Uprooted: A Memoir About What Happens When Your Family Moves Back

Chinese-Canadian Ruth doesn't want to leave her life in Toronto, but her parents want to move "back" to Hong Kong. Ruth will live there and attend a German school, Ruth's mom will reunite with her extended family and friends, and Ruth's dad will work in China; with only one year of school left, Ruth's older brother will stay in Canada to finish.

While Ruth's receptive language skills are pretty good, she isn't used to speaking, and feels as though her family is judging her. School is hard and she misses her friends, and feels that her parents aren't paying attention to her or don't care that it's hard. When her dad is around, they have "talk-to-talks" where he tells her the story of his birth and the hardships his family faced.

Slowly, show more Ruth acclimates to her new life in Hong Kong, while keeping in touch with old friends through letters and care packages. She tells her parents how she feels, and they make some adjustments (such as Dad transferring to a closer office), and Ruth's brother comes to visit during a school break.

A story of the upheaval that comes with any move, but especially a cross-cultural one.

Quotes

"It's okay to be nervous about change and the unknown. Just remember that you'll be okay. The Unknown is simply a part of life." (Ruth's dad, 48)

If I don't even fit in with my family, how am I supposed to fit in anywhere?! (82)

[Three panels on pages 204-205 show Ruth's mom (panel 1), Ruth's dad (panel 2), and Ruth (panel 3, facing page, wordless) as Ruth reacts to what they're saying and gets ready to explode; so expressive!]

[Full-page/single panel illustrations on p. 270-271 mirror each other: the family of four in the present, eating around a table, and Ruth's dad's family of five holding each other close in a barn.] show less

This was great! Ruth's parents immigrated to Toronto from Hong Kong, and now they have the opportunity to move back, with Ruth. Ruth will have to leave her older brother and her amazing friends, live somewhere totally different from what she's used to, where she's not confident in speaking the language, and where it seems like her parents already have big social lives that don't include her! Can she be as brave as her ancestors who left their own homes behind? While this experience of living in multiple countries as a kid is probably not something the majority of middle grade readers can imagine, it seems like Ruth Chan has a direct line to the memories and feelings of her adolescent self, making this memoir totally familiar and relatable.

Moving from Toronto to Hong Kong means Ruth has to leave behind her friends and her brother, her dad will be working long-distance, and she has to speak in not just one but two languages she doesn’t quite have a handle on yet, and her mom seemingly expects all of this to be a breeze for her.

I particularly liked how things played out with the mom, I thought that was nicely done, as was the balance this memoir found between some lighter and/or uplifting moments while also believably conveying the frustration and loneliness Ruth experiences in settling in to her new circumstances.

The illustrations were cute, and I enjoyed the small details like the New Kids On The Block poster and the items in the care package from her friends that show more subtly added to the sense of place and time. show less

Raised in Canada, teenaged Ruth Chan feels like a fish out of water as her family moves back to their native Hong Kong. Her Cantonese is shaky, and her new school requires her to learn German. Her friends are all far away, and her father is gone for work for days at a stretch, leaving her alone with her nagging mother.

Some of her travails are pretty universal even as her situation is fairly uncommon. Chan does a good job of tying her family history into her youthful problems and the eventual outcome.

(Best of 2024 Project: I'm reading all the graphic novels that made it onto one or more of these lists:
• Washington Post 10 Best Graphic Novels of 2024
• Publishers Weekly 2024 Graphic Novel Critics Poll
• NPR's Books We Love 2024: show more Favorite Comics and Graphic Novels

This book made the NPR list.) show less

Just the right combination of cringy memories, tween-teen good times and displacement experiences. Fascinating to learn about Hong Kong via Canada. Loved the nostalgia of the 90s, and appreciated Ruth's loving family.

5-8th grade (Advanced 4th grader)
This book explores the struggle of having to leave your home and move to a place that you aren't as familiar with. There is a deeper theme of feeling like an outsider in your own culture. This book would be great to have for teen readers, as it can be relatable and it can build empathy and reading skills. Fourth graders with an advanced reading level or understanding of the world can read and understand this book as well.

17.00€