I was lucky enough to get my paws on an advance copy of my friend and agency-sibling Mike Jung‘s new middle-grade novel, Unidentified Suburban Object, a few months back. It comes out on April 26, but here’s your chance to read it early, because I am giving my ARC away this week! Details about entering are below.
This delightful, category-defying book has already received rave reviews from Kirkus and Publishers Weekly (and from me!). Here’s the blurb:
The next person who compares Chloe Cho with famous violinist Abigail Yang is going to HEAR it. Chloe has just about had it with people not knowing the difference between someone who’s Chinese, Japanese, or Korean. She’s had it with people thinking that everything she does well — getting good grades, winning first chair in the orchestra, etCETera — are because she’s ASIAN.
Of course, her own parents don’t want to have anything to DO with their Korean background. Any time Chloe asks them a question they change the subject. They seem perfectly happy to be the only Asian family in town. It’s only when Chloe’s with her best friend, Shelly, that she doesn’t feel like a total alien.
Then a new teacher comes to town: Ms. Lee. She’s Korean American, and for the first time Chloe has a person to talk to who seems to understand completely. For Ms. Lee’s class, Chloe finally gets to explore her family history. But what she unearths is light-years away from what she expected.
And here’s my own review on Goodreads.
Unidentified Suburban Object by Mike Jung
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Is any middle-grade author better at pulling off the jaw-dropping plot twist than Mike Jung? I didn’t think I’d ever read another twist as clever as the one in GEEKS, GIRLS, AND SECRET IDENTITIES, but that was before I’d picked up his latest. Add to that a stellar narrative voice and conversation-starting themes, and UNIDENTIFIED SUBURBAN OBJECT is a true winner.
GIVEAWAY ALERT! You can enter to win an ARC of Unidentified Suburban Object by leaving a comment on this post. You can also earn up to two extra entries by posting about this giveaway on Twitter and/or Facebook. (Please mention or link your follows and extra posts in your comment to get credit for them.)
Sample Tweet:
Win an ARC of @Mike_Jung’s excellent new MG novel, UNIDENTIFIED SUBURBAN OBJECT! http://bit.ly/1UTqiSr #giveaway
Sample FB status:
Win an ARC of Mike Jung’s excellent new MG novel, UNIDENTIFIED SUBURBAN OBJECT! http://bit.ly/1UTqiSr #giveaway
I‘ll announce a winner at 9 am Mountain Time this Friday, 4/1.
(Oh, and if one giveaway isn’t enough for you, there are also currently giveaways for signed copies of my books The Stars of Summer and Stars So Sweet up on Goodreads. Click the titles to enter, and good luck!)
I’ve been hearing such great things about this book! I’d love to read it and either get it in the hands of students or send it in a #bookjourney with the crew!
Would love to win a copy of this book to share with the #bookjourney crew!
I’ve been seeiing this title floating around social media! Would love to win a copy for myself and my #bookjourney crew 🙂
Can’t wait to read the latest from the awesomely perspicacious MIKE JUNG!!
Ooooh! I can’t wait to read this! I posted about the giveaway on Twitter, too. https://twitter.com/Bedichek/status/715211313321013248
What fun! Thanks for sharing…another book to add to my “to read” list 🙂
So awesome! I’d love to win an Arc!
Sounds like an awesome read!
I love fishy stories and reading ARC’s. Living up to the high expectations of Asian culture is pretty normal behavior. Rebelling against authority is what teens do as they try out roles with those nearest to them (family and friends) and see what goes.