Age 16 by Rosena Fung

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By Maureen Tai, 31 July 2024

Whenever we’re in Toronto, we make a beeline for Little Island Comics, a small bookshop near Kensington Market that is a veritable treasure trove of comics and graphic novels for younger readers. This summer, I wonder how many more years of these visits remain as my kids morph into teenagers, It seems apt given my mood that I pick up Age 16, an evocative and deeply moving coming-of-age memoir of three generations of Chinese women, bound by blood but separated by time, place and circumstance. It reminds me that you never stop being a mother to your child, or a daughter to your own mother. Joy or bitterness, regret or remorse, these can be inherited and passed down like any other heirloom, with consequences that feel inevitable, deserved even. Until someone is able to break free from the chain of history.

In Age 16, that someone is 16-year-old Linney (or Rosalind). The book starts in the year 2000, with lively, jump-off-the-page illustrations coloured in shades of purple. Linney, who lives in Toronto with her single, working mother, is struggling with weight issues. She has a fraught relationship with her mother, Lydia, and to top it off, she needs to find both a date and a dress for her upcoming high school prom. We then segue into the past, into Lydia’s life as a teenager. Set in 1972 Hong Kong, the pages are now a burnt orange hue. Lydia is also a child of a single, working parent, Mei Laan. Lydia dreams of becoming a dancer but is rebuked at each turn by her harsh and critical mother. As the pages turn teal, we are whisked even further into the past, to China in 1954, where we meet Mei Laan, a pretty teenage girl who longs to escape from her hard village life. A harbinger of things to come for herself and her generations after, Mei Laan grows up in a fatherless household, and, in comparison to Linney and Lydia, faces a bleak future of limited options. When a promising marriage proposal presents itself, Mei Laan gleefully grabs the opportunity to escape, but it is not the happy ending that she envisages. The effects of this devastating truth ultimately ripple through to her daughter, Lydia, and to her granddaughter, Linney.

The life stories of the three teenagers are carefully illustrated, gently spliced, and thoughtfully woven into a poignant, seamless masterpiece of intergenerational sacrifice, of desperate immigration, of frustrated dreams. The last page has all three colours – purple, orange and teal – represented on the same page, a testimony to the enduring, redemptive and healing power of love. A wonderful read for any teen (in particular of immigrant parents) and a keeper for any bookshelf.

Ages 12 and up.

NOTE: Thank you for reading my reviews! I’ll never take this website down, but in the interests of streamlining, from 1 January 2025, I’ll be posting new reviews on my writer website, www.maureentai.com, where I post lots of other bookish extras. See you there!


Flash Review: Monkey King and the World of Myths – The Monster and the Maze by Maple Lam

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By Maureen Tai, 21 July 2024

Most Chinese children will have grown up with the stories of Sun Wukong, the powerful Monkey King, almighty ruler of the Flowers and Fruit Mountain, but not many children would have imagined what a mash-up of Chinese and Greek mythology could look like … until now. In the first book of this engaging, hilarious, and clever myth-blending graphic novel series, Monkey King and the World of Myths, the titular character is invincible and cute as a button, yet doubtful of his place in the world. He is a beast, and despite his magical powers, looked upon with fear and suspicion by gods and humans alike. After leaving the sanctuary of his kingdom, the energetic monkey decides that he too, wants to become a god, and to be revered by humans. Unfortunately, he is caught gatecrashing the Heavenly Kingdom and as punishment, the gods offer Sun Wukong an irresistible challenge: help them hunt down monsters infected with an evil energy known as Yao-Qi and in return, the gods will make the Monkey King one of their own. Armed with his magic staff, quick wit and irrepressible bravado, and accompanied by an unusual sidekick (the most adorable Cerberus ever!) Sun Wukong journeys (on a magic cloud, of course) to Athens, Greece to confront his first monster, the horrific Minotaur. In the ensuing battle, the Monkey King uncovers the sad truth of the bull-headed creature while discovering what it means to be a true hero and how to earn the affection and love of others.

Ages 8 and up.

NOTE: Thank you for reading my reviews! I’ll never take this website down, but in the interests of streamlining, from 1 January 2025, I’ll be posting new reviews on my writer website, www.maureentai.com, where I post lots of other bookish extras. See you there!


Flash Review: The Worlds We Leave Behind by A.F. Harrold, illustrated by Levi Pinfold

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By Maureen Tai, 17 May 2024

Friendships are tricky, especially if you’re a 10-year old boy like Hex who doesn’t understand himself sometimes. Like why he spontaneously danced in class. Or made fun of the classmate who had wet his pants. Or runs away from a terrible accident that happens in the woods while Hex, his best friend Tommo, and an irrepressible little girl called Sascha (who has tagged along with them) are playing on a rope swing. Caught up in a swirl of emotions, Hex runs, and the next day, Hex keeps on running until he meets a strange woman in the deep, dark forest and is beckoned to her cottage. The woman’s shaggy dog, Leafy, is depicted in one of the many spooky, monochrome illustrations to be as large as a pony. The woman offers Hex the chance to right the wrongs done to him, to erase the hurt. Does Hex take it? Do any of the complex, haunted characters in this richly imagined, carefully brewed, middle-grade novel take that one devastating option offered to them, to irrevocably alter the world – and their lives – as they know it? The story in The Worlds We Leave Behind unfolds slowly but surely, revealing itself to be dark, deeply philosophical, and above all, exquisitely written.

Ages 12 and up.

NOTE: Thank you for reading my reviews! I’ll never take this website down, but in the interests of streamlining, from 1 January 2025, I’ll be posting new reviews on my writer website, www.maureentai.com, where I post lots of other bookish extras. See you there!

Flash Review: Too Small Tola Gets Tough by Atinuke, illustrated by Onyinye Iwu

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By Maureen Tai, 22 April 2024

In this charming, engaging and insightful chapter book for younger readers (ages 6-9), we meet Tola, a little Nigerian girl with a big heart. She lives in Lagos with her siblings, Moji, who is very clever, and Dapo, who is very hard-working, and with her grandmother, who is very loving but also very strict. The family relies on Dapo’s earnings as a mechanic for all their necessities, yet Tola finds pleasure in many things – eating, learning, doing her homework, and being with her family. One day, Tola’s life is turned upside down as the pandemic spreads to Africa, and the government imposes a lockdown, forcing everyone to stay at home. As their food and funds dwindle, Tola decides that she needs to do something to help her family. Using her newly-learned maths skills, Tola gets tough (hence the title) and emerges triumphant at a the satisfying end of the story. What I love about this chapter book (and her many others) is that Atinuke doesn’t shy away from describing – in age-appropriate prose – the yawning chasm between the working class poor and the BMW-driving, private-helicopter-flying rich, nor does she gloss over the hardships endured by the poor and the elderly. Her characters are not merely two sides of a coin, either virtuous heroes or blameworthy caricatures. Instead, Atinuke describes interesting and complicated individuals in rich and realistic relationships, and, through the kind, plucky and clever Tola, shines a light on the threads of humanity that bind us all – rich or poor, young or old, friend or stranger – together. Do check out the other books in her Too Small Tola series, and follow it up with a foray into her Anna Hibiscus and The No.1 Car Spotter series of chapter books as well. You won’t regret it.

Ages 6 and up.

NOTE: Thank you for reading my reviews! I’ll never take this website down, but in the interests of streamlining, from 1 January 2025, I’ll be posting new reviews on my writer website, www.maureentai.com, where I post lots of other bookish extras. See you there!