 | Age 16 Author: Fung, Rosena | |
| Price: $14.75 | ||
Summary:
Sixteen-year-old Mei Laan longs for a future of freedom, and her beauty may be the key to getting it. Sixteen-year-old Lydia wants nothing more than to dance and to gain approval from her mother, who is largely absent and sharply critical, especially about the way she looks. Sixteen-year-old Roz is grappling with who she wants to be in the world. When Roz's estranged por por abruptly arrives for a seemingly indefinite visit, three generations are now under one roof. In graphic novel format.
Reviews:
Kirkus Reviews (05/01/24)
School Library Journal (00/05/24)
Booklist (04/15/24)
The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books (00/06/24)
Full Text Reviews:
Booklist - 04/15/2024 Fung (Living with Viola, 2021) presents the pivotal experiences of three 16-year-olds: Roz in Toronto in 2000; Lydia in Hong Kong in 1972; and Mei Laan in Guangdong province, China, in 1954. Roz is a vivacious, artistically talented high-schooler plagued by her weight. Her single mother, Lydia, too, struggles with body image after enduring the critical scrutiny of her mother, Mei Laan. Mei Laan, who dreamed of escaping oppression in China, landed as second wife to a cruel older man. Resentment and estrangements loom until Mei Laan arrives in Toronto after years of contentious silence. Fung notably color-codes her dynamic panels—purple for Roz, orange for Lydia, green for Mei Laan; overlapping colors cleverly suggest slowly mending bonds. “This work is a book of fiction,” Fung explains in her resonating author’s note, “but it is also a generational memoir,” underscored by striking photographs of Fung, her mother, and her grandmother, which clearly inspired her illustrations. In creating empathic art, Fung alchemizes painful personal history into an empowering homage “to help us realize we’re already who we’re supposed to be.” - Copyright 2024 Booklist.
