- newest book from the author of Little Fires Everywhere and Everything I Never Told You
- Set several years after a national crisis
- Kind of like the Covid-19 pandemic and fallout but not exactly the Covid-19 pandemic and fallout.
- Like our pandemic though, the result was increased racism against Asian-Americans
- Hopefully unlike any of our governments, this fictionalized America responded by cracking down on “unpatriotic sentiment” and enacted strict control over its citizens under a ruling called PACT.
- Bird Gardener is 12 years old and his mother, an American-Chinese poet, disappeared a few years ago.
- Her poetry is deemed anti-American and so Bird and his father disavow any knowledge or connection to her.
- But when Bird receives a strange letter in the mail, he sets out to follow the clues to find her again.
- Feels a bit YA in part but not overall.
- Very readable, very thoughtful approach to real issues that are being seen in our society in a post-2020 world.
- Celebrates how great libraries and librarians are!
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Karissa Reads Books 
I’ve got a list of books to read with my mom, and I noticed lately that I keep picking books that are by Black writers. However, we don’t do much in the way of Asian or Asian American authors. So I made some notes in my spreadsheet to see who is Asian or Asian American so we can mix it up a little bit. I’ve never read anything by Ng, though.
Of the 3 books I’ve read by Ng this is the only one where I really felt aware that she was an Asian-American writer. I couldn’t tell you the race of the characters in any of her other books but here it’s an important part of who they are and how they navigate the world. It’s clearly at least partially her reaction to being Asian in a post-covid world.
I’ve got this one on my shelf and keep meaning to get to it! You’ve piqued my interest for sure. Anything that celebrates libraries and librarians is a book I want to read. I’ve read a book by her awhile ago, but I’d like to dive into this one asap
You should read it! I think you would like it.
I just did – review to come shortly! I loved it.
Celebrates how great libraries are? Yes, please!
Cloud Cuckoo Land is another one that I just finished and has a strong theme around libraries and librarians. I love to see it!