Pippa Park Raises Her Game

November 1, 2019

Gr 5-7-Korean American seventh-grader Pippa Park is a basketball star at her middle school in Victoria, MA, but she struggles with math and the demands of her older sister and guardian Mina. When she unexpectedly receives a scholarship to a prestigious private school, she is faced with new challenges: reinventing herself to fit in with her wealthy classmates, maintaining her grades to keep her scholarship, performing on the court to help secure a long-overdue win for the school, and working at Mina's laundromat. Complicating things is her crush on the headmaster's son and math tutor Elliot, whose strange behavior and mysterious household fascinate and unnerve her. Pippa also feels guilt for avoiding her best friend Buddy, fear over anonymous blog posts targeting her, and worry over her mother who has been in an auto accident in Korea. Ultimately, after some big mistakes, Pippa must find her own solutions and make things right. In this reimagining of Charles Dickens's Great Expectations, familiar themes and predictability are offset by the depiction of Korean culture and language, which add texture and depth to the narrative. Readers will sympathize with this likable heroine as she struggles to succeed. VERDICT An enjoyable read with a buoyant contemporary twist on an old classic. Recommended for young fans of modern retellings.-Marie Orlando, formerly at Suffolk Cooperative Library System, Bellport, NY

Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 9, 2019
An empowering celebration of identity, friendship, and embracing one’s roots, Yun’s loose reimagining of Great Expectations follows a first-generation Korean-American girl learning to navigate her new life at an elite private school. When Pippa Park’s older sister, her caretaker, forces her to quit her Massachusetts public school’s basketball team to concentrate on her grades, her basketball dreams seem all but dead. Yet an unexpected lifeline appears when the elite Lakeview School suddenly offers her a basketball scholarship—with the condition that she maintain a 3.0 GPA. Spinning a web of half-truths about her background to fit in with wealthy new friends, Pippa loses sight of her grades, working-class family roots, and true friendships. #OwnVoices author Yun writes of Korean-American family life with heartwarming, authentic detail. The predictability of certain plot points, such as Pippa’s mysterious acceptance into Lakeview and the eventual exposure of her lies, is balanced by her cheerful charm. Tall, athletic, and brash, she is an unforced subversion of female Asian-American stereotypes even as she
confronts challenges unique to Asian-American teens. A subplot involving her aloof math tutor and his musical older brother adds another layer to the story, revealing Pippa’s capacity for empathy and the value of family in her world. Ages 10–12.

November 1, 2019
Grades 4-7 Pippa loves basketball, but with her academic struggles, along with her family's relative poverty, she's surprised to receive a scholarship from Lakeview, an elite private school. Soon, she finds herself eating lunch with the Royals, Lakeview's most popular girls, and in an effort to belong, hides the truth about her unglamorous home life. It's not long before she gets tangled up in her own lies, flagging math grades, and drama with her new teammates, and to make matters worse, someone begins anonymously threatening to expose her. Yun's debut is a lively, contemporary retelling of Great Expectations?with a side of Mean Girls?following a Korean American seventh-grader as she navigates an unrequited crush, the pressures of family responsibilities, and differences in social class. Pippa is a magnetic heroine, funny and good-hearted, and young readers will relate as she makes one honest mistake after another in an effort to fit in. A nice balancing act between sports action, middle-school drama, and the struggles of an underprivileged immigrant family that will appeal to a wide audience.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)