Gr 8 Up—Being Korean Argentinian, Alejandra Kim has always felt at odds with her peers, and fitting in becomes
more of a hurdle when microaggressions at school pull Alejandra into the spotlight. An excellent teen journey
exploring stereotypes, friendship, family dynamics, and what it means to belong.

Alejandra Kim goes to an affluent high school in NYC. She's a scholarship students. She is Korean in descent but both her parents immigrated to Argentina before coming to the US. She's situated between three cultures and feels like an imposter everywhere. Her senior year she applies to her dream school. And she works to come into her own. Reeling from the death (suicide?) of her father, dealing with microagressions and a strained relationship with her mother, Alejandra tries to navigate her way making misteps on the way. She's a character for whom I cheered. ( )

This is one great shout-out to everyone who typecasts, prejudges, becomes an apologist, and hems and haws through their prejudices and bigotry - STOP IT - JUST DON’T DO IT. OK, now about this book.

Told with humor, some laugh out loud, mostly subtle and some heartbreaking this story, stole my heart even though I admit to not understanding a lot of the current “woke” talk. So your friend dresses in rags and is kind to you and seems to really care about you and you are thinking that you are on some sort of equal footing only to find out that she lives in a gazillion dollar brownstone. Not only that, she is white and being American is taken for granted and you stand there with your heart and mind being shredded as once again you are reminded that your name and face equal exactly what? - and how does anyone ever understand how much it hurts. Being a double/triple/quadruple minority scholarship kid at an Uber white prep school is only one facet of Alejandra’s very messed up situation. Her father being found on the tracks might trump everything else but it is going to take more than a few pages to get to that.

A coming of age, fighting for identity story that is well worth reading and not to be taken lightly. If any of it makes you cringe and want to look away - good - maybe it will give you just a little more insight and humanity. Thank you Crown books and NetGalley for a copy. ( )