American Panda
American Panda by Gloria Chao is a reprint edition published by Simon and Schuster on July 2, 2019, featuring 336 pages in English. This contemporary debut follows the life of Mei, a Taiwanese American teen navigating the pressures of her parents’ expectations as she attends MIT. While they envision a future where she becomes a doctor and marries a Taiwanese Ivy Leaguer, Mei grapples with her own identity, including her aversion to germs and her crush on a classmate who doesn’t fit the mold.
Readers will find a humorous and insightful exploration of cultural expectations and personal desires. As Mei reconnects with her estranged brother, she begins to question the secrets she keeps and the life her parents have planned for her. This narrative delves into themes of diversity and multiculturalism, offering a relatable perspective on the challenges faced by young adults in balancing familial obligations with their own aspirations.
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“Weepingly funny.” —The Wall Street Journal
“Delightful.” —BuzzFeed
“Charmed my socks off.” —David Arnold, New York Times bestselling author of Kids of Appetite and Mosquitoland
Four starred reviews for this incisive, laugh-out-loud contemporary debut about a Taiwanese American teen whose parents want her to be a doctor and marry a Taiwanese Ivy Leaguer despite her squeamishness with germs and crush on a Japanese classmate.
At seventeen, Mei should be in high school, but skipping fourth grade was part of her parents’ master plan. Now a freshman at MIT, she is on track to fulfill the rest of this predetermined future: become a doctor, marry a preapproved Taiwanese Ivy Leaguer, produce a litter of babies.
With everything her parents have sacrificed to make her cushy life a reality, Mei can’t bring herself to tell them the truth—that she (1) hates germs, (2) falls asleep in biology lectures, and (3) has a crush on her classmate Darren Takahashi, who is decidedly not Taiwanese.
But when Mei reconnects with her brother, Xing, who is estranged from the family for dating the wrong woman, Mei starts to wonder if all the secrets are truly worth it. Can she find a way to be herself, whoever that is, before her web of lies unravels?
From debut author Gloria Chao comes a hilarious, heartfelt tale of how, unlike the panda, life isn’t always so black and white.
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