Book Description
for Almost American Girl by Robin Ha
From Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)
An only child raised by her single mother, Chuna lives happily in Seoul, South Korea. On a vacation to Huntsville, Alabama, Chuna is stunned and devastated to learn that they will not be returning home; her mother plans to marry the man they're visiting, a recent immigrant from Korea. Thrust into a mostly white school with no language-acquisition program, Chuna is miserable and lost. Her new stepfamily is cold and resentful, and classmates either ignore or bully her. Her one escape is art; she enjoys drawing her favorite Korean comics heroine. When her mom finally enrolls her in a comics-drawing class, Chuna befriends Jessica, a kindred spirit and biracial (Japanese/white) girl. But life truly improves only once Chuna (who takes the American name Robin) and her mom move north, and Chuna enrolls in a diverse high school where she makes Korean American friends. Scenes from Chuna's childhood, including mistreatment at the hands of a teacher, are neatly woven into the main narrative. Ha's close but contentious relationship with her fiercely protective mother, who faced discrimination and was socially ostracized as a single mother in Korea, lies at the heart of this affecting graphic memoir. (Age 12 and older)
CCBC Choices 2021. © Cooperative Children's Book Center, Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison, 2021. Used with permission.