The secret battle of Evan Pao

Title:

Author:

Summary:

A fresh start. That's all Evan Pao wants as he, along with his mother and sister, flee from California to Haddington, Virginia, hoping to keep his father's notoriety a secret. But Haddington is a southern town steeped in tradition, and moving to a town immersed in the past has its own price. Although Evan quickly makes friends, one boy, Brady Griggs, seems determined to make sure that as a Chinese American, Evan feels that he does not belong. When Evan finds a unique way to make himself part of the school's annual Civil War celebration, the reaction is swift and violent. As all of his choices at home and at school collide, Evan must decide whether he will react with the same cruelty shown to him, or choose a different path. -- Amazon.

Audience:

Ages 8-12. Scholastic Press.

Grades 4-6. Scholastic Press.

Edition:

First edition.

Physical Description:

259 pages ; 22 cm.

Genre:

Social problem fiction.

Subject Term:

Chinese American families -- Juvenile fiction.

Moving, Household -- Juvenile fiction.

Secrecy -- Juvenile fiction.

Interpersonal relations -- Juvenile fiction.

Bullying -- Juvenile fiction.

Geographic Term:

Virginia -- Juvenile fiction.

Publisher:

Scholastic Press,

Publication Date:

2022

ISBN:

9781338678857

Publication Information:

New York : Scholastic Press, 2022.

Call Number:

J SHANG

Holds: Copies:

Available:*

Item Barcode	Collection	Call Number	Status	Item Holds
33607003621730	Juvenile Fiction	SHANG	Searching... Unknown	Searching... Unavailable

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Summary

Middle school can be a battlefield... From award-winning author Wendy Wan-Long Shang comes a poignant and timely take on prejudice, bullying, and claiming our own histories, perfect for fans of Front Desk .

A fresh start. That's all Evan Pao wants as he, along with his mother and sister, flee from California to Haddington, Virginia, hoping to keep his father's notoriety a secret.

But Haddington is a southern town steeped in tradition, and moving to a town immersed in the past has its own price. Although Evan quickly makes friends, one boy, Brady Griggs, seems determined to make sure that as a Chinese American, Evan feels that he does not belong. When Evan finds a unique way to make himself part of the school's annual Civil War celebration, the reaction is swift and violent. As all of his choices at home and at school collide, Evan must decide whether he will react with the same cruelty shown to him, or choose a different path.

Wendy Wan-Long Shang, the critically acclaimed author of Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association Award for Children's Literature winner The Great Wall of Lucy Wu , weaves a timely and deeply moving portrait of all the secret battles Evan Pao must fight as he struggles to figure out how he fits into this country's past and how he will shape its future.

Author Notes

Wendy Wan-Long Shang is the author of The Great Wall of Lucy Wu , which was awarded the Asian/Pacific American Award for Children's Literature; The Way Home Looks Now , an Amelia Bloomer Project List selection and a CCBC Choices List selection; The Secret Battle of Evan Pao , which received multiple starred reviews; Sydney Taylor Honor Book This Is Just a Test , which she cowrote with Madelyn Rosenberg; and Not Your All-American Girl , a Tablet Magazine Best Children's Book, also cowritten with Madelyn Rosenberg. She lives with her family in the suburbs of Washington, DC.

Reviews (2)

School Library Journal Review

Gr 3--7--The horns and drums of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" preface the rousing narration by Locke, immediately signaling a reference to the Civil War. In contemporary Haddington, VA, ancestral connections to the Confederacy are still revered. Evan, his sister Celeste, and their mother have just arrived from California in the wake of his father's disappearance. Evan is the only non-white student in his sixth-grade class: Max is welcoming but Brady immediately targets him. Battlefield Day--an annual celebration--looms and already his teacher implies Evan doesn't belong. But Celeste's wisecrack leads Evan to the surprising discovery of Chinese Civil War soldiers (thank you, pioneering APA writer Ruthanne Lum McCunn!)--and the chance to correct local traditions. Locke empathically captures Evan's sensitivity; he's just as responsive as snarky Celeste, the curious realtor, Evan's myopic teacher, and easygoing Uncle Joe. VERDICT Locke affectingly animates Shang's peaceful heroes.

Publisher's Weekly Review

When 12-year-old Evan Pao moves cross-country with his older sister, teenage Celeste, and their newly single mother, the family hopes for a fresh start following their father's involvement in a local investment scheme--and his subsequent disappearance with the money. Though "Evan had a sense for lies," feeling physical sensations when there's a "mismatch between what someone was saying and what they were really feeling," he struggles to trust it, especially since he couldn't detect his father's scheme. Leaving their racially diverse California neighborhood for Virginia, where the only person they know is the children's uncle Joe, Evan is shocked to learn that he is Battlefield Elementary's only Asian American student. Though he makes friends, he also catches the attention of a bully and observes the town's deeply rooted Civil War pride, including a reenactment at school, through which Evan eventually learns that Chinese people were involved in the U.S. Civil War. Told through a range of alternating perspectives, the thoughtfully rendered text explores with empathy the way the town navigates a Chinese American family's arrival, and works in themes of community, justice, and trust through the past and present. Shang (Not Your All-American Girl) crafts a well-paced and nuanced story that follows Evan's growing stronger in his sense of self. Ages 8--12. (June)