Bound To Stay Bound

Booklist - 01/01/2022 *Starred Review* During the summer before seventh grade, Annie is questioning what it means to be a second-generation Japanese American growing up in Topeka, Kansas, and whether her friendship with her wealthy, privileged friend Jessica will endure. Though Annie initially fears that she's being disloyal to her friend, she's beginning to recognize that Jessica sometimes misuses her trust and that Jessica’s mom tends to patronize Annie’s mother as well. During the school year, as Annie participates in three community theater productions in addition to playing on the basketball team and sometimes struggling to complete math assignments, she becomes increasingly self-confident and more aware of microaggressions toward herself, members of her family, and others. Set in 1987 and divided into three acts, one for each of the theater productions that define Annie’s pivotal seventh-grade year, her first-person narrative plays out at school, at home, and against an enticing backdrop of backstage camaraderie and onstage thrills shared by drama students. Brown sensitively portrays Annie’s shift from a girl who readily makes adaptations to fit in with the majority culture to a person who is fully aware of racial prejudice yet dreams of a bright future. This thought-provoking historical novel highlights issues faced by many Asian Americans, past and present. - Copyright 2022 Booklist.