Finding My Voice

by Marie G. Lee and Marie Myung-Ok Lee

Book Overview

The groundbreaking Own Voices YA classic from Korean-American author Marie Myung-Ok Lee, reissued with a new foreword from Wicked Fox author Kat Cho.

Seventeen-year-old Ellen Sung just wants to be like everyone else at her all-white school. But hers is the only Korean American family in town, and her classmates in Arkin, Minnesota, will never let her forget that she's different. At the start of senior year, Ellen...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1641291974
• ISBN13: 9781641291972
• Release Date: December 2020
• Publisher: Soho Teen
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.5" x 8.3"
• Age Range: 14 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 9 and higher

Customer Reviews

Takes on a not-talked about subject

When people talk about ASIAN AMERICANS, usually the first thing that comes to mind is smart, works hard, quiet, etc. People don't really talk about RACISM. It's almost like you forget about AAs when you are talking about prejudice and how it affects people of color--and Asians are certainly people of color too! I was just reading something about how with the war in Afganistan that crimes of violence against AAs are growing in DIRECT response!!! This shows how misguided people are. If you read this book you get a great idea of what life is like for a teenageAsian girl who looks like your typical smart, SAT-studying kid and then you see actually that she has a lot of problems that she hides from other people, and her encounters with racist people is a big one. When I went to school we had some Vietnamese boat people and we all ignored them, I think some people might have been mean to them. It (this book) really opened my eyes to what's going on.

Finding my Voice

Finding My VoiceEllen Sung is a great student, but she lives in the shadow of her older sister Michelle, who is a straight A student, and got into Harvard. Ellen has a best friend named Jessie too. Jessie stands up for Ellen if she needs it. Then Ellen meets a boy named Tomper. They soon start to like each other and that makes a girl named Marsha Randel angry. Marsha also likes Tomper and gets a little jealous of Ellen. Marsha hates Ellen, and calls her rude names that have to do with Ellen's Heritage. Ellen is from Korea, although she was born in the United States. Brad a friend of Tomper; also starts to call Ellen rude names. When Tomper finds out what his friend is doing he decides that he doesn't want to be friends with him anymore. Things only get worse with Marsha and Brad's name calling too.I liked this book because it seemed like I was there when Ellen was hit with the bottle. There was a ton of detail and it was an inspirational and heartwarming story. I think that the author made this book to tell anyone who reads it that if you don't stand up for yourself you will have a low selfesteam and you won't feel good about yourself. It also told me that you shouldn't make fun of someone just because they look different from you. I think that anyone, who likes a book about heritage or peoples feelings and about standing up for yourself, will really like this book. It may not have a lot of action in the beginning of the book but it is about a lot of the challenges that are most likely to happen to everyone in real life.

This book shows what it's like to be in high school.

This book was dealing with the pressure some students face in high school, wanting to get into a good college to please their parents, and trying to look good in front of their peers at the same time. The character has some tough times, including having to deal with some racist kids, but she's a very dynamic character and by the end finds peace with herself, her parents, and her friends.

This is a great multicultural book for ages 12 and up

Ellen is a Korean girl who is in for her last year of high school. And she wants it to be a fun one. This is not easy to do, for she is under pressure from her parents who want all Ellen's grades A's or no fun. A friendly girl, yet she is teased by her Asian features, by popular kids in her school. In the end she gets together with a boy named Tomper, who she has secretly liked for a long time. There is also a sequel, Saying Goodbye about Ellen's life in college. Please read them both. They are too good to read only once

This book was one I wish I had in high school.

Like the author, I grew up in an all-white town and was always made to feel dumb for being Asian. I like this book because it explores the complexities of being a person of color, having immigrant parents, and so forth. It doesn't try to "teach" things, but one comes away with a better understanding of racism and why it's so insidious. I at first wasn't interested in the book because it looked like a "kid's" book, but I think adults can enjoy it, too