The Queens of New York

May 1, 2023
Three lifelong friends, all 17, spend their first summer apart in this evocative slice-of-life novel by Shen (The Comeback). Vietnamese American Everett is attending musical theater camp in Ohio this year. Though she’s determined to land the lead role in the camp’s annual performance, her peers’ racism dampen her spirits. Meanwhile, Korean American Ariel Kim, accepted into a prestigious precollege program in California, grieves her older sister’s death, and struggles with the belief that she doesn’t belong in the program. And Chinese American Jia Lee remains in Queens, feeling lost without her best friends and overwhelmed by her parents’ expectations to help run—and eventually take over—their dumpling restaurant. Things start looking up for Jia, however, when an attractive newcomer arrives, sowing romantic possibility even as Jia and Everett worry after Ariel’s withdrawn behavior. Via the vivacious trio’s alternating perspectives, Shen chronicles their tumultuous summers as they come into their own identities and learn how to get by without each other’s constant support. An eclectic mix of emails, text messages, and prose keeps the pace quick in this insightful story of grief, connection, and change. Ages 13–up.

May 1, 2023
For the first time in their decadelong friendship, Everett Hoang, Ariel Kim, and Jia Lee, all 17, are spending the summer apart. Vietnamese American Everett is headed to a musical theater program in Ohio, where she hopes to land a lead role in the annual performance. Korean American Ariel, still consumed by unanswered questions surrounding her older sister's recent death, graduated early and is going to Briston University in San Francisco to attend a rigorous pre-college STEM program. The only one staying home in Flushing is Chinese American Jia, who has to work at her family's dumpling restaurant and take care of her kid sister and ailing grandmother. The girls have remained best friends over the years despite diverging interests and attending different schools, but Everett and Jia can't help worrying about Ariel's increasingly withdrawn behavior. The chapters switch among their three points of view with prose that effortlessly conveys each character's personality. Emails and group chat messages interspersed between chapters bring the story to life as the girls share their summer triumphs and setbacks with each other. Although they have their own challenges to face--whether it's cultural insensitivity in the theater world, pressure to take over the family business, or unresolved grief and guilt--Everett, Jia, and Ariel know that their friendship means they're never truly alone. A heartfelt, skillfully wrought portrayal of friendship. (Fiction. 13-18)

COPYRIGHT(2023) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

May 15, 2023
Grades 8-11 Things are changing quickly for three best friends in what is sure to be remembered as a formative summer. Jia Lee is all heart: caring for her nai nai, who has Parkinson's, and her younger sister, as well as working at her parent's restaurant in Flushing, Queens. Hardworking Ariel Kim is off to San Francisco for a precollege program, although her sister's recent tragic death is slowly unraveling her. Then there's spunky Everett Hoang, an aspiring Broadway star hoping to break racist molds at a musical-theater institute in Ohio. Staying connected through chat and video, the trio navigates triumphs and heartbreaks miles away from their support systems, though never alone. Through alternating first-person narratives, Shen connects three Asian American leading ladies--inspired by the relationship with her own childhood best friends--with love. Readers will work through Jia's family expectations and insecurities until she's bolder, embrace Ariel as she travels to Busan as she seeks answers about her sister, and stand beside Everett as she calls out the racism around her. A heartfelt blend of female empowerment and friendship.

COPYRIGHT(2023) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

December 8, 2023

Gr 9 Up-One summer, two continents, and three best friends make this novel a compelling story of resiliency, strength, and finding your people. Ariel, Jia and Everett are best friends. They all come from different Asian American homes, but that's where the similarities end: Ariel is a prodigy student dealing with the grief of losing her sister who tragically died while traveling in South Korea; Jia works at her family's dim sum restaurant in Queens, knowing she will one day inherit it-whether she wants to or not; and Everett is an accomplished actress with her mind set on Broadway. Although all three live in New York, Ariel and Everett are traveling for the summer, going to a prestigious STEM scholarship program in California and a theater program in Ohio, respectively. Only Jia is left behind with her parents' mounting bills and the responsibilities of looking after her grandmother and young sister. As each girl deals with pressure from families, racism, poverty, grief, and even budding romance, they find ways to connect and keep each other supported through the distance. This book is a love letter to female friendship, and how girls can show up for one another in a very organic and meaningful way. The story has something for every reader. VERDICT A good purchase for high school libraries, especially those in need of diverse main characters and voices.-Carol Youssif

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