Almost American Girl by Robin Ha

"For as long as she can remember, it’s been Robin and her mom against the world. Growing up in the 1990s as the only child of a single mother in Seoul, Korea, wasn’t always easy, but it has bonded them fiercely together. So when a vacation to visit friends in Huntsville, Alabama, unexpectedly becomes a permanent relocation—following her mother’s announcement that she’s getting married—Robin is devastated. Overnight, her life changes. She is dropped into a new school where she doesn’t understand the language and struggles to keep up. She is completely cut off from her friends at home and has no access to her beloved comics. At home, she doesn’t fit in with her new stepfamily. And worst of all, she is furious with the one person she is closest to—her mother. Then one day Robin’s mother enrolls her in a local comic drawing class, which opens the window to a future Robin could never have imagined." (Goodreads.com)

This is a bittersweet account about how Ha and her mother struggle to fit into their new home in the U.S. While reading this I found out a lot of ways that South Korea is culturally different from the U.S especially when it comes to gender norms and how families are treated. It was interesting to read about both women's perspective's and how they dealt with their unfamiliar circumstances.

Kelsey Fitzgerald

Library Assistant

Available at the Langley-Adams Library