THE DIAMOND EXPLORER

In Yang’s middle-grade debut, a Hmong American boy makes sense of his place in the world.

In Part 1, readers meet Malcolm, who, through chapters written from the perspectives of his immediate family and elementary school teachers, grows from a kindergartener to a fifth grader. The youngest child of an older, working-class couple who came to Minnesota as refugees, Malcolm lives with his oldest sister, True, and her husband during the week so he can attend a private school; on weekends, he returns to his parents’ prairie home. Although this arrangement was a decision made with love, his family grapples with regrets and hopes. Meanwhile, many of his white teachers treat him differently due to their own biases. In Part 2, 11-year-old Malcolm takes over the narrative, revealing an introspective, sensitive, and lost young person. Malcolm collects family stories in order to “travel from the life I was living” and to connect with his family history. All four of his grandparents were shamans, and the shamans’ spirits are calling to Malcolm. After embarking on a spiritual journey, he finds himself literally immersed in the stories from his family’s history—stories from before he was alive, stories that aren’t without trauma. Lyrical, evocative prose deftly captures Malcolm’s longing for a sense of belonging; Yang has crafted a layered, profoundly moving musing on grief, connection (and lack thereof), and identity.

A true gem.