In this follow-up to In the Beautiful Country, Anna (Taiwanese name Ai Shi) is finally adjusting to life in the United States, where she is finishing sixth grade. Although her parents’ restaurant does okay, there’s no extra income to spend on fun things like summer camp. When the family realizes that Ba missed the deadline for filing paperwork to extend their stay in the United States, they fear they’ll be deported. Anna’s new summer plans? She’ll be working in the restaurant while her mom takes an under-the-table job in San Diego to pay an immigration lawyer. As the summer goes on, Anna begins to appreciate both of her parents as individuals with whom she has distinct relationships. She and Ma “try to outdo each other’s worry, / as if worrying is just another way to say I love you.” Anna and Ba connect over a love of literature, though they “inhabit two separate worlds … / His world is in Chinese. / Mine is in English / and there’s a divide.” Frustrated with the nonresolution proposed to their immigration status, Anna contemplates a school speech prompt, “What America Means to Me.” Written in contemplative free verse, this story offers an honest exploration of one girl’s sense of self in a new home that’s not always welcoming. (Ages 9-12)

Taiwanese immigrant Anna and her family make a shocking discovery that puts their American dreams at risk in this searing companion to In the Beautiful Country, which Gene Luen Yang called “vivid and hopeful.”

* A Cooperative Children's Book Center Choices List Selection *

After a rocky first year, Anna’s family has settled into life in California—their small restaurant is even turning a profit. Then her parents make a shattering discovery: Their visas have expired.

Anna’s world is quickly overwhelmed by unfamiliar words like “undocumented” and “inequality.” She longs to share with a friend the towering secret that looms over every aspect of her life, but her parents strictly forbid her from telling anyone.

As Anna grapples with the complexities of being undocumented, the strain that it places on her family, and the loneliness of keeping it all to herself, she has to wonder—if America is the promised land, why does everything she’s hoped for feel like a lie?

Perfect for fans of Kelly Yang, Reem Faruqi, and Jasmine Warga, this middle grade novel in verse, inspired by the author’s own experiences, focuses on themes of legal documentation, identity, and language’s ability to divide and unite.