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Yes, I missed both Monday and Wednesday, but I tell you what–the jam almost swallowed me up. After trying and loving both plain blackberry (seedless blackberry, that is) and blackberry-grape on Saturday, I went to Costco for more blackberries on Monday (because $1.89 for a 12 oz container!) and made all kinds of jam yesterday. TODAY, however, I’m taking at least a partial break from the jam craziness (because otherwise I really might scream) to review books I’ve managed to finish. Yay!
Andrea Wang showed up on my radar after her picture book Watercress was named a Newbery honor book; when I saw she also had a middle grade title that looked good, well, guess what showed up on my library shelf a short while later? Fast forward to last week, when I was looking for something I was in the mood to listen to, and since The Many Meanings of Meilan was available to borrow immediately on Libby, it was clearly time to dive in.
I will say that Meilan was not quite what I expected; on the other hand, it’s thought-provoking and empowering, so does it really matter? Meilan, after living her whole life in Boston with her extended family around her, finds herself suddenly moving (with her parents and widowed grandfather) to Ohio, and the difference is extreme. Her principal decides that it will be “better for everyone” if she goes by ‘Melanie’ at school, her (nice) assigned buddy has an identical twin who picks her to bully, her parents make her give up her cell phone because money is tight, and her cousin/best friend is now over a thousand miles away AND angry with her. On top of all of that, Meilan is in 7th grade, and the last Asian-American in her new school system graduated from high school the previous year. To survive while attempting to fulfill her parents’ expectations, she divides her name into its different meanings and chooses parts of herself to separate into depending on where she is. At school she is Mist, almost invisible; at home she is Basket, heavy with the weight of her responsibilities (both real and perceived); away from both places, she is Blue, able to be herself but still grieving over what she has lost.
Fortunately for all three, circumstances ultimately force her separate selves to merge again. As she battles a racist principal, helps her grandfather through his grief, and begins to work out a place and friends for herself, she finds that she is stronger when embracing all of her selves–and happier, too. Asian-American readers may find it especially meaningful, but The Many Meanings of Meilan speaks to anyone trying to make a place for him or herself in a new home, as well as anyone who has ever felt the sting of being an extreme minority in a group. This book is well worth your time.