SUMMER AT SQUEE

After surviving the loneliness of seventh grade, Phoenix can’t wait to be with her favorite people in her happy place just one last time, before she’s too old.

SCCWEE, or Summertime Chinese Culture, Wellness, and Enrichment Experience, is Phoenny’s sanctuary. She loves all the fun camp traditions and the heritage classes, like Chinese rice dough sculpting and ribbon dancing. But her plans for a perfect time are interrupted by the arrival of new girls who don’t share her positive attitude toward camp and Chinese culture, which leaves Phoenny feeling confused and threatened. Plus, she’s competing with one of them for the attention of the same boy. Thankfully, Phoenny has her passion for sewing clothes to help her deal with the stress. Once she learns that the new girls are transracial adoptees from white families and face their own unique set of challenges, Phoenny opens up, and a virtuous cycle of vulnerability, empathy, and acceptance ensues. When trolls post racist comments on the camp’s social media, the campers use their joyful creativity to resist the fear and hate. Through careful research and interviews, Wang has crafted a narrative that reflects many transracial adoptees’ feelings and experiences. The believable dialogue questions and explores deeply held beliefs about culture. Phoenny’s lovingly detailed, introspective viewpoint will positively influence readers’ awareness of their own emotional and cultural landscapes.

Blending moxie and grace, this novel is a worthy guide through cultural expansiveness and summer camp antics and angst.