Lost in Taiwan

Crilley, Mark. Lost in Taiwan. 2023. 256p. ISBN 9781368040990. Available in the graphic novels section of the library.

Paul is not happy. He was shipped halfway around the world by his dad to spend two weeks with his brother Theo, who settled in Taiwan two years ago, and has learned much of the language and culture. Paul, however, would prefer to stay on the couch and play video games with people he barely knows. Paul is not like his brother, and he does not like people. He doesn't want to get attached, and this whole vacation is nothing but an annoyance for him.

When Theo leaves with his girlfriend for an overnight trip, Paul is left alone. His friend back in the state convinces him to go looking for a brand new videogame console not yet available in the United States, so Paul googles directions, and heads out with his smartphone as a guide. He walks for miles throughout the city of Changbei before locating the store and discovering that the video game is in fact a game for children. 

Then, as if things couldn't get worse, Paul drops his phone in the sewer, and it stops working. Without directions on how to return to the apartment, Paul is lost in a city he doesn't know, and he does not speak the language. Meandering and looking for landmarks that would guide him back, Paul despairs to find his way again. His luck changes when Peijing asks him if he's okay. Peijing did a homestay in England the year before, and would love to open a teashop when she's older.

Despite the fact that Paul is completely lost, Peijing knows just the person who can help Paul get back home. But first, she has errands to run, and Paul better hang on tight as they drive through Changbei at full speed on a moped!

Beautifully illustrated, Lost in Taiwan shows that taking risks and making new friends is worth the experiences you will get out of it, and that life's accidental meetings can lead to lifelong friendships.

American Panda

Chao, Gloria. American Panda. 2018. 311p. 456 mins. ISBN 978-1-48149910-1. Available as an audiobook from Overdrive.

Mei is torn between her very traditional Taiwanese heritage, strictly enforced by her parents, and her decidedly American tastes in culture and activities. Driven by her parents and by the guilt to perform they instilled in her, Mei graduated early from high school, and, at seventeen, is now a freshman at MIT. Her parents really want her to become a doctor, but Mei hates germs and bodily functions, and instead loves dance. She would rather use her mastery of math to open and run her own dance studio, but she doesn't want to disappoint her parents.

Mei's Chinese heritage assumes she will be the obedient daughter who fulfill her parents' wishes. She needs to be a doctor, because it is a respectable and essential career that has great earning potential. She is to marry a man of Taiwanese heritage her mother will have selected, and she is to have a son, to continue the family line. Her brother Xing broke with tradition when he introduced her parents to his girlfriend, a woman who, due to a childhood sickness, would have difficulty conceiving a baby. As a result they disowned him and barred Mei from even contacting him.

Now at MIT, Mei is navigating the minefield that is roommates, parental expectations, classes, and cute boys like Darren, a Japanese American, not even counting her own wishes and desires. Darren looms large, but he's a no-no in her parents' eyes, with the Japanese responsible for China's suffering during the Second World War. As the first semester progresses, Mei sinks further into a web of lies she has told to keep the two parts of her life separate, but she soon realizes that she can neither be fully Chinese nor fully American, but rather a hybrid with the best and worst characteristics. Can Mei discover a way to reconcile these two parts of her life without antagonizing her family further while at the same time not denying who she really is?