You Are Here: Connecting Flights edited by Ellen Oh. Allida, HarperCollins, 2023. 9780063239081
Rating: 1-5 (5 is an excellent or a Starred review) 5+
Format : Hardcover short story collection
Genre: Realistic fiction
What did you like about the book? As anyone might expect, the 4th of July holiday and some severe weather conditions cause flight delays and extra traffic through a busy Chicago airport. For the main characters of the 12 short stories in this excellent collection, these typical travel headaches are compounded by the confrontations, confusion and contempt they encounter as they try to make their connecting flights. Each story relates the experience of one young East or Southeast Asian American in the airport, contending with racism, microaggressions, and misconceptions from other passengers and airport employees. The kids in these stories come from all over the United States and all different socio-economic and ethnic backgrounds; some of them are traveling unaccompanied, some with family or friends. And even though each story can be taken on its own, the characters and incidents overlap and recur throughout the book, sometimes as significant interactions and sometimes as background details. The book begins with Paul and his family, who are headed to visit relatives in Thailand; they are stopped by TSA when it is discovered that Paul’s grandmother has her late husband’s ashes in her carry-on. While Paul helps defuse the situation by translating for Grandma, his energetic little sister wanders away from the gate. In the next story, Jae is hanging out in an employee area while his mother works her shift as a cleaner. Jae watches Paul’s story unfold on security cameras, and despite his mother’s insistence that he stay put, knows he can help bring Paul’s sister back to her family. Each subsequent story adds in more layers, creating an intricate tableau.
This is a truly remarkable and unique book of short stories from some of the most respected contemporary Asian American children’s authors, including Linda Sue Park, Christina Soontornvat, Grace Lin, Minh Lê, and the book’s editor, Ellen Oh. The young people in this airport are all coming of age and learning responsibility as they grapple with their identities and their roles within their families. They also react in a variety of ways to ignorance and hatred from the people they encounter. Some of the kids speak out, while others find quieter ways to stand up for themselves or help others; readers will empathize with and celebrate each of their small victories in turn. Frequent references to COVID-19 and the resulting rise in anti-Asian racism put the book in contemporary context. There is also a great deal of attention given to the rich diversity within the East and Southeast Asian heritages, providing details about family values, beliefs, and cultures and emphasizing the tendency of many non-Asians to lump all the ethnicities together. Informative and entertaining, You Are Here connects characters, cultures, and readers in wonderfully surprising ways. A note from Ellen Oh explains some of the choices the book’s creators made, and brief but detailed biographies of each author is included.
Anything you did not like about the book? Not really a negative note, but a minor drawback: I often recommend short story anthologies to my upper grade students because they aren’t as big of a commitment as a full novel – they can skip the stories they aren’t interested in. You can do that in You Are Here but you would definitely miss out on some of the connections. It is so fascinating to find familiar scenes and characters recurring in the different stories; I found myself often going back a few chapters to refresh my memory. I also wish there had been a little more information about the creative process of the authors as they worked together on the book. I think readers would really be interested in knowing that!
To whom would you recommend this book? Upper elementary and middle school readers who have enjoyed books by any of the included authors (or other Asian American authors like Lisa Yee or Kelly Yang) or who tend toward books dealing with social justice issues. It would certainly lend itself well for a whole class read aloud as well – each individual story would be manageable in one session, and would engender great conversations.
Who should buy this book? Public, elementary and middle school libraries
Where would you shelve it? Fiction or short stories
Should we (librarians) put this on the top of our “to read” piles? Yes
Reviewer’s Name, Library (or school), City: Leigh Russell King, Lincoln Street School, Northborough, Massachusetts.
Date of review: April 23, 2023
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