When the coronavirus hits Hong Kong, ten-year-old Knox's mom makes the last-minute decision to move him and his siblings to California, where they think they will be safe from the virus. But life in America isn't easy. At Knox's new school, the other kids think that because he is from Asia, he must have brought over the virus. At home, Mom's freaking out because she just got fired, and Dad doesn't know when he'll see them all again, because all flights out of Hong Kong have been cancelled. As racism skyrockets during COVID, can Knox stand up to hate while finding his place in his new country?
Based on her own lived experience, New York Times bestselling author Kelly Yang spins a heart-warming tale of courage, hope and resilience in the face of unprecedented times.
Kelly Yang is the author of Front Desk, which was shortlisted for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize and won the 2019 Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature.
Kelly’s family immigrated to the United States from China when she was a young girl, and she grew up in California, in circumstances very similar to those of her main character. She eventually left the motels and went to college at the age of 13 and is a graduate of UC Berkeley and Harvard Law School.
She is the founder of The Kelly Yang Project, a leading writing and debating program for children in Asia and the United States. Her writing has been published in the South China Morning Post, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Atlantic.
