Jia Lee, Ariel Kim, and Everett Hoang are best friend forever. They live in the Chinatown of Flushing Queens, New York, where Jia's parents run a dumpling restaurant and where the three can be found almost daily. But this summer, they won't be together for a longer period; Ariel will be in San Francisco for a prestigious STEM scholarship, while she still is coming to terms with the sudden death of her sister in a drowning accident in South Korea last year.
Everett is a true musical theater fan, and an aspiring Broadway actress. She will be in a musical theater summer course in Ohio, where they will be playing Toroughly Modern Millie, where to her shock, she is cast not as the lead role, but because she is Asian, she is cast in a stereotypical racist Chinese character with a conical hat an a black mustache and an oriental suit. Can it get worse then that? Yes, her roommate gets cast as the lead role, and she finds out that this program with is full with directors who do the same thing for years without even thinking of any change at all, and who are not open at all to diversity and inclusiveness.
Jia is not going anywhere for the summer, because she has to help at her parents's Chinatown dumpling restaurant, and look after her Nai-Nai (grandmother) and where she secretly meets with a cute guy. But then he is seen with another girl too...
The Queens of New York is a fantastic and exciting YA novel, which breathes Flushing Queens, New York, and which gives it a true and authentic Queens feeling, I truly love how this comes back in the title. This true Queens feeling I also found in the books of Patricia Park. It is something I truly like in books. There is so much more great about this book, I just don't know where to start. The three main characters to start with. They where all three brilliant. The friendship bond between the three was amazing, they truly got each other's back unconditionally, which was just beautiful to read, even when they where apart for the summer they stayed in touch through text and mails wich are a part of the story. I truly liked the storyline as there was so much happening in every part, I thought it was absolutely fantastic. I can't wait to read more books by this author and I truly recommend this book!!
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