New From Here

by Kelly Yang (Author)

Reading Level: 4th − 5th Grade

From the New York Times bestselling author of Front Desk comes a poignant middle grade novel about courage, hope, and resilience as an Asian American boy fights to keep his family together and stand up to racism during the initial outbreak of the coronavirus.

When the coronavirus hits Hong Kong, ten-year-old Knox Wei-Evans's mom makes the last-minute decision to move him and his siblings back to California, where they think they will be safe. Suddenly, Knox has two days to prepare for an international move--and for leaving his dad, who has to stay for work. At his new school in California, Knox struggles with being the new kid. His classmates think that because he's from Asia, he must have brought over the virus.

At home, Mom just got fired and is panicking over the loss of health insurance, and Dad doesn't even know when he'll see them again, since the flights have been cancelled. And everyone struggles with Knox's blurting-things-out problem.

As racism skyrockets during COVID-19, Knox tries to stand up to hate, while finding his place in his new country. Can you belong if you're feared; can you protect if you're new? And how do you keep a family together when you're oceans apart? Sometimes when the world is spinning out of control, the best way to get through it is to embrace our own lovable uniqueness.

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Hardcover
$18.99

Kirkus Reviews

Yang deftly touches on complex issues including China-Hong Kong relations, racism, the grief of separation and dislocation, and the pandemic, all while maintaining a hopeful tone. A timely and compelling family journey.

Publishers Weekly

Drawing deeply from her own family's experiences, Yang (the Front Desk series) pens a tender, resonant narrative following the Wei-Evans, an American family living in Hong Kong when news of Covid-19 arises in January 2020. Middle child Knox, 10, who has a "blurting-things-out problem," doesn't want to leave his best friend--his white father--in Hong Kong as his work-focused Chinese mother, overachieving 12-year-old brother Bowen, and cheery six-year-old sister Lea plan to head to an inherited home in El Tercera, Calif. But soon, the oft-squabbling siblings must adjust to a single-parent household, East Bay schools, financial tension, an ADHD diagnosis for Knox, and mounting anti-Asian racism, including hateful confrontations as well as avoidance of Chinese people and food. Banding together, the siblings launch Operation Dad Come Over: raising money to afford their father's plane ticket, and applying to jobs on his behalf. Narrating from Knox's approachable, first-person-present perspective, Yang adeptly maintains a sense of hope and belief in love, balancing haunting dramatic irony ("That won't happen in America.... They have the most advanced medical system in the world") with moments of levity as the family works to be reunited. Back matter features an author's note. Ages 8-12. Agent: Tina Dubois, ICM Partners. (Mar.)

Copyright 2022 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

Review quotes



Kelly Yang
Kelly Yang is the New York Times bestselling author of Front Desk (winner of the 2019 Asian Pacific American Award for Children's Literature), Parachutes, Three Keys, Room to Dream, New From Here, and Finally Seen. Front Desk also won the Parents' Choice Gold Medal, was the 2019 Global Read Aloud, and has earned numerous other honors including being named a best book of the year by Amazon, The Washington Post, Kirkus Reviews, School Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, and NPR. Learn more at KellyYang.com.
Classification
Fiction
ISBN-13
9781534488304
Lexile Measure
-
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Publication date
March 20, 2022
Series
-
BISAC categories
JUV013060 - Juvenile Fiction | Family | Parents
JUV015020 - Juvenile Fiction | Health & Daily Living | Diseases, Illnesses & Injuries
JUV039250 - Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes | Emigration & Immigration
JUV011020 - Juvenile Fiction | People & Places | United States - Asian American
JUV039120 - Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes | Prejudice & Racism
JUV074000 - Juvenile Fiction | Diversity & Multicultural
Library of Congress categories
Fiction
Family life
California
Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder
Racially mixed people
Chinese Americans
Moneymaking projects
COVID-19 (Disease)

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