American Panda is a wonderful book about a girl navigating the confusing worlds of first love, family dynamics, academic expectations and living away from home for the first time. Mei is wonderfully funny, loyal and smart, and the story moves quickly, wrapping the reader up in her world and her problems, making us feel her triumphs and troubles.

I very much enjoyed the way her relationship with her mother unfolded as the books went on. It was an incredibly realistic portrayal of how our perspectives about our parents change as we get older. And I loved the inclusion of Ying-Na and Mei's discovery of how her story really unfolded.

I requested this book because the teens on my advisory board have been asking for more books with Asian American characters. And although, as Ying-Na states, every Asian American story is different, I think this book will resonate with them, and even with readers of other backgrounds and cultures.

I remember adding this and wanting this when all I had seen about it was the cover. I LOVED seeing a POC on the cover and it made my heart skip a beat. And then when the synopsis came out, it I knew it was something I HAD to read.
Mei is a freshman at MIT at the age of 17. And that's just one of the things she's doing to make her parents happy. But she's never once thought about what makes her happy. But as time goes on, she watches those around her and realizes that there is more to life than putting other people before yourself.
I picked this up after a creepy read because I wanted something fluffy and funny to read right after it. And I definitely picked the right thing. American Panda really did make me laugh out loud. I loved being inside Mei's head because she was the awkward type of funny that I am as well. And because of that, I laughed at all her corny jokes and sometimes I laughed so hard I snorted water out my nose.
I also really liked the characters. They all made the story for me. I loved that no matter how big the character was in the story, they all had an equally important role. Also, Mei was sucha fun character to get to know. It was such a fun ride to being inside her head and watching her grow and find out so much about herself.
But what I loved most about this book was learning about the Taiwanese culture. It was great to learn about another culture and some of their beliefs and customs. I found many of them very interesting and tried to learn more about them.
However, I was not a fan of the plot. It moved a touch too slow for me. It seemed as if everything was based on the internal war that Mei was having with herself and since that isn't resolved until the end, it took quite a while for the twists and turns to come out.
American Panda is a very cute read that will also make you FEEL. It's a fluffy read, but still has enough heart to warm the reader, just like the hot chocolate on the cover.

Thanks so much to Netgalley and Simon Pulse for providing me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Plot: Seventeen-year old Mei is a freshman at MIT, thanks to skipping fourth grade- all part of her parents’ master plan. This plan also includes Mei becoming a doctor, marrying a Taiwanese boy selected by her parents, and have a bunch of babies. Unfortunately, between her hatred of germs, her inability to stay awake during biology lectures, and a crush on her Japanese classmate Darren, Mei knows that she doesn’t want this future that her parents have planned and worked so hard for. When she reconnects with her estranged brother Xing, she begins to wonder whether it was worth keeping so many secrets from her parents, or if it was possible for her to find a way to live life on her terms.

I think the Goodreads synopsis of this contemporary YA novel can be a little misleading. I went in expecting a hilarious romantic comedy of errors, but instead was hit with a plethora of intensely complicated emotional drama. Gloria delivers a very real story that is not uncommon in many Asian families. Mei is a strong narrator throughout the book, and I found myself getting caught up in her angst and conflicting emotions. She’s clearly experiencing a tremendous amount of cognitive dissonance- wanting to make her parents happy and not let their sacrifices go for nought, while at the same time having ambitions and dreams of her own that are so far left field from what her parents have envisioned for her. While I didn’t grow up with parents as intense as Mei’s, my expat childhood was filled with a lot of these constant, conflicting desires. Gloria does an excellent job as portraying them for what they are- hardworking immigrant parents who’ve lived their lives holding firmly onto these perspectives and values and wanting their kids to have a secure future to the point where they’ve lost sight of personal happiness and their kids’ happiness, and the fact that the world and the country they live in is very different from the one they grew up in. Mei’s parents are very conservative and old-fashioned, ascribe to all manner of superstitions and beliefs, and yes, their love is conditional on their kids’ obedience- as evidenced by the fact that their son is estranged for falling in love with a non-parental-approved girl. I developed a certain appreciation for Mei’s mother, especially towards the end of the book. She’s a complex woman, her own story is sad and touching, and as a reader you’re definitely given some perspective on how the same cultural values and beliefs she upholds has had its effect on her own life.

Mei’s character arc itself is really strongly written and great to follow- she goes from being the kid who is too scared and too sheltered to disobey her parents, to a person that accepts that in order to live her life on her terms she is going to have to be okay with disappointing them once in a while. Boy, is that a life lesson, and one that does not get easy over time (yes, this is indeed the voice of experience). Juxtaposing her passion for dance and her lack of interest in her pre-med courses is a really good choice in terms of the writing and helps with the progression of the story. It also really made me empathize with her emotional turmoil. I also absolutely loved that she’s a college student; that transitioning worldview and exposure to a plethora of ideas, experiences, and possibilities was one that I related to completely because I remember experiencing those things when I was 17 and had moved away from my parents for the first time. It’s exhilarating and nerve-wracking, and superbly depicted in the story.

As for the other side characters: I adored her brother, and I was super invested in their relationship. Again, I could relate to that entire story arc on a personal level (not my immediate experience, but it’s happened within our family). You can still see how he does hang onto some of the values he was raised with, and it’s interesting to see how sometimes you can fall into the traps of sharing your parents’ thought processes even if you don’t mean to. Ying-Na serves as a reference for all the things that could happen if you choose to go against your conservative parents and community, and I really liked how she doesn’t just remain a caricature in the end. Darren is an adorable love interest, but I definitely appreciated that their romance was a secondary arc that was there to reinforce the primary narrative instead of taking over Mei’s story.

Overall, this is an intense and emotional read. All the tiny pieces of the puzzle don’t miraculously fall into place in the end; these characters are all a work in progress, as in life, which I appreciate deeply. Unfortunately I didn’t write this review before my ARC expired but I think there’s a potentially amatonormative sentence in there somewhere that made me wince (don’t quote me on this, I don’t remember it. I’ll just have to wait for the finished copy to double-check). However, this novel is still deeply personal and Gloria’s voice and writing are an important addition to the Asian diaspora. Familial expectations versus following the path of uncertainty; undoubtedly, many will find a home, heart, and connection in it.

I loved this! A fantastic debut novel about the struggle between generations and learning to find and stand up for yourself.

Mei is the dutiful daughter—she's attending MIT, going to be a doctor, and going to be married to a Taiwanese boy her parents find. And aside from attending MIT, she wants none of it. Can she find her way alongside that of her over-bearing parents'? Or will she be forced to be a shell of herself for the rest of her life?

A fantastic, funny and emotional book that had me laughing, crying and cryaughing out loud, much to the consternation of my wife. I know absolutely nothing about Chinese or Taiwanese culture (but I went to college in Boston and know a lot of MIT grads....so....there's that), and this was a wonderful #ownvoices story about how one Taiwanese-American girl juggled life, school, love and family. It's fiction, but reads as deeply personal and ingrained in the author's own experiences, which makes the emotion so much deeper, the anxieties heavier and the stakes higher. And it's in Boston (okay, Cambridge but whatevs)!

I received this ARC from NetGalley for an honest review.

Even though this book is about the experiences of an Asian-American teen, and the pressure to maintain her cultural traditions, I totally related to this book. The story of Mei, and her epic clash with her parents wishes, is a universal one, of a young person breaking free of her childhood and finding her own way. This was a highly entertaining and, at times, heartbreaking book.

Blog post scheduled January 30
American Panda by Gloria Chao
Seventeen year old Mei is already a freshman at MIT, but her Taiwanese parents aren’t impressed. They won’t be satisfied until Mei graduates from medical school, becomes the “best doctor,” and marries an appropriate Taiwanese boy. Mei would rather be a dancer, and she’s far too much of a germaphobe to be a doctor. Darren, the boy Mei likes at MIT, is Japanese, and therefore completely unacceptable. Mei’s parents have never asked what she wants to do, and Mei feels tremendous guilt for even thinking about anything outside of her parent’s far-reaching expectations. Mei’s mom is a textbook helicopter parent; constantly calling and hovering to keep the pressure on Mei (and offering advice, such as for Mei to pinch her nose to make it smaller, maybe even with a clothes pin.)
Mei’s older brother Xing has been cast out by their parents, despite the fact that he’s almost followed the plan. He’s finishing his medical residency and dating a nice Taiwanese girl, but she is infertile. Because she might not be able to bear his children, Mei’s parents have banished any mention of Xing in the house.
Author Gloria Chao has written a hilarious and heartfelt character in Mei, and a frenetic, hovering Asian mother who eventually becomes a sympathetic character. While the average teen (hopefully) won’t relate to everything Mei is going through, they will see enough of their own family drama to relate to Mei’s plight. Plus, Chao places Mei into hilarious and uncomfortable situations, and those alone are worth reading. The family drama seems a little extreme, and some set-ups seem a bit stereotyped (the hovering Asian mother, for instance). But Mei’s reactions to these help round out the story. She stays in touch with her banished brother, and eventually comes to see that her parents are just as trapped by their culture as she is by her parent’s expectations. Despite some flaws, Mei shines through with all her imperfections. American Panda is a fun, lighthearted romp through a world most American teens haven’t experienced. I'm adding copies in all formats (print, eBook, eAudio book) to my library upon this title's release, and will book talk it widely with high school students.

American Panda is the story of college freshman Mei Lu, whose dreams clash with her immigrant parents' traditions as she begins school at MIT. It's not quite "new adult," since Mei is only 17 and in many ways more innocent than some high school YA protagonists. Still, the university setting will appeal to readers looking for a change from the norm. The insight into Taiwanese culture is unique, and it's refreshing to see a romance between two Asian-American characters (Mei's love interest is Japanese American). American Panda is goofy in a sweet way and relatable to anyone looking to walk their own path instead of the one that's been laid out for them.

American Panda is an incisive, laugh-out-loud contemporary debut about a Taiwanese-American teen whose parents want her to be a doctor and marry a Taiwanese Ivy Leaguer despite her squeamishness with germs and crush on a Japanese classmate.

At seventeen, Mei should be in high school, but skipping fourth grade was part of her parents' master plan. Now a freshman at MIT, she is on track to fulfill the rest of this predetermined future: become a doctor, marry a preapproved Taiwanese Ivy Leaguer, produce a litter of babies.

With everything her parents have sacrificed to make her cushy life a reality, Mei can't bring herself to tell them the truth--that she (1) hates germs, (2) falls asleep in biology lectures, and (3) has a crush on her classmate Darren Takahashi, who is decidedly not Taiwanese.

But when Mei reconnects with her brother, Xing, who is estranged from the family for dating the wrong woman, Mei starts to wonder if all the secrets are truly worth it. Can she find a way to be herself, whoever that is, before her web of lies unravels? (Via Goodreads)

I received a finished review copy of American Panda from the publisher, Simon Pulse, in exchange for an honest review. Just as I expected to, I loved this debut novel.

It is much heavier in content than you’d expect with its delightful cover, but I still fell in love with it. American Panda is an incredibly important story from a Taiwanese-American woman about trying to find a balance in her life. Mei is torn between two cultures that she’s entirely enveloped in, her parents’ very high expectations of her and what she desperately loves to do.

It does need some content warnings for ableist language, unwillingness to wear glasses, fat-antagonism, being germophobic, discussion of STDs, yeast infections, peeing into a cup, cutting up cadavers, disowning, death of a family member, and mention of suicide. Please be careful with your mental health if you want to read this, dear readers.

I am very much a member of Team GET MEI SOME GLASSES, Y’ALL. Or at least some contacts, but I feel like glasses would be better for her issues with germs. She mentions throughout the book that she only recognizes people by their silhouettes until they’re very close to her.

I loved that Mei wanted to work with her parents to find a way to honor their culture, but also to honor their children for who they actually are, because that is so important for Mei, Xing and Esther and their futures. I loved that it wasn’t an immediate change, and Chao did a fantastic job of showing the struggles that they faced, while also letting Mei grow into herself the way she needed to.

I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting a young adult college novel, to anyone wanting a novel that features an extremely relatable struggle for so many immigrants, to anyone wanting a lovely college story. Honestly, I’d highly recommend this to anyone, so long as the content notes above aren’t triggering for them.

You can pick up a copy on Amazon, Indiebound, Barnes and Noble or your local independent bookstore!

I really enjoyed this! I found the relationship between Mei and he mother heavily relatable and it was so beautifully written. There were tons of vibrant characters, plus dancing!

I loved this book! It was cute and meaningful. The humor was amazing and the characters were likable. I highly recommend it for fans of romance and humor!

This book was so much fun to read. The themes throughout the book were portrayed in the most realistic way, you feel like you're actually living it. Gloria Chao did a fantastic job in her writing when it came to describing just how Mei was feeling in each situation she was thrown into. There were times when I felt Mei's frustration, longing, and even embarrassment at times. There's even one instance in the book where I felt so much emotion I had to put it down for a few minutes.

Mei is this awkward teen who skips a grade and ends up in MIT at the age of 17, is afraid of germs, and tends to get up and leave without explanation to get out of embarrassing situations. I loved her awkward witty personality and Chao did an amazing job at showing Mei's insecurities along the way. Mei's inner struggle to please her parents while trying to come to terms with who she is can be seen clearly in Chao's writing.

Oh Darren. He is so sweet and understanding you can't help but fall in love with him. He does his best to show Mei that life isn't based on plans, that sometimes you just have to live in the moment, and that there is nothing wrong with standing up for yourself and what you want. His support of Mei is #relationshipgoals for sure!

The family dynamics in this book are so fascinating. I don't know much about Chinese American culture but reading this will definitely open your eyes to the strict family dynamics you only hear about. Mama Lu is definitely a character and aunt Yilong is so intense you will find yourself staring at the pages like..."she's crazy". Each character is unique and adds so much to the different cultural aspects that you are completely captivated as the story continues along.

I can't wait to see what other books Gloria Chao releases in the future because this book is definitely top of the list of books I'll be recommending!

A charming debut filled with humor, warmth and heart.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster Children’s Publishing and Simon Pulse for the advance reader copy American Panda by Gloria Chao in exchange for an honest review. Gloria Chao has written an honest, heartbreaking book about perfect Taiwanese daughter, Mei, who at age seventeen, is a freshman at MIT with weekly visits for dinner by her overbearing, judgmental parents who have her future meticulously planned for her- become a doctor (she really hates germs) and wed a Taiwanese doctor (arranged marriage, of course!). I suffered along with her as she realizes she can’t be the perfect daughter and will she be cast off as daughter just like her brother was? With the help of her brother and Darren (the forbidden Japanese boy) and digging deep within herself, I relished Mei’s journey to happiness, a future in dance, new friends, and a future with dreams. Chao’s description of Mei’s Taiwan culture and beliefs, and food was authentic. The characters and plot were fully fleshed, I could not put this book down. Teens will laugh, empathize, and wrap their arms around Mei, her MIT experience, and being an insecure teen with family ties that hurt more than helped. I fell in love with Mei, highly recommended!

DNF

i think i jumped onto the YA boat a little too strong - i tried a few and really liked the so tried to get back into the genre and... yeah... i still cant stand it that much.

has this author gone to college? cause that first scene was just wtf and also the pacing was SO FAST and the main character was so cringey and yeah i'm sorry.

I recommend for YA contemporary fans but... yeah... I couldn't do it.

An incisive, laugh-out-loud contemporary debut about a Taiwanese-American teen whose parents want her to be a doctor and marry a Taiwanese Ivy Leaguer despite her squeamishness with germs and crush on a Japanese classmate.

Mei is seventeen and just entering her freshman year at MIT. She is on track to become a doctor and to marry the ideal Taiwanese mate, all according to the “plan” laid out for her by her parents.

The problem is Mei is a bit of a germaphobe, would prefer to be a dancer, and has zero interest in the boy her parents want her to marry. Mei has found herself pulled between wanting to pursue her own dreams and the knowledge of what it means to go against her parents.

Mei’s brother, Xing, was banished from the family for following his heart and, as Mei discovers her own hopes and happiness, she fears how close she is to repeating his path. Mei finds herself torn between the desire to make her parents proud or to find her own happiness.

American Panda is engaging, and funny, as well as heartbreaking. The characters are so vividly portrayed I could hear them as if they were speaking and standing in the room with me. Even though this reality is so far from anything I’ve known in my life I felt the pain and pressure that Mei—and girls just like her—must feel. What a delightful and engaging story!

*Thank you to NetGalley and Simon Pulse for the chance to read an ARC of American Panda.

I don't think I've ever encountered as many feelings as I did with American Panda, a highly anticipated book written by an #ownvoices Taiwanese-American author. I'm not going to lie, I don't think I got out of this unscathed. But at the same time, this book will add so much to the community.

Mei is starting her undergraduate career at MIT. At only 17 years old and on the pre-med track, she's every Taiwanese family's dream. Except that she actually doesn't want to be a doctor (gasp). Instead, her passion is in dance, and her dream is to open her own dance studio. Unfortunately, chasing after her dreams leads to the risk of being disowned by her parents.

I have many, many thoughts about this book, that it may even seem like I hated it. I really thought this would be the case in the beginning. There were so times where I read a few pages, looked up to contemplate my future or my past, spent a few minutes on Twitter, and only then was I ready to get back to reading. I'll start with the things that bother me the most, and then go from there.

Examples of Things That Bothered Me:
- This is minor, but Mei not wearing glasses because her mom thinks they look ugly on her. Problem, is that you need glasses to see, AND to study (how can you see the board/lecture during your classes?) This is so counterintuitive!
- I really disliked the scene where one of the characters barged into Dr. Chang's office, demanding that her chlamydia problem needed to be fixed NOW, or she wasn't leaving. Like how rude and disrespectful?

The above two are really examples of how over the top I felt this book was. For one, I'm not sure if I can explain this properly, but it felt as if all of Taiwanese-American culture was crammed within 300 pages. Every little horrible thing that happened to Mei within the first 30 pages, happened to me within maybe a year or so. I also felt like some things were very much exaggerated, for example not many Asian-Americans go around saying they won't be friends with you because your family killed their family in a war years ago.

I say all of this but once I hit the halfway mark, things started looking up. There was less setting up of the Taiwanese-American experience, and more of exploring Mei's wants and dreams. And her relationship with Darren, a Japanese-American boy who obviously her parents would disapprove of. The second half also had much more "showing" rather than "telling" overall, especially with the introduction of Nicolette and Ying-Na (my favorite character ha).

And of course, this is the point where Mei FINALLY rebels against her parents, so that's always fun.

Overall, I still want to emphasize that this book is important. For one, and as Mei comes to realize herself, not all Asian families are the same. They are strict or lenient (or horrible) in their own way. And so obviously my experience or my friends' experiences will not be the same as Mei's. I think one of the main reasons I didn't absolutely love this, was because I related way too much to the main character (which did bring up some negative feelings, and just made this hard to read overall). For that reason, I'm rounding up my 3.5 rating to 4 stars, because this really was a "me" thing, and not the fault of the book.

American Panda is one of most anticipated releases on 2018! So can you imagine my excitement when I was approved for an eARC on NetGalley?

How do I write a review for a book that I connected with? What words can depict how I feel? Or is there a way for me to quote nearly every page of this book?! 😅 I bookmarked nearly all the pages because there was a passage on each page I felt like I could relate to or simply got a good chuckle out of it.

While I share similar conflicted feelings like the narrator, Mei, I cannot vouch for a lot of the scenarios in the book because I’m not Taiwanese. Truth be told, reading this book was a learning experience for me, whether that was the intention or not.

I do think there is a lot of cognitive dissonance (I think that’s the right idea) in regards Mei. She is Chinese-American. Her parents grew up in Taiwan, but she in America. One can only imagine the very conflicting emotions and situations she was often put in with parents who hold very strongly to their culture, beliefs, and religion. Mei, who ascribes to a handful of these as well, feels incredibly conflicted about these beliefs she’s grown up with. This comes to head as she attends her first year of college to become a doctor, not because she wants to be one, but because her parents want her to.

There are so many instances throughout this book where Mei makes a lot of excuses for her parents’ behavior, especially when it deals with particular superstitious beliefs and rituals (like how having a big nose, though not considered pretty in the culture, means you’ll make a lot of money). Mei has learned to deal with this her entire life, the teasing and the her internal struggle to reconcile to her two parts: Chinese and American–an American panda.

What I truly found disconcerting was Mei’s parents’ complete disownment of her elder brother, Xing, simply because he started dating a woman his parents didn’t approve of. Mei has had to deal with her lack of brother by herself, unable even to voice how she feels about pretty much anything to her parents and other members of her family because she is 1) a girl and 2) young. It becomes quite frustrating at times, and we can really see how heavily not only this, but Mei’s parents’ desire to mold their daughter in someone she can’t be weighs heavily on her.

It’s safe to say that I liked pretty much everyone that isn’t Mei’s family, haha. Well, I liked her brother but that’s because he broke away from the family and forged his own path. I really liked Darren, too, and liked seeing how his and Mei’s relationship develops over the course of the book. Each new character introduced plays a role in how Mei sees herself, I think, and each are important in their own way. I did find certain situations very odd, though. Mei has to hide a lot from her parents and it’s really sad to see. She also reflects a great deal on the past and how she did once feel close with her family members, but how it has also quickly deteriorated as the years went by.

One of the worst moments for me was toward the last few chapters of the book when Mei and her mother are talking about her mother’s relationship with her father. I won’t say anything for spoiler’s sake, but her mother has really taken a lot, mostly emotionally and verbally, and I think the reason she is so hard on Mei is she feels like Mei can do and be better. And I think a lot of that stems from why some Asian parents can appear to be so hard on their children because they just want better for them (maybe that’s only my parents? Okay.)

See below for the review that I posted on my blog.

*To be posted 1/25/2018*


Hi! I requested this book because I saw a recommendation via one of my favorite authors, Kerri Maniscalco: and I'm glad I did!



Title: American Panda

Author: Gloria Chao

Series: Standalone

Rating: 3/5 stars

Pub date: February 6th, 2018



Summary

This book follows Mei, who is a Taiwanese-American teen who travels into the world of college at MIT. She deals with forms of anxiety/OCD and the trials and tribulations of her own love life as well as her family struggles. These all form together to make a lovely contemporary that is an #ownvoices novel which moved me from tears to laughter.

Likes

I found this book to be incredibly similar to When Dimple Met Rishi, in relation to the diversity and how the family was presented in relation to culture. I really loved how connected I felt and how much I learned about the culture through the story. I also liked how there were translations and little voicemails before each chapter that led into what the chapter would be about. Mei is a believable character and she is incredibly smart, truly astounding as she skipped a grade. The love story in this book relates back to her brother and how he was estranged because of his choice of wife, and it shows how important family is. I loved Mei's love story and how it played into the story, much like Dimple in that sense as well. The focus on her fear of germs was also interesting to me and I am very into mental health issues in young adult literature and the journey was portrayed well.

Dislikes

I can't cite any specific dislikes but it wasn't a 5-star read for me. I thought it was written well and I enjoyed the read. Like my previous review, I think that it was a short book and it was quite easy to read. It was a feel-good novel as well which is something I needed after the stress in my life lately!

Recommendation

I would suggest this to #ownvoices readers as well as those who enjoyed Dimple because it's very similar!


Happy reading! ~ Taylor