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Informationen zum Autor Grace K. Shim lives with her husband and three children in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is the author of the young adult novels The Noh Family and Not Your Average Jo . You can find Grace on Twitter @gracemisplaced1 and on Instagram @gkshimwrites. Klappentext "Riley Jo is a teenager who knows what she wants. Born and raised in Bentonville, Arkansas, this Korean American girl has her sights set on being a musician. So when her parents are surprisingly cool about her attending the prestigious Los Angeles-based arts-focused boarding school her senior year of high school, she jumps at the chance. This is her moment to make her indie rock dreams a reality! Things at Carlmont Academy start out strong: She joins a band, and they set out to make plans to perform at the annual spring concert-with a chance to land a record contract. Another student, Xander, decides his school project will be a documentary about the band leading up to their first show. But not everything goes how Riley Jo imagined. She is soon sidelined when her other bandmates feel she is "too Asian" to be their lead singer, and they choose her classmate Bodhi Collins for the role instead. Bodhi is rock music royalty, with a dad who is a famous music exec. And he's got the "all-American rock star look." Her classmates suggest she try making K-pop, but her heart is in indie rock. Riley Jo decides to take matters into her own hands and writes an original song to showcase her talent. But Bodhi takes the credit . . . and given his connections, the band lets him. Xander captures all of this in his film, which he leaks in order to show the truth behind the band. Riley Jo decides to sign up for the spring concert and perform on her own . . . but will she finally be able to take center stage?"-- Leseprobe ONE When you’re an Asian American in an area where there aren’t many Asian Americans, there’s a cultural expectation people have of you that is clear from day one. You become the resident expert on all things Asian, whether you like it or not—whether you’re qualified or not. Can you tell me what this says? (Points to random Chinese word.) Bro, not every Asian is Chinese. Oh, you’re Korean? I love K-pop/K-drama/K-beauty. Um, you’re welcome? Riley Jo ? Are you sure “Jo” is a Korean last name? Because I’ve never heard of it before. Well, then, it must be a mistake. I’ll tell my parents, and the Korean Ministry of Last Names, that you, random white lady from Arkansas, are right and they are wrong. Where are you fr— Nope! Bentonville, Arkansas, is the only home I’ve ever known. And yet “at home” is not quite how I feel here. The way I have to convince people I’m from this city/state/country is like a form of verbal MMA I don’t have the stamina for. I gave up trying to explain myself after the first few—I don’t know—hundred times, when I began to sound like a broken record. I mean, if you think about it, it’s kind of like a pickle. (Just hear me out.) Pickles are made by submerging a cucumber in a container filled with saltwater brine or vinegar. The process doesn’t happen in an instant. It takes time for the briny water to infuse the cucumber, changing its texture, flavor, and even appearance. And then, when it’s finally ready for consumption and it’s sliced up for hamburgers or speared for sandwiches, does anyone consider it a cucumber anymore? Of course not. Because it’s had a completely different environment—a completely different life —that changed the cucumber into something else entirely. Anyway, my point is, no matter how many times I tell people I’m a pickle, all they see is a cucumber. For the record, the pickle doesn’t count as a vegetable serving because it’s too salty—also relatable. To be fair, no one I’ve encountered in Bentonville, Arkansas, is mean-spirited or belittling. It’s not like anyone here is telling m...
