a wonderfully flawed and believable character, quick to anger and judge, and funny in her sarcasm. Not all the others are as well developed, such as Lily's parents and other adults, but the book includes a nice array of people of diverse backgrounds. Fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Star Trek will also enjoy the many references and subculture portrayals, as well as those interested in Chinese mythology. There are abrupt scene changes and implausibly happy endings to complex problems, along with some bumpy wording along the way, but nothing to deter enjoying the tale. VERDICT A feel-good story with a simmering romance that will likely lead readers to Ma's YA novels.—Elissa Cooper

School Library Journal

2023-10-21
A Hui Chinese Muslim tween living in a small town outside Seattle struggles to find balance between family obligations and her passion for film.

If Lily Hong isn’t making films with her best friends from Clarktown Middle School, Kelli and Lauren, or attending Hong Chinese Academy, her family’s business located in the community center, she’s competing with her nemesis, Max Zhang. But Lily’s project for the upcoming Clarktown’s Got Talent video competition is interrupted by the news that the community center is going to be sold to developers—Max’s parents. To help raise the $100,000 needed to save the center, Lily’s mom plans a traditional Chinese dance show featuring performances by the students of Hong Chinese Academy. Torn between creating her film and participating in the dance, Lily attempts to do both, but when she lies in an effort to appease everyone, she ends up alienating her friends. Eventually Lily cracks from the strain and spills everything to Max, who is surprisingly empathetic, though she later questions her trust in him. Ultimately, Lily must find a way to make amends with her friends and figure out what she really wants to do. Ma touches on friendship issues, racism, gentrification, and balancing family expectations with personal goals. There’s a nice balance between the action-packed plot, the serious themes explored, and Lily’s comedic antics. Lauren is cued Black; Kelli presents white.

A delightfully adventurous romp with a lovably scrappy protagonist. (folktale, author’s note) (Fiction. 8-12)

Kirkus Reviews