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Messy Roots: A Graphic Memoir of a Wuhanese-American

Messy Roots: A Graphic Memoir of a Wuhanese-American

by Laura Gao

HarperAlley ·2022 ·272 pages
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79/99
Top of the Pile

80/99

Critics' Rating Index

Top of the Pile

78/99

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About This Book

After spending her early years in Wuhan, China, riding water buffalos and devouring stinky tofu, Laura immigrates to Texas, where her hometown is as foreign as Mars--at least until 2020, when COVID-19 makes Wuhan a household name. In Messy Roots, Laura illustrates her coming-of-age as the girl who simply wants to make the basketball team, escape Chinese school, and figure out why girls make her heart flutter. Insightful, original, and hilarious, toggling seamlessly between past and present, China and America, Gao's debut is a tour de force of graphic storytelling.


Reviews

"Beyond Gao's circumstances as an immigrant, her depiction of her experiences as an athlete, daughter, sister, and a young woman wrestling with her identity and sexuality will resonate with a wide range of young adult readers."

Raphael Rogers· Booklist Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"Instead she brings us along as she grows, learns to appreciate her strong roots, reconnect with her family, and explore the person she's becoming ..."

Marissa Moss· The New York Journal of Books Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"A nuanced representation of being Asian and transnational in the contemporary U.S."

Kirkus Read review ↗ Near the Top

"In this fresh, frank, and tender debut, author-illustrator Gao offers a compellingly layered graphic memoir, which navigates recollections of an early-aughts adolescence as well as Covid-19-era anti-Asian racism ..."

Publishers Weekly Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

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