Ruth has only known life in Canada. But when her Chinese-born father has a job opportunity in Hong Kong, he and his wife excitedly make plans to move back to their home country, uprooting Ruth from the only life she has known. Her older brother is a boarding school student and gets to stay behind, so Ruth, their pets, and her parents set off to start over. At least, it’s starting over for Ruth. She speaks a little Cantonese, as her parents insist on using that language as much as possible, but isn’t prepared for life where it’s the primary language. She’s devastated to leave her tight group of girlfriends. But with the help of her father’s stories, about his own parent’s journey to America as a result of the Sino-Japanese wars, and with the help of a few students also facing their own adaptive challenges, she finds the fun in her new life and grows closer to her parents in the process.
This was the pick for my tween graphic novel book club this month, and we all loved it. Ruth’s story is very relatable, even if you haven’t moved halfway around the world, as the changes she has to face are still fairly universal: a new school and making new friends, adapting to a large extended family you barely know, and navigating communication issues with parents. The art is so cute and engaging with a lot of funny expressions and pop culture references. The author cleverly depicts the multilingual communication with color (black text for spoken English, gray text for characters speaking in Cantonese that Ruth DOES understand) and Chinese characters (for the Cantonese Ruth is still figuring out). The narrative breaks off from Ruth’s POV once in awhile to showcase her father’s journey; he was born premature as his family hid out in a barn. Those sections are shown in sepia tones, which is a nice treat at the end, when the author shares a sepia toned photo of her father’s actual family shortly after they left China. Ruth also includes photos of herself and her friends. The kids were a little skeptical of the 90s clothes and technology. I tried not to take it personally.