By John Cho
4Rbooks: 4/6, grades 6-8
Amazon rating: 4.3/5, grades 3-7
Good Reads: 4.19/5
Common Sense Media: 4/5, ages 9+ (Common Sense Selection for families)
Pages 204
Synopsis:
12-year-old Jordan is worried. He has been suspended from school. It’s not the first time he has been in trouble and he and his father already have a strained relationship. This isn’t going to help. Is father, Appa, worried. There are riots in the streets of LA over the not guilty verdicts in the trial of the Rodney King policemen and the city is in an uproar. Korea town, where Jordan’s dad owns a liquor store, is a potential target for unrest.
Appa leaves to go and board up the windows of the liquor store. Jordan decides this will be his chance to prove to his father that he isn’t always a troublemaker but that he can be helpful, too. With the help of his friends Mike, and later his older sister Sarah, Jordan sets off to assist his father in protecting the family store.
What seemed like a simple plan goes bad quickly. Jordan finds himself trying to fix or recover from one bad decision after another. While the city is burning around him, Jordan is determined to not give up until he reaches the family store and can help his dad.
Parental Guidance: medium-high (spoiler alerts)
Jordan is suspended for cheating.
Jordan sneaks out of the house to take his dad empty handgun to him in
Koreatown.
Jordan makes many bad decisions before and during the night of the riots:
lying to his parents, convincing a stranger to give him and Mike a ride, getting into
a fistfight with Mike, running away from his sister. His worst decision is being out
at night while a riot is occurring in the city.
There is a memory scene of a fight between Jordan and his father and
many harsh statements are made between the two.
Detailed descriptions of the Rodney King and Latasha Harlins incidents.
Accurate details and descriptions of the 1992 LA riots.
Jordan’s sister is keeping a relationship secret from her parents.
Recommendation:
Before the disturbances of 2020, I would only have recommended this book if children were taught the events of the 1992 LA riots before reading. Context is necessary to understand everything presented here. But, with children today having lived through the riots across the US that occurred in 2020, and before, they are more likely to understand what happened and why this story is important.
I would still recommend that some history be provided before delving into this novel. It would make a great classroom read for readers of all levels with teacher direction. It is recommended by Common Sense Media as a great family read. That fact that it is written from the Korean (Asian) perspective will add a different layer to the discussion.
This is the first novel written by actor John Cho, known for his work as Harold in the Harold and Kumar movies, Sulu in the Star Trek reboot, and various other projects. The author’s note is worth the read to understand his desire to write this story.
The use of Korean words can be confusing at first, but most children should catch on eventually.
Comments