Her parents want her to attend a prestigious school next year, so Yumi Chung is stuck in tutoring all summer long when she'd rather be working on her comedy routine. One afternoon, when she's supposed to be at the library studying, she wanders into a new comedy club and happens upon her idol, YouTube sensation Jasmine Jasper, running an afternoon comedy camp. Jasmine mistakes Yumi for Kay Nakamura and Yumi's double life begins. Can Yumi convince her parents to let her pursue comedy? Will she overcome her shy-girl syndrome and be able to perform? How can she come clean to her parents, Jasmine, and her new comedy camp friends?

Stand Up, Yumi Chung is a great coming-of-age story. Yumi grows a lot over the summer. Her journey will inspire kids to go after their dreams. The moments of reality in her family life may help kids understand that their parents and overachieving family members are people with wants and needs after all.

I recommend Stand Up, Yumi Chung. It's a great read for shy kids everywhere. It will make immigrant kids feel seen and help kids without that experience understand it a little more clearly.

"Stand up Yumi Chung!" by Jessica Kim was a quick read that depicted the life of a Yumi Chung and her family. The Chung family is a hard working and disciplined family, the stereotypical A plus eldest is a hard worker and is there to support the family, meanwhile Yumi wants to do comedy - something that is not so celebrated by her family. The contents of the book moved and it was quick to read. I believe that this would be a good diverse title for a collection.

Absolutely love the voice of the narrator, the book is so relatable and the flow is great. The character is strongly relatable. I could hand this to literally any kid.

This was a delightful midgrade that is perfectly geared towards midgrade students but will be one that people of all ages can enjoy! It is a humorous book but also shows the struggles of midgrade students without trivializing them. Yumi's Korean identity shines through in her story and her friends and family are not reduced to stereotypes in my opinion. I also like the themes of this book and I think kids who read it will understand that trying to do something you love is always worthwhile, even if you fear you might fail!

*I received a digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*
Oh wow, this book was fantastic! Absolutely perfect for juvenile and middle grade readers. Yumi’s voice was so refreshing, and the jokes were hilarious! It’s definitely on my insta-faves for this age level.

A strong debut. Particularly appreciate the focus on comedy and on pursuing a passion without immediately being talented at it. Always happy to see more #ownvoices titles that explore the multifaceted reality of living as a child of immigrants today. Lots for today's young readers to connect with.

This is such a cute read! I have recommended it to students and everyone who has read it has told me how much they liked it.

Yumi dreams of being a comedian. She wants to go to regular public school rather than the private school she attends and wants a different hairstyle. But her mother insists that Yumi get the same perm she's been getting and will try for a scholarship to continue going to her private school. Her parents own a struggling Korean BBQ business where Yumi and her older sister are required to help out at - for free, of course.

One day Yumi stumbles upon an improv class hosted by her favorite comedic YouTube star Jasmine Jasper. There, she is mistaken for student named Kay Nakamura and is unable to get out that she is Yumi. But she falls in love with the class and continues the charade while also attending the summer school classes her parents have required to earn the scholarship.

As the story continues, so does Yumi's confidence as she juggles classes and her improv. She comes up with ideas to save her family restaurant and ultimately finds her voice. This is such a good middle grade novel that represents a diverse voice with big dreams.

Yumi Chung lives in L.A. and is the younger daughter of two Korean immigrants who own a Korean BBQ restaurant. She has to follow in the "perfect" footsteps of her older sister Yuri with summer tutoring courses in order to get a 98% in the SSAT. However, Yumi's passion is comedy and she devotes her time studying different comedians, watching SNL, and writing jokes in her secret joke notebook. She doesn't want to go to prep school where they bully her for being other. In this case of mistaken identity, Yumi finds herself enrolled in a comedy summer camp run by her favorite YouTube comedian after stumbling into the camp and being mistaken for Kay Nakamura. Yumi finds her niche with the other young folks at camp and learns how to be herself...while being someone else.
This is a poignant and sweet narrative of what it means to be your true self. Yumi's experiences are cringing and "face-palm" worthy, her jokey are punny (which is my cup of tea), and the readers see her growing into herself and her role in her family. Jessica Kim does a wonderful job in providing insight into what it means to be Korean-American: the familial obligations and expectations, some of the bullying that can exist with name-calling, but also in the surprising strength it takes to honestly share your passion with your family. I absolutely loved it because of the diverse cast that truly reflects the community of Los Angeles without overexaggerating the characters. It is so important for coming-of-age tales to represent more diverse voices and this is a wonderful middle-grade novel that does just that!

Yumi is about to be a seventh grader. She learns slightly of her family's financial troubles at the beginning of the story when she is told if she makes a 98% on the SSAT for this prestigious prep school she has been attending she will get a scholarship to attend. She doesn't want to go to the prep school They tease her, call her names, and she generally doesn't fit in according to her. Yumi ends up stumbling into a comedy camp, which is her real passion, and the troubles for her start there, when she doesn't correct the camp director who calls her the wrong name.

This is an adorable story of finding one's place in the world, fitting in when everything seems awkward and wrong. It's also a story of family values, not just Korean family values, but how families pull together to help each other. A family is not always defined by blood, but by those who accept us and all of our flaws.

Were some of the jokes in this book a bit on the punny side? Yes, but it's a middle school book about humor that manages to not fall back on fart jokes, so A+ for that alone. I liked how this book focused on compromise and caring about others rather than the narrative of pursue your dreams, no matter what. You can do what you enjoy and it doesn't have to be to the exclusion of everything else. I also like that Yumi doesn't have terrible or absent parents, she just has parents that care but that are coming from a different experience. Overall, I just really liked the family dynamics. I particularly liked the scene in the nursing home where Yumi's jokes fall flat because of cultural differences, and how later in the books she learns and makes a point to preface her joke with some context about her immigrant parents because she realizes that people might not understand her experiences as a Korean-American.

My final book in this roundup, Stand Up, Yumi Chung by Jessica Kim, is a very different one and is set at a city-based day camp, rather than a traditional sleepaway camp in the woods. Yumi is a middle-grader at the illustrious Winston Preparatory Academy. The daughter of Korean immigrants who appear to only be concerned about academics, she feels under constant pressure to perform at the highest level and live up to their expectations—expectations sent into the stratosphere thanks to her older sister Yuri, who graduated at fifteen and now attends the UCLA medical school where she is studying to become a doctor.

Yumi, however, has very different dreams. She aspires to be a stand-up comedian like her hero, the YouTube star Jasmine Jasper. Yumi’s summer, however, has just been left in tatters. Her parents have revealed that their Korean barbecue restaurant is struggling and they can no longer afford the fees for her school. Instead of allowing her to switch schools to somewhere more her pace, however, they are forcing her to attend Koreatown’s most rigorous hagwon, a daily study school that will allow her to score at least 98% on the SSAT and receive a full scholarship. After her first day at the hagwon, Yumi is headed to the library to continue studying when she spots something incredible. A new comedy club has opened up across the road and Jasmine Jasper is performing there. Taking a sneaky look around, a series of misunderstandings result in Yumi attending a session of Jasmine’s summer camp for aspiring young comedians under someone else’s identity.

As summer rolls on, Yumi’s life becomes ever more tangled as she tries to support her family’s failing business and her sister’s personal crisis, while balancing hagwon study and her new secret identity. Performing at the summer camp is the only thing bringing her any happiness, but she knows her parents will never allow her to actually attend the thoroughly non-academic camp and she lives in fear of her true identity being revealed. If only there was a way to solve all her problems at once.

Stand Up, Yumi Chung was a great book that gave me insight into a different culture thanks to its Own Voices author. Throughout the book, we see things from Yumi’s perspective as she rails at her parents and how unfair the pressure they heap upon her and her sister feels. However, as the story progresses, Yumi begins to understand a little more about why they act the way they do and realizes that they actually care about her far more than she thought. The story would be wonderful for parents and kids to read together, as I hope it would encourage kids to understand why their parents might push them to do things they hate but also help parents see why they should support their children’s passions no matter how frivolous they may seem on the surface.

Stand Up, Yumi Chung! by Jessica Kim is a fun, lighthearted story about family expectations and finding your own voice. Instead of always being compared to her older sister, who is prettier and smarter, all Yumi wants to do is practice her stand up comedy act. This does not fit in her parent's plan for her to attend the best private school in Los Angeles, get the best grades and get accepted to a top university. Her immigrant parents work hard to give her and her older sister all the opportunities to succeed. This does not include comedy camp with Jasmine Jasper, an internet comedian sensation. Yumi who loves her parents, must find a way to respect their dreams for her at the same time finding her own voice and standing up for her own dreams.

Yumi wants to be a stand up comedian, and her parents just don't understand. After her first miserable year in middle school, she decides she needs a "New Me." Accidentally attending a comedy camp as someone else gives her the chance. Yumi learns about herself, friendship, and family. This is a fun and touching story with great characters and relationships. A few mild negative expletives in the ARC that didn't need to be included but do show realistic dialog. I did get a little frustrated that the lying continued as long as it did, but it does seem necessary for the story, and if middle grade readers feel the same way, that's probably a good thing, and Yumi definitely learns her lesson.

A fresh take on what it’s like to be a first generation daughter in an immigrant family. Not only is Yumi struggling with all things middle school and being the younger sister of a genius but she must also find a way to make her Korean immigrant parents understand how much stand-up comedy means to her. An especially difficult task when they don’t seem to have time to listen to what she says.

In "Stand Up, Yumi Chung!" self-confidence, communication, and strong family love stand out as themes for Jessica Kim's heartwarming story. Yumi second guesses herself at every turn, and fails to communicate her wishes clearly to her traditional family. Yumi's struggle to get her parents' approval of her goal (to become a comedian) is sympathetic, and her family background as the daughter of immigrants resonates. Her family felt very genuine, and even when they were fighting or didn't understand each other I could tell that they loved each other fiercely. A side plot involving Yumi's "perfect" older sister served as a nice counterpoint to Yumi's story. Through the course of the book, Yumi makes lots of mistakes, getting involved in a monumental lie, but she also learns more about the motivations of the people around her, and I found the reveals of those motivations very satisfying.

This was such a wonderful and fun story to read! The main character is relatable and funny as she shows the awkwardness of adolesence as well as how hard it can be to get your parents to understand what you love. Such a fun book!

I have a budding actress at home and this is the perfect book for her! Yumi is finding her self and giving it her all. Great character to give my daughter a boost in the confidence arena.

Funny coming of age story that rings very true for kids and teens today. Yumi's authentic voice pulls you in and keeps you in her world.

I'd probably like this book for no other reason than I think there needs to be comedy for middle grade readers that is more sophisticated than Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Yumi's dream of doing stand up which clashes with both her shy personality and the expectations of her Korean immigrant parents provides opportunities for humor to temper more serious subjects. I was at first very disappointed in the deep web of lies Yumi told to be able to attend Comedy Camp, but I liked the resolution that had her facing the consequences of her choices, learning and growing. I also like how she came to appreciate her parents even though she didn't always agree with them. And I liked the ending that was both predictable but unexpected and that was realistically happy.

The perfect blend of humor and real-life middle school drama. Yumi is struggling to figure out where she fits her world. The expectations of her immigrant parents that don't want to see their child struggle like they have, trying to fit in a school where kids don't always seem to understand diversity, and being true to herself.
Yumi has always loved comedy and idolizes Jasmine Jasper, a popular comedian. Somehow she feels fate has stepped in and she is able to participate in the local comedy club's summer program for kids. But, the only way she was able to participate is a case of mistaken identity which leads to a double life for Yumi for most of the summer. While she's trying to deal with her own life and finding her true self, her older college-aged sister is also struggling with the same. Her family's Korean restaurant is in danger of closing due to declining sales. This book is the perfect story about discovering who your friends are, the importance of family, and being true to yourself.