The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X.R. Pan
Publisher Information: New York, NY: Little, Brown & Company (2018)
Summary: Leigh Chen Sanders is abosolutely certain about one thing: When her mother died by suicide, she turned into a bird.
Leigh, who is half Asian and half white, travels to Taiwan to meet her maternal grandparents for the first time. There, she is determined to find her mother, the bird. In her search, she winds up chasing after ghosts, uncovering family secrets, and forging a new relationship with her grandparents. And as she grieves, she must try to reconcile the fact that on the same day she kissed her best friend and longtime crush, Axel, her mother was taking her own life.
Alternating between real and magic, past and present, friendship and romance, hope and despair, The Astonishing Color of After is a novel about finding oneself through family history, art, grief, and love.
Book Review:
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Links of Interest:
Author website: exrpan.com
Educator's guide: HERE
Author interview: HERE
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