Laura Gao frames this lively and insightful look at her immigrant experience in the United States with memories of life in Wuhan when she was a young child and her experiences as a Chinese American during the pandemic. The tensions and challenges of being an immigrant impact Laura’s life at home, at school, and in the larger world; as well as her reunion with family members when she finally returns to visit Wuhan when she’s a young adult—will she have anything in common with her cousins anymore? (She does, including their shared love of White Rabbit candy and High School Musical.) In middle school, Laura rejects her parents’ pressure to be great at math and takes up basketball; as a high schooler she finds an even deeper sense of belonging among fellow artists. In college, she struggles with the idea of coming out, especially to her family, once she realizes she’s queer. Throughout her life there is particular tension between her and her dad. Immediately after college, she moves with friends to the Bay Area, but her mother’s cancer diagnosis brings her home, and brings her closer to her father, too. The final chapter, “The Wuhan I Love,” shows that the place she originally comes from and the family members who are still there are so important to her sense of self and sense of the world in a graphic memoir told with humor and honesty. (Age 13 and older)

“Messy Roots is a laugh-out-loud, heartfelt, and deeply engaging story of their journey to find themself--as an American, as the daughter of Chinese immigrants, as a queer person, and as a Wuhanese American in the middle of a pandemic.”—Malaka Gharib, author of I Was Their American Dream

After spending her early years in Wuhan, China, riding water buffalos and devouring stinky tofu, Laura immigrates to Texas, where her hometown is as foreign as Mars—at least until 2020, when COVID-19 makes Wuhan a household name.

In Messy Roots, Laura illustrates her coming-of-age as the girl who simply wants to make the basketball team, escape Chinese school, and figure out why girls make her heart flutter.

Insightful, original, and hilarious, toggling seamlessly between past and present, China and America, Gao’s debut is a tour de force of graphic storytelling.