Lucy and Linh

July 4, 2016
Lucy Lam, a Vietnam War refugee, lives in a dilapidated Australian town among families like her own: poor, hardworking immigrants who dream of a better life for their children. Lucy gets a chance to make her parents proud when she wins a scholarship to a prestigious private school, but when she arrives at Laurinda, where “the beauty snuck up on you, like a femme fatale with a rock,” it’s like landing in another world, where her parents’ work ethic doesn’t apply. At Laurinda, power is valued over brilliance, and the school is ruled by a trio of girls, the “Cabinet,” who brazenly torment weaker classmates and undermine teachers. Lucy is both repelled and fascinated by these girls, but to be accepted into their clique means leaving her old ideals behind. In a novel filled with strong visual images, Pung (An Unpolished Gem) draws a sharp contrast between authenticity and deception, integrity and manipulation. Against the vividly painted backdrops of two very different communities, she traces Lucy’s struggle to form a new identity without compromising the values she holds closest to her heart. Ages 12–up.

Starred review from July 15, 2016
A teen finds that attendance and acceptance at an elite school are wildly different experiences. Lucy Lam's parents are ethnic Chinese immigrants to Melbourne, Australia, via Vietnam. Her father works at a carpet factory, and her mother cranks out hundreds of garments from her workshop in their garage while her baby brother (nicknamed the Lamb) plays nearby. When Lucy unexpectedly wins a competition for the inaugural Equal Access scholarship to prestigious Laurinda Ladies' College, everyone assumes the superior education she receives there will help her lift up her family economically. As Lucy confides in a series of letters to Linh, her closest companion, however, life at Laurinda is shot through with careless luxury, countless microaggressions, and extracurricular expectations that are nearly impossible for Lucy to fulfill. Three powerful white girls known as the Cabinet seem to take Lucy under their wing, but she perceives how toxic they are to both fellow students and faculty they deem unworthy. Observing the cruelty and home lives of The Cabinet, Lucy begins to see her life in suburban Stanley--where treats from the dollar store count as fancy and her family eats dinner together on the floor using newspaper for a tablecloth--as both hopelessly shabby and something worth protecting fiercely. Lucy's voice is highly literary, her observations keen, and her self-awareness sometimes actively painful. A bracing, enthralling gut-punch and an essential read for teens, teachers, and parents alike. (Fiction. 13 & up)

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Starred review from September 1, 2016

Gr 8 Up-Life is not easy for Lucy Lam. Her immigrant mother and father work seemingly never-ending hours to make life bearable for her and her young brother in suburban Stanley, Australia. Lucy can't help but compare herself to her more outgoing friends, especially Linh, who always seems to come out on top with her easy retorts and spunky attitude. When she and her classmates learn of a contest for a full ride scholarship to the most prestigious private school in the area, all the girls try out. To everyone's surprise, Lucy gets the spot and quickly feels the pressure to assimilate to the glamorous lifestyle of the school. At first, leaving her old life seems like the perfect plan, and she soon loses touch with everyone, including Linh. Will Lucy realize the importance of her past and stay true to herself? Pung revitalizes the popular "mean girls against the new girl" trope in a surprising new way by revealing the difficulty in distinguishing between good and bad in this engaging novel. She deftly creates a story that immerses readers and makes this world relatable. Young adults will root for quirky Lucy and will be checked by a big twist at the end. VERDICT This daring work with an authentic protagonist teaches important lessons about being yourself while navigating through life. A strong purchase that will captivate teens and adults alike.-DeHanza Kwong, Central Piedmont Community College, Charlotte, NC

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from September 15, 2016
Grades 9-12 *Starred Review* This Australian author's beautifully written YA debut follows a lower-middle-class Chinese Australian teen who wins a prestigious scholarship to an exclusive all-girls school and struggles to find herself among the snobby mean girls. In a letter to Linh, the constant friend she's left behind, 15-year-old Lucy recounts her first year as an Equal Access scholarship student at Laurinda Ladies' College. Once fearlessly outspoken and full of fun, Lucy has become withdrawn and unsure of herself. A small group of rich, spoiled, and casually racist girls, known as the Cabinet, dominates her class and play horrible pranks on students and teachers with impunity. With the help of a male teacher and a popular boy from a nearby private boys school who's not ashamed of being lower-middle class, Lucy learns to stand up for herself and reject the Cabinet. Lucy's biting comments about Laurinda and her struggle to reconcile her school and home life in the dilapidated and rundown town of Stanley effectively ring true as she realizes her family's immigrant life there is precious. The reveal of the truth of her relationship with Linh is seamlessly incorporated into the narrative. Lucy's struggle to find her place and sense of self will have a wide appeal for teen readers and is a welcome addition to the prep-school canon.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)