Are You Nobody Too?
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
After years of discomfort as the only Chinese student at her private middle school, Emily transfers to Chinatown's I.S. 23 for 8th Grade and ends up feeling more disconnected than ever. In this coming-of-age novel-in-verse, will Emily be able to find her way or will she lose herself completely?
After a year of distance-learning, Emily Sofer finds her world turned upside down: she has to leave the only school she's ever known to attend a public school in Chinatown. For the first time, Emily isn't the only Chinese student around...but looking like everyone else doesn't mean that understanding them will be easy--especially with an intimidating group of cool girls Emily calls The Five.
When Emily discovers that her adoptive parents have been keeping a secret, she feels even more uncertain about who she is. A chance discovery of Emily Dickinson's poetry helps her finally feel seen. . . but can the words of a writer from 200 years ago help her open up again, and find common ground with the Five?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
New Yorker Emily Sofer reluctantly attends a new middle school in Chinatown, where her white adoptive parents hope she can connect with her Chinese heritage. The change has separated Emily from her existing friends, though, and the tween has been feeling increasingly isolated. At school, she avoids the Five, a group of girls who "just seem happier" than Emily does, and who exacerbate her feelings of not belonging—feelings that worsen when she realizes that most of her classmates have Chinese parents. But she soon takes an avid interest in her English class, finds comfort in Emily Dickinson's poetry, and befriends Grace, a member of the Five, after discovering that they have similar extended family dynamics. As her classmates express excitement about the upcoming Lunar New Year, however—an excitement that Emily doesn't share—she fears that she will always be on the outside looking in on everyone else's lives. Introspective first-person verse skillfully depicts Emily's conflicting emotions, which feel palpable as she grapples with the social nuances of each new experience. Cane (Alma Presses Play) additionally explores Emily's shifting relationships with her family members alongside perceptive meditations on the Covid-19 pandemic and its effects on elderly individuals and those of Chinese ancestry. Ages 10–up.
