Keep Dancing, Lizzie Chu

January 15, 2023
A poignant tale about a girl and her cherished grandfather. Living in Glasgow with Wai Gong, her maternal grandfather, Scottish Chinese Lizzie Chu doesn't have the typical life of a 12-year-old. Lizzie's mom died during childbirth, and her father was never in the picture. Now she's a young caregiver, managing the house and school; Wai Gong hasn't been himself since Grandma Kam died. Is his grief diminishing his interest in life and increasing his focus on Guan Yin, the Chinese goddess of compassion and mercy? When Lizzie's Vietnamese Welsh friend Chi Pham appears dressed as Princess Leia for Comic Con, Wai Gong, seeing her flowing robes, mistakes her for the deity. Lizzie enlists Chi to play the role of Guan Yin in order to inspire Wai Gong to make the trip to the legendary Blackpool Tower Ballroom where he and Grandma Kam first met in the '80s. It was their grandparents' final, unfulfilled wish to return and dance the cha-cha again. Chan combines realities of Asian British life with stories from Chinese mythology, forming the backdrop for a chaotic, hilarious road trip to Blackpool with Lizzie, Wai Gong, Chi, Chi's older brother (their driver), and Tyler, her other best friend. Just like the Monkey King in The Journey to the West, they overcome enormous obstacles to make this dream come true. Even more touching is Lizzie's journey toward understanding her grandfather's probable dementia and learning to ask for help. A layered, emotionally resonant story. (author's note) (Fiction. 8-12)

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February 15, 2023
Grades 4-6 Struggling single-handedly in the wake of her grandmother's death to care for her increasingly abstracted wai gong (grandfather), Scottish Chinese orphan Lizzie finds herself undertaking a personal "journey to the west." Her grandmother has (posthumously) left, for Lizzie's twelfth birthday, a pair of tickets to a tea dance at the elegant Blackpool Tower Ballroom---the British hall where she met Lizzie's grandfather--and so Lizzie and her grandfather embark. Chan infuses this warm and spirited road trip with references to Lizzie's cultural background (with light but pointed doses of racist bullying and fat shaming thrown in), plus an inclusive supporting cast. While the author also shoehorns in unexpected help from a matronly motorcycle gang and several other well-timed miracles to get her travelers from Glasgow to their destination, readers aren't likely to mind, as the suspenseful whirl of misadventures leads to a thoroughly dazzling climax on the dance floor. Some UK specificities permeate the text, especially in a final plot point, but this warm family story will still resonate this side of the pond.

COPYRIGHT(2023) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.