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INTERMEDIATE FICTION
Shen, E. L.

The Comeback

272 pp. | Farrar | January, 2021 | Trade ISBN 978-0-374-31379-1 $16.99 | Ebook ISBN 978-0-374-31381-4 $9.99
(2) 4-6 On the ice, twelve-year-old Chinese American girl Maxine Chen is a fearless figure skater in pursuit of an Olympic dream. Off the ice, she grapples with fitting in at school and balancing her classwork with her athletic training. What's more, a bully subjects Maxine to bias-based harassment by using a racial slur, mocking her eyes, and promoting stereotypes of Asians as hyper-intelligent and perpetual foreigners. Maxine's self-esteem wavers even more when an old friendship fades and a new skilled skater emerges, leaving Maxine feeling isolated and eclipsed mere weeks before a crucial competition. Shen depicts a determined, spirited tween working toward overcoming insecurities and finding her voice. Asian American figure-skating heroes (e.g., Michelle Kwan, Kristi Yamaguchi, Nathan Chen) provide Maxine stories of belonging, countering her "othered" experience as a minority in her majority white hometown. When a fellow skater shows her techniques gleaned from Asian makeup experts on YouTube, Maxine learns to see her once-mocked eyes anew: "My eyes, my eyes, the lids I hate so much, their shriveled curves, the ugly slits. Now they are almost pretty." Set in the dazzling world of competitive figure skating, this is a heartwarming story of perseverance and self-acceptance.
Reviewer: Kristine Techavanich | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2021

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