American Panda | An Asian Coming-of-Age Story with a Bit of Romance

4/5 stars

Mei Lu skipped the fourth grade and is making her parents proud as a 17-year-old freshman at MIT. They have dreams of her becoming a doctor even though she doesn’t have the stomach for it, and they do not speak of her older brother, Xing, who was disowned for dating the wrong woman. As Mei experiences her freshman year and realizes she doesn’t want to pursue medicine, doesn’t feel Taiwanese, and has a crush on a very cute boy who is not Japanese, she struggles with the confidence to figure out who she is. 

I’ll begin the review with a small blunder that stuck in my head throughout the story. Mei spent some of her time teaching Chinese dance as part of a culture-camp-esque experience for Chinese adoptees. As she teaches, she thinks of how lucky the adoptees are for not having to straddle two cultures. I did a double-take when reading it because as a Chinese adoptee, I was definitely stuck in-between. This is a very common experience that is widely discussed in the adoption community, so I would have liked for some sensitivity readers to have looked over this passage in a book where the major theme is embracing one’s identity and being multicultural. 

I appreciated the author’s note about Mandarin and Pinyin at the beginning of the book. As a learner of Mandarin, I enjoyed the little language lessons I got on almost every page. They added context and helped me develop Mei as a character in my own mind. 

I am not sure if this was promoted as a YA romance or more of just a coming of age story. I would have hoped for a bit more romance, but the connection between Darren and Mei as they compare their experiences and help each other embrace themselves was heartwarming. I also liked seeing the relationship between Mei and Xing. It was intriguing seeing the perspectives of two children from the same family are were at very different stages of life. 

I am glad there is more representation for Chinese-Americans on the bookshelves. Plus, I loved that like me, Mei used dance to express herself. Overall, this was a good YA coming-of-age story about learning to embrace your identity.