The Diamond Explorer
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
From APALA-winning author and Guggenheim Fellow Kao Kalia Yang, a middle-grade debut about a Hmong American boy's struggle to find a place for himself in America and in the world of his ancestors.
Malcolm is the youngest child of Hmong refugees, and he was born over a decade after his youngest sibling, giving him a unique perspective on his complicated immigrant family.
In the first part of the story, we meet Malcolm as an elementary school kid through the eyes of the adults in his life—his parents and siblings, but also the white teachers at his Minnesota schools. As middle school begins, we encounter Malcolm in his own words, and suddenly we see that this "quiet, slow Hmong boy" is anything but. Malcolm is a gifted collector of his family's stories and tireless seeker of his own place within an evolving Hmong American culture, and his journey toward becoming a shaman like his grandparents before him is inspiring and revelatory.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This sophisticated novel by Yang (Caged) showcases how time, location, culture, and death affect 11-year-old Malcolm, as told by the protagonist and the individuals who shape his environment. In a quietly joyous first-person prologue, Malcolm recalls his home in Minnesota, where "the clouds, in the arms of the mighty wind, dared to block out the shine of the sun and showed me what courage can do," immediately establishing his intelligence and sensitivity. Subsequent largely adult-focused chapters highlight others' perceptions of him: his teachers disparage his quiet demeanor ("You are a stoic little man"), while loving narration from his parents, siblings, and deceased relatives describes him as a "gentle but also special" child. At the midway mark, Malcolm returns to tell his own story, in a scene during which his first experience with death exposes him to racism. Even as American-born Malcolm grows distant from his Hmong identity ("He's beginning to sound just like a white kid"), his family's shamanic heritage surfaces in dreams. Yang centers adult concerns in this richly wrought tale about a boy coming into his own. Ages 10–up.
