THE SILENCE THAT BINDS US

A Chinese American teenager learns that silence can bind families together but also prevent them from standing up for larger causes.

Maybelline Chen is mourning the death of Danny, her beloved older brother who struggled with depression and died by suicide right after being accepted to Princeton. Her family’s deep pain is compounded when local Silicon Valley magnate Nate McIntyre publicly blames Asian families for the hypercompetitive school environment, attributing Danny’s suicide to what he claims are widespread Asian parental pressures. Infuriated and hurt, May writes an impassioned poem for the local paper in response, sparking a heated discussion about racism. But when her mother’s job working for Mr. McIntyre’s friend is imperiled by her activities, May must make a choice between speaking out and honoring her parents’ fear of making waves. With the help of her best friend, a daughter of Haitian immigrants, May rallies her classmates to reclaim the narrative while embarking upon a journey of recognizing her own complicity and complacency about racism. She acknowledges Asian discrimination against Black people, faces prejudice from other Asians, and comes to understand the harm of Asian silence and the model minority myth. The array of issues in this story is sensitively and beautifully handled, and May is an appealing character who moves through a complicated range of realistic emotions, including anger, fear, guilt, and jealousy.

A grieving teen fights Asian hate by finding her voice in this complex, timely story.