Book: American Panda by Gloria Chao
Cover Design by Sarah Creech
Photography by Jill Wachter
Illustrations and Lettering by Steph Baxter
Edition: Hardcover
Description:
At seventeen, Mei Lu 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 pre-approved 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?
Rating: 5 stars
Review:
American Panda was such a good read, it had me feeling so many things as I read this amazing story. Mei Lu was trying to find herself when it seemed as if her life was already planned out by her well-meaning yet overbearing parents.
At 17 years old, Mei might be younger than most freshman starting college, however, she should be thrilled about being enrolled at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). But she was anxious and nervous because this next phase in her life came with even more pressure and expectations from her parents. She has been told that she will become a doctor but for someone who has an aversion to germs, is easily grossed out and doesn't have the slightest interest in biology, it makes holding on to her parents' dream that much harder.
She is under a lot of pressure to be the perfect daughter and make her parents proud especially since they disowned her older brother Xing years ago. Mei doesn't want to disappoint her parents but the more she experienced new things it was giving her a chance to figure out who she was and that she didn't want to be a doctor. She even rediscovered her love of dancing and started teaching dance classes which she of course was keeping from her parents. Adding to her growing list of secrets was meeting Darren Takahashi, a cute guy who is also a freshman at MIT. Knowing her parents wouldn't approve of Darren since he was Japanese American added even more guilt to her life because she really liked him.
Despite all of the guilt and secrets that were continuing to pile up especially after secretly reconnecting with her brother Xing, Mei was enjoying her life. However, things went from good to extremely bad once her secrets were revealed.
I found myself really engrossed in this story because Mei's life had never truly been her own until she started college. She had always did everything she could to be the perfect daughter including never questioning her parents' decisions about her life. Doing that never allowed her the chance to figure out who she was as a person. So when she started college, I don't think Mei or her parents were ready for the growth and change that came from her new independence.
This is an emotional and humorous story that deals with so much from parental expectations to cultural and generational issues. I don't think Mei's parents realized the pressure they were putting on their children by deciding how their lives should be. I believe they thought they were doing what was best for their children but Mr. and Mrs. Lu were shocked into realizing that their children wanted to live their lives their own way.
The author did a great job with writing this story and delving into who these characters are, making it easy to understand what they were going through. Mei's earnestness is impossible not to become inspired by and it's a thrill watching as she goes from a shy and quiet almost robotic individual to someone who is confident in who she was and what she wanted from her life.
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