UPROOTED

Leaving everything behind and starting anew requires courage, perseverance, and patience.

It’s 1993, and Ruth loves her life and friends in Toronto. So when her parents decide to move back to Hong Kong, she can’t help but focus on the negatives. Not only will she leave her school and friends behind, but she has only vague, unpleasant memories of visiting Hong Kong when she was younger, and she understands but barely speaks Cantonese. On top of that, her older brother, who’s a year from graduation, will be staying behind to attend boarding school, and her dad will be traveling extensively for work in China. This is a coming-of-age immigrant memoir with a twist that highlights the complex nature of migration: While many such stories take the characters somewhere new, Ruth and her family are ultimately returning to her parents’ home, albeit one that’s unfamiliar to Ruth. A story-within-a-story retelling of Ruth’s father’s family’s flight during the Sino-Japanese War in the 1940s provides further depth and context. Chan illustrates the stories with her signature humor and wit. The panels, colored in a soothing palette, feature clean lines and vividly express the characters’ range of feelings. Many of Ruth’s reflections on her extended Chinese family will ring true to those with Asian or immigrant families: A family tree that starts with Poh Poh and Gong Gong and ends with “NOT EVEN GONNA TRY” and an unwelcome encounter with a dish of chicken feet will have readers laughing in recognition.

Earnest, funny, and evocative.