Are you white? Read this.

This is the second book in my entire life that I hugged after completion. I was hooked on every single word until the very last.

You’ll experience the heartbreaking yet soul -warming story of a Chinese immigrant girl in white America. The story is told through the eyes of a magical, imaginative, inquisitive child who is dreadfully impoverished, uncomfortable, and hungry… but through the shield of both her mother (and sometimes her father) and her childlike wonder, she finds ways to enjoy childhood as she knows no other way than how she lives.

I feel so angry at her teachers and her school for criticizing her and allowing children to make fun of her instead of asking if her family needed help. I was disgusted by the lack of concern for her well-being from any adult surrounding her who could clearly see through her “Everything’s fine, this is all I know of the world” demeanor, yet did absolutely nothing except treat her like an outsider.

As us white people actively unlearn inherent racism through reading and listening to the experiences of marginalized/BIPOC people, adding this to your reading list is a MUST. Qian’s story happened recently and stories like hers are still happening right now.