IT'S NOT LIKE IT'S A SECRET

Narrator Emily Woo Zeller shines as 16-year-old Sana, a Japanese-American girl who is grappling with her sense of self. Sana and her family have just moved from Wisconsin to a more diverse community in California. As Sana finds herself connecting with a group of Asian-American girls, she is also falling hard for a Mexican-American girl on the cross-country team. Zeller excels at embodying the teen angst and immigrant family drama at the center of Sana's life. Author Misa Sugiura masterfully weaves in struggles of identity, race, class, and young love without emphasizing any one issue over another. Shifting between the accents of Sana's friends and even Japanese phrases from her mom with ease, Zeller showcases each character through Sana's eyes in this coming-of-age novel. E.A.B. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine [Published: JUNE 2017]