Uprooted: A Memoir About What Happens When Your Family Moves Back
by Ruth Chan; illus. by the author
Middle School    Roaring Brook    288 pp.
9/24    9781250855336    $22.99
Paper ed.  9781250855343    $14.99

In a graphic memoir set in 1993, thirteen-year-old Chinese Canadian Ruth is apprehensive about her family’s upcoming move from Toronto to Hong Kong. While her parents are thrilled (her mother is returning home after thirty years), Ruth loves her life in Toronto and doesn’t want to leave. Her father tries to reassure her, telling her that “it’s okay to be nervous about change and the unknown. Just remember that you’ll be okay. The unknown is simply a part of life.” But adjusting to the move is difficult. Ruth feels alienated from her extended family, struggling to communicate in Cantonese and often breaching Chinese etiquette. When a new friend begins ignoring her and her father’s job takes him away from the family during the week, Ruth’s emotions erupt over a double-page panel. She finds understanding when her mother shares her immigration story and when her father acknowledges her difficulties. Showing the courage, perseverance, and patience of her ancestors, Ruth gains confidence in herself and learns to thrive in her new home. Ruth’s emotional world is active and relatable, and she is depicted with a range of facial expressions. Panels set in 1993 are shown in a soft, neutral color palette and reflect the bustle of her modern-day life in Hong Kong; flashbacks to her parents’ stories are sepia-toned, evoking nostalgia about villages and farms. Sincere and engaging, Chan’s memoir explores themes of cross-cultural family dynamics and finding a place to belong through human connection.

From the ">November/December 2024 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.