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ENTRY TYPE: new
WORK TITLE: Ex Marks the Spot
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: https://gloriachao.wordpress.com/
CITY: Chicago
STATE:
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY:
LAST VOLUME: CA 418
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Married.
EDUCATION:Graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer, screenwriter, and dentist.
MEMBER:NaNoWriMo Writers Board; 2022 We Need Diverse Books Mentor, and 2019 PitchWars mentor.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
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Gloria Chao is the American child of Chinese parents. She attended MIT, became a dentist, and then became a writer. Her semi-autobiographical young adult novel, American Panda, was released in 2018. The protagonist, Mei, has graduated from high school a year early, and now she is a freshman at MIT. Her parents are Taiwanese immigrants, and they insist that their daughter must become a doctor, marry another Taiwanese boy, and have children. Mei knows her parents might disown her if she doesn’t follow their instructions. They have already disowned her older brother, Xing. Mei’s mother calls her constantly to check on her progress and to set her up with other Taiwanese boys. While Mei does not want to disappoint her parents, she is secretly in touch with Xing. She is also a germophobe, which makes her studies to become a doctor almost impossible. On top of that, Mei would rather dance, and she is falling for a Japanese-American boy named Darren Takahashi. Mei must figure out how to live her life the way she wants to without losing her parents, and she is not sure how she is going to do it.
Reviewers largely praised American Panda, noting that the novel’s theme of self- actualization will appeal to teens regardless of their ethnic backgrounds. Aileen Valdes stated in Voice of Youth Advocates: “Readers will laugh, cry, and ultimately cheer for Mei as she decides that making herself happy is a priority. This deserves a place on every shelf.” A Kirkus Reviews critic was also impressed, saying: “Chao’s inclusions of an Asian male romantic interest, a slightly nontraditional Asian female lead…and casual Mandarin dialogue are welcome.”
In Chao’s 2019 novel of young love, Our Wayward Fate, 17-year-old Taiwanese American Ali Chu is the only Asian in her very white Indiana high school. She feels she has to accept their passive racism, like pronouncing her name Allie instead of the correct Ah-lee. But when new student Chase Yu arrives, also Taiwanese, Ali learns to open up more about her Asian heritage, and starts a romance with Chase. But when her overbearing mother disapproves of the relationship, Ali digs into her family’s hidden secrets. The book also introduces readers to the Chinese folktale of “The Butterfly Lovers.”
In Kirkus Reviews, a critic called the book “A spirited novel exploring the clash between Midwestern America and the expectations of immigrant parents.” DeHanza Kwong reported in School Library Journal: “Chao also weaves in her take on a traditional Chinese myth, an interesting perspective on what might seem like a ‘typical’ teen love story.”
Chao’s humorous 2020 Rent a Boyfriend finds college sophomore Jing-Jing “Chloe” Wang fending off her status-obsessed Palo Alto, CA, parents and their matchmaking with the wealthy eligible, yet crude and sexist, bachelor Hongbo Kuo. So Chloe decides to go to the Rent for Your ‘Rents agency, which provides perfectly sociable fake Asian boyfriends. Chloe brings her fake boyfriend, Drew Chan, home during Thanksgiving. But after subsequent holiday visits, Chloe begins to fall for Drew, despite the fact that his perfect persona is not who he really is. As the lie snowballs, Chloe and Drew find it hard to keep up appearances.
“Frustrating familial tensions and miscommunication abound, and the reconciliation is realistically complicated but also optimistic… Entertaining and nuanced,” according to a writer in Kirkus Reviews. Kelly Jo Lasher declared in School Library Journal: “A potentially simple, comedic premise shows its dramatic layers with appeal for a wide audience.” On the MIT website, Chao explained her idea for Rent a Boyfriend: “I also like to write practices that are less familiar here (like when I found out there wasn’t a novel about the boyfriend rental business in Asian countries, I wrote Rent a Boyfriend), and I’m motivated to bring those to a new audience.”
In the tender romance When You Wish upon a Lantern set in Chicago’s Chinatown, childhood friends now teenagers, Liya Huang and Kai Jiang, had a falling out over a misunderstanding and haven’t spoken to each other for a while. Even their parents—the Huangs who own a lantern shop and the Jiangs who own a bakery—are feuding. After Liya’s grandmother dies, Liya decides to revive their pastime of making wishes that people place on the lanterns they release into the sky come true. She wants to help two elderly neighbors meet, but needs to buy a traditional mooncake. When she goes to Kai’s family’s bakery for one, she reignites her relationship with Kai. Now they need to deal with their parents.
Chao told an interviewer at Miss Print about her inspiration for the book: “I wanted to write a contemporary story that feels like magic, with the magic coming from kind acts for others. I hoped to remind people that even though it’s rare, magic can be found in the real world.” A Publishers Weekly reviewer praised the book’s “Laugh-out-loud dialogue, the pair’s simultaneously innocent and snarky alternating POVs, and a vividly captured Chicago Chinatown setting.”
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BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, November 2024, Amber Hayes, review of Ex Marks the Spot, p. 72.
Kirkus Reviews, December 15, 2017, review of American Panda; August 15, 2019, review of Our Wayward Fate; September 1, 2020, review of Rent a Boyfriend; December 1, 2022, review of When You Wish upon a Lantern; November 1, 2024, review of Ex Marks the Spot.
Publishers Weekly, January 2, 2023, review of When You Wish upon a Lantern, p. 54.
School Library Journal, September 2019, DeHanza Kwong, review of Our Wayward Fate, p. 122; November 2020, Kelly Jo Lasher, review of Rent a Boyfriend, p. 63.
Voice of Youth Advocates, December 2017, Aileen Valdes, review of American Panda, p. 53.
ONLINE
Gloria Chao website, https://gloriachao.wordpress.com/ (May 1, 2025).
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Career Advising & Professional Development website, https://capd.mit.edu/ (2022), “Gloria Chao.”
Miss Print, https://missprint.wordpress.com/ (May 24, 2024), “Author Interview: Gloria Chao on When You Wish Upon a Lantern.”
Gloria Chao is a screenwriter and the award-winning author of The Ex-Girlfriend Murder Club (forthcoming 6.24.25), Ex Marks the Spot, When You Wish Upon a Lantern, Rent a Boyfriend, Our Wayward Fate, and American Panda. She graduated from MIT and became a dentist before realizing she’d rather spend her days in fictional characters’ heads instead of real people’s mouths. When she’s not writing, you can find her on the curling ice, where she and her husband are world-ranked in mixed doubles.
Her books have received starred trade reviews; were Epic Reads x Target, Junior Library Guild, Indie Next List, YALSA Teens’ Top 10, Amelia Bloomer List, YALSA Amazing Audiobook, and Common Sense Media selections; and were featured on the “Best of” lists of Seventeen, Bustle, Barnes & Nobles, PopSugar, Paste Magazine, Booklist, Chicago Public Library, Bank Street, and more.
Gloria is on the NaNoWriMo Writers Board and was a 2022 We Need Diverse Books Mentor and 2019 PitchWars mentor.
Find her on Instagram and Twitter @GloriacChao.
GLORIA CHAO: Author of 'American Panda'
Writer: Next GenerAsian
Next GenerAsian
Oct 30, 2020
4 min read
INTERVIEWED BY: HA NGUYEN
Gloria is an MIT business graduate who became a dentist then an author. She came out with her debut novel, American Panda, on the 6th of February, 2018 and had become a full-time writer since. Other novels created by her are romantic fictions Our Wayward Fate and Rent a Boyfriend. Find out more about her through this interview including her hobbies and how she got into writing!
Instagram: @gloriacchao
Link to Gloria's books
What do you like to do when you are not writing?
When I’m not writing, I am usually on the curling ice in the winter! My husband and I are avid curlers, and we spend a lot of time practicing, playing in leagues, and competing. I’m also a big fan of board games! Some of my favorites include Takenoko, Splendor, Duel, Forbidden Island, Ticket to Ride, and my most recent discovery, Lost Cities.
How did you start writing? When did you get into it?
When I was very young, I loved reading and writing/illustrating my own books. I have a pile of (very terrible) picture books I wrote when I was between the ages of 3-6 that had no plot and no character. For most of my teenage years, I didn’t read or write because my traditional Taiwanese parents encouraged me to focus on math and science.
I found my way back to writing when I was completely miserable in dental school. I hated germs, and the only thing that got me through five years of dentistry was reading and writing. My first novel, AMERICAN PANDA, is a fictionalized version of the struggles I went through, about a germaphobe MIT freshman whose parents want her to become a doctor.
How do you select the name and find inspiration for your characters?
I always like for my characters’ names to serve a purpose. For example, in RENT A BOYFRIEND, the main characters’ parents name her Jing (the Mandarin character 晶 with three suns in it) so that she will be “shiny, bright, and so successful others can’t open their eyes.” Her name alone shows how much pressure her parents put on her, which is part of the reason why she ends up hiring a fake boyfriend to introduce to them.
I often come up with the book idea first, then develop the characters so that they are the best (or worst, depending on how you look at it) person to go through that particular journey. With RENT A BOYFRIEND, I knew I wanted to write a book about Asia’s boyfriend rental market but set in America, so I knew that the main character would have to be someone who cares about her parents and their expectations while also secretly fighting for the life that she wants. She struggles to balance these two sides, and the book is about her journey to figure out who she is.
What is your favourite under-appreciated novel?
PICTURE US IN THE LIGHT by Kelly Loy Gilbert. This was the first novel I read where I felt like I understood the main character’s parents on a deep, inexplicable level because their interpretation of Chinese culture was similar to my parents’. Reading it stirred up a lot of emotions for me, and I’ve never quite experienced this with any other book before.
Describe your typical writing day.
I’m fortunate that writing is my full-time job so I spend the majority of my day writing. Sometimes that means drafting new words, sometimes that means brainstorming (and feeling like I’m not being productive), and some days that’s editing. Promotion and social media is also a part of being an author, and I try to balance that throughout. When I’m struck with an idea at night or when I’m not at my desk, I often stop what I’m doing to work on the book while inspired.
What is your writing Kryptonite?
Before I was published, the most difficult part of writing was finding the line between fiction and reality. My debut novel (AMERICAN PANDA) was so much inspired by my own life that when I was drafting, I had a hard time distancing myself and fictionalizing the events to better serve the narrative. After writing several books, this is no longer an issue for me. Now, the hardest part is keeping other voices out of my head. When I draft, I try not to think about the market or what reviewers might say, but it’s becoming increasingly difficult with each book.
If you can invite 3 literary characters to dinner, who would you invite?
Maya from Samira Ahmed’s Love, Hate & Other Filters because we could commiserate about having strict parents who didn’t let us date in high school; Skye from Lyla Lee’s I’ll Be The One so we can chat about K-pop, sing and dance around for fun, and talk about body positivity and the struggles one can face dealing with Asian mothers who care too much about looks; Izumi from Emiko Jean’s upcoming Tokyo Ever After (out May 2021) because she makes me laugh (and she’s Japan’s princess)!
What advice would you give to the Asian youth who want to begin doing similar work that you are doing?
My advice is that if I can do it, anyone can! Please write your stories because I promise there are readers out there who need them! Don’t be afraid to write about what makes you unique or what you’re struggling with—in my experiences, those have been the parts of my books that readers resonate with most. And the best writing advice I have: read as much as you can. I write my best work when I’m also finding time to read.
Author Interview: Gloria Chao on When You Wish Upon a Lantern
Posted on May 24, 2024by missprint
When You Wish Upon a Lantern was one of my favorite reads in 2023 (read my review). I loved the way the dual points of view played off each other, the sense of community, the sweet romance between Liya and Kai and, of course, I loved the humor. I’m happy to share my interview with Gloria Chao all about this delightful contemporary novel with you today:
Miss Print: Can you tell me a bit about your path as a writer? How did you get to this point?
Gloria Chao: I had a windy path here, studying business at MIT and becoming a dentist before I discovered my love for writing. I was so miserable in dental school that I turned to reading to help me get through, then eventually writing. My debut novel, American Panda, is inspired by my experiences, and is about a girl who whose parents want her to become a doctor despite her hatred of germs. That was the manuscript that landed me a literary agent through cold querying, and I’ve been lucky to continue publishing since then with Our Wayward Fate, Rent a Boyfriend, When You Wish Upon a Lantern, and the forthcoming Ex Marks the Spot (coming January 21, 2025). And stay tuned for more announcements!
I feel thankful every day that I get to write books and movies as my career. And I’m thankful to spend my days in fictional characters’ heads instead of real people’s mouths!
Miss Print: What was the inspiration for When You Wish Upon a Lantern?
Gloria Chao: When You Wish Upon a Lantern began with my desire to capture the Taiwanese custom of writing wishes on the sides of lanterns and sending thousands of them into the sky simultaneously. This is why the book begins with the image of a dark night sky full of wishes and dreams.
Overall, I wanted to write a contemporary story that feels like magic, with the magic coming from kind acts for others. I hoped to remind people that even though it’s rare, magic can be found in the real world. And sometimes you have to make your own magic.
This book then grew into my love letter to my culture, featuring some of my favorite traditions, holidays, food, folk tales, and more. This book is a celebration—of the beauty of everyday moments, of love, of community, of my culture.
Miss Print: This novel alternates chapters between Liya and Kai as narrators. Did you always know this book would feature two narrators? How did you balance the alternating points of view while telling the story and revealing plot points?
Gloria Chao: When I started drafting When You Wish Upon a Lantern, I knew I wanted both Liya and Kai’s points of view because I wanted to maximize the efficacy of the wish granting, where each character could go off and work on the mission. I also wanted the reader to know how each character felt about the other.
And once I decided on dual points of view, I tried to use it as much as I could. For example, Liya talks in her point of view about how she’s not superstitious, but then Kai reveals in his that she’s not superstitious but medium stitious. Liya also talks about how sly she is, but then Kai reveals to the reader that she completely lacks the ability to lie. It was such a fun way to help the readers know the characters quickly, to show them how the characters see each other, and to provide some humor.
Miss Print: When You Wish Upon a Lantern is very grounded in community with the Huang’s lantern shop and the Jiang family bakery feeling like characters in the story. Did any real locations inspire the places that are important to Liya and Kai in the story?
Gloria Chao: Thank you so much! I wanted to create a tight-knit community that readers could feel a part of, so I’m especially happy you felt the locations were characters in the story. The Huang family lantern shop is inspired by the quintessential random store found in most Chinatowns that carries everything from lucky bamboo plants to rice cookers to Hello Kitty paraphernalia. Kai’s bakery is inspired by an amalgamation of Chinese bakeries I’ve loved throughout the years. I wanted these places to feel like home, not just to the characters, but to the readers as well.
Miss Print: What does a typical writing day look like for you?
Gloria Chao: I am fortunate to write full-time, so I spend the whole day at my computer.
A few random tidbits about my writing process:
I’m a very linear writer, and I like to work off a detailed outline that I’ll continue adding to as I draft or revise.
Related to being a linear writer, I like to edit as I write. If a previous scene isn’t working, I like to figure it out before I move on.
When I write dual points of views, I take detailed notes on each character’s voice so I can more easily slip out of one and into the other.
Miss Print: Can you tell me anything about what you’re currently working on?
Gloria Chao: I have so many exciting projects in the works I can’t wait to share about! My next young adult romance was just announced. EX MARKS THE SPOT is about a girl who discovers a puzzle in her estranged grandfather’s will, then embarks on an inheritance hunt that will take her through Taiwan and force her to work with her ex, only to find that her family has hidden more than treasure. This is my first rivals-to-lovers story, and overall, it’s a love letter to my parents’ home of Taiwan and to my love of puzzles, games, and puns. It’s an epic adventure with a Taipei summer program, large cast, and all my favorite Taiwan sights and food.
I’m also working on my first adult book and first mystery, which has been so much fun. I love exploring something new with each project, and this one is different from my previous books in so many exciting ways. Stay tuned for more information about that! I’m also a screenwriter and hope I can share more about that one day.
Miss Print: Do you have any advice to offer aspiring authors?
Gloria Chao: If I can do it, you can! Try to always remember why you started writing. If you can hang on to that passion, it’ll get you through the harder writing days. I also try to appreciate each step and focus on what I love most about each stage.
And it does get easier the more you do it.
Happy writing!
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You can find out more about Gloria and her books on her website: https://gloriachao.wordpress.com/
Gloria Chao
MIT Grad Turned Dentist Turned Author
Alumni Profile: Gloria Chao
Infinite Careers is a collaboration between Career Services (Career Advising & Professional Development) and the MIT Alumni Association to explore career paths and the non-linearity of career decision making. Read profiles of alumni with unique career paths, hear their stories and network at a series of talks.
Education
MIT, SB 15-1, 2008
Tufts School of Dental Medicine, DMD, 2012
Biography
gloria chao author photo
Gloria Chao is the critically acclaimed author of AMERICAN PANDA, OUR WAYWARD FATE, RENT A BOYFRIEND, and WHEN YOU WISH UPON A LANTERN (forthcoming 2023). As an MIT grad turned dentist turned writer, she is now grateful to spend her days in fictional characters’ heads instead of real people’s mouths. When she’s not writing, you can find her with her husband (MIT ’09) on the curling ice or hiking the Indiana Dunes.
Her award-winning books have received starred trade reviews; have been a Junior Library Guild Selection, Indie Next Pick, and YALSA Teens’ Top 10 Pick; and they have been featured on the Amelia Bloomer list and the “Best of” lists of Seventeen, Bustle, Barnes & Nobles, PopSugar, Paste Magazine, and more.
Visit her tea-and-book-filled world at GloriaChao.wordpress.com, and find her on Twitter and Instagram @GloriacChao.
Gloria’s Story
What influenced your choice of undergraduate major? How has it shaped your career choices and professional ability?
I majored in management science with a concentration in operations research. I rarely use that specific expertise now, but I do not regret my choice of major or college because MIT was where I learned how to think and where I developed my perspective on the world. These experiences helped shape who I am as a person, which also affects my writing and narrative voice. Also, my debut novel AMERICAN PANDA takes place at MIT and includes every tradition I could get in there (hacking, tunnel chair surfing, liquid nitrogen ice cream, LSC, the parabolic benches, and so much more)—so thanks, MIT, for that!
What influenced your choice of graduate program/programs? How has it/have they shaped your career choices and professional ability?
This is probably not the answer you were looking for when you wrote this question, but becoming a dentist made me appreciate my change to writing in a way I wouldn’t have without leaving a career I hated. I also would not have found my passion for writing if I hadn’t been so miserable in dental school that I turned to reading to escape my reality. Publishing is a long road but choosing it after turning away from a career that was a terrible fit for me helped me get through the difficult parts. Also, dentistry has inspired many scenes in my books, like in RENT A BOYFRIEND, when the fake boyfriend-for-hire who is supposed to be an aspiring surgeon is brought to assist his “girlfriend’s” father on a dental procedure and almost loses his cover after gagging over the spit and blood.
Is there anything you wish you had done differently or more of while you were at MIT?
I wish I had explored more. MIT is known for math, science, and engineering, but it’s also a leader in many other fields. I wish I had taken a broader mix of classes instead of focusing so much on my intended major from the start. I only took one writing class while I was there, and I wish I had branched out more and earlier. If I had done that, perhaps I could have discovered my passion for writing sooner. I think it’s difficult to know what you want to do with the rest of your life at such a young age, and I wish I had viewed college more as a time of discovery. It’s probably not a surprise that all of my books so far are coming-of-age stories about characters figuring out who they are and what they want in life!
What has been the most rewarding aspect of your career?
Hearing from readers has been by far the most rewarding part of being an author. I’ve been lucky enough to hear from readers of all backgrounds about how they have related to parts of my stories and characters, and I cherish those messages. I wrote with the hope of helping at least one other person feel less alone, and it was such a pleasant surprise that my readers have helped me feel less alone. I never knew before my books came out that there were other Taiwanese moms who fed their daughters papaya hoping it would make their boobs grow, or that other Asian parents thought going outside with wet hair was worse than licking a pigeon. I’ve also been so honored to hear that my books have helped readers when they’ve been at a crossroads in their life (and I very much hope I didn’t lead them astray!).
What motivates you to do the work you do?
Hearing from readers certainly motivates me to keep writing. But when it comes down to it, I just love creating stories and I’m lucky that I get paid to do it. I also like to write about Chinese folk tales, traditions, holidays, and practices that are less familiar here (like when I found out there wasn’t a novel about the boyfriend rental business in Asian countries, I wrote RENT A BOYFRIEND), and I’m motivated to bring those to a new audience.
Making decisions, especially important-feeling career decisions, is really challenging for people at all stages of their career. What strategies have you used to make career decisions?
My biggest career decision was when I decided to hang up my dental drill and become a full-time writer. It was especially difficult because I did not have support from everyone in my life. To be honest, I questioned my decision for quite some time even after I’d made it. But I was unhappy as a dentist, and I knew that I needed to make a change. I leaned on the ones who did support me (especially my husband), and I tried to focus on continuing to put one foot in front of the other, even when the step felt very small. And it did help that I was writing a book that was drawing so much from what I was going through. My overall goal is to write with honesty and to stay true to my experiences, and I try to let that guide me in all of my career decisions.
What’s the best piece of career advice you’ve received?
Eyes on your own paper. Don’t compare yourself to others and focus on your own journey. I think this is applicable to many careers, not just writing!
And a more publishing-focused one: Don’t write for the market. If you try to write something you think will be trendy, the trend might be over by the time it’s ready, and you won’t end up with the best book possible. I write what I think will make for the most entertaining book first, then I think about the market later when I’m talking to my agent.
What career advice do you have for current MIT students, or those interested in entering your industry?
If I can do it, anyone can! I didn’t have any training, didn’t read for most of high school (Spark Notes was my go-to then), and didn’t have a passion for writing for the first two decades of my life. There isn’t one right way to write, and you don’t have to have any connections in the field to enter it. My best advice is to figure out what process works best for you and to keep going.
Do you have any tips for networking or job searching for current students and recent graduates?
For networking in publishing, I think social media is a good way to try to meet other fellow writers. For navigating agents and editors, do your research. All of the resources I used on my publishing journey can be found on my website here (https://gloriachao.wordpress.com/writers-nook/). I found my literary agent through a cold query (meaning, I didn’t know her and emailed her a pitch for my book according to her submission guidelines), so it’s possible to get your foot in the door without any prior connections.
What do you like to do outside of work for fun/relaxation/inspiration?
My husband and I are avid curlers, and in the winter, that’s where you’ll usually find us! My husband actually started curling a decade ago as part of the MIT Curling Club, and we have become devoted curlers in the last four years.
Do you participate in any volunteer/community service activities? If so, how do you balance your professional and personal responsibilities?
I try to give back to the writing community when I can. I have been and continue to be a mentor through various organizations such as We Need Diverse Books and Pitch Wars.
Last updated 2022
Gloria Chao
May 1, 2016 By Susan Blumberg-Kason Leave a Comment
Photo-Gloria
I first got to know writer Gloria Chao when she was querying agents last year. We live in the same area and have since become good friends, often meeting for lunch or dinner at one of Chicago’s many amazing restaurants. After lots of hard work, Gloria recently signed with agent Kathleen Rushall of the Andrea Brown Agency. I recently sat down with Gloria to ask her more about her querying journey, writing multicultural fiction, and how she made the transition from dentist to writer!
Susan Blumberg-Kason: Congratulations on recently signing with an agent! Can you tell us a little about your querying process and how long it took?
Gloria Chao: Thank you so much, Susan! You were so helpful in my writing journey, and I’m so grateful for your support! Thank you for featuring me as your May author of the month. I’m so honored.
I began querying in March of 2015. The manuscript began as new adult because my protagonist is an MIT student, but I quickly learned that new adult was not the right category. Following an agent’s suggestion, I rewrote for a women’s fiction audience, which I began querying in September 2015. This version garnered more interest, but it still didn’t quite fit the category. Once I decided to rewrite for young adult by aging the main character down to seventeen (but keeping the MIT setting), everything clicked. I started querying the young adult version mid-March of 2016, and I was fortunate and flattered that agents were interested quickly. I received 28 full requests, my first offer came within 2 weeks, and another 6 offers followed.
SBK: You are a dentist by training, but left healthcare to write. So you went from a pretty regulated work schedule to one that requires more self-discipline. Can you discuss an average work day and what motivates you to sit down and write?
GC: It was a very difficult decision to put aside a stable career to pursue an unpredictable, tough-to-break-into industry, but once I was all in, it was such a privilege and honor to write. I don’t view it as something that requires motivation or discipline. Every morning, I wake up, make my cup of tea, look outside at Lake Michigan, then sit down feeling like the luckiest person in the world.
I work longer hours now than I did as a dentist because I love it so much. I’m at my computer 10 hours a day, on average, and when I’m not directly working, I’m still thinking about my book. I have notepads all around the apartment to jot down ideas that come to me. Many of them come to me as I’m falling asleep and believe it or not, most of those half-conscious thoughts make it into the book.
Some days are better writing days than others, but the beauty of this process is that there’s flexibility. Editing, reading other novels, reading craft books, building your social media platform—these are all activities that help your career, and there is always one on the list I’m excited to tackle.
SBK: You’re writing about a Taiwanese-American teenager who experiences cultural and generational differences within her family. Do you think these culture clashes are pretty standard across most first and second generation families, or are there certain traits that are specific to Asian-American families?
GC: I like to think of my story as an Asian version of My Big Fat Greek Wedding in book form. I hope the struggle to find oneself and accept one’s roots is a struggle many can relate to regardless of race and family situations.
I’ve been fortunate enough to have child of immigrant readers from Asian and non-Asian families, and many of them have said they have had similar experiences to my protagonist. Many people straddle two cultures without quite fitting in either, have different expectations and values than their parents, and struggle with language barriers.
In my experience, some traits are more common among Asian-American families. The stereotype of being pressured to be a doctor or marry within the culture is there for a reason. But many non-Asians experience this pressure as well. My manuscript tells the story of one Taiwanese-American experience, not every Asian-American.
SBK: Which books have inspired you to write your novel? Was there a certain one that clicked and caused you to think that you had a similar story to tell?
GC: I felt very alone in high school dealing with the cultural gap between my parents and I, and I wrote this book with the hope that it would tell at least one reader that they’re not alone. It also took me more than twenty years to find the humor in my struggles, and I hope to pass that coping mechanism along.
Writing this story also helped me survive my parents’ initial disapproval of my decision to put aside my dental career to pursue writing. They have come around since, but it has been a long journey, starting from the day I was born.
Several books helped me fit my novel to the market. FANGIRL by Rainbow Rowell showed me how to set a YA book in college, and I admire Amy Tan’s storytelling, courage, and innovation.
SBK: Getting back to the querying issue, what was the scariest thing about sending your work out to agents and how did you overcome that?
GC: In the beginning, the scariest thing about sending my work to agents (or anyone, really) was the vulnerability, the feeling that I was giving others a window into my private thoughts. Because the subject-matter was so close to my heart, it was difficult to let others in. But I wanted my book to see the light of day and knew I had to overcome this anxiety to reach that goal. With enough time and after many submissions, this fear dissipated.
Thank you so much, Gloria! You can follow Gloria on Twitter at @gloriacchao or online at gloriachao.wordpress.com.
‘American Panda’ Is Based on Gloria Chao’s Own Struggle With Identity
by Rachel León
March 6, 2018
Read Next
‘Asymmetry’ Is a Brilliant Conversation Between Life and Art
Gloria Chao’s path to becoming a writer was pretty unique — she graduated from MIT in 2008, became a dentist, then completely shifted gears to become a novelist. That kind of career change would be a bold move for anyone, but as the daughter of Taiwanese immigrant parents, Chao says it took extra courage. Leaving dentistry for an uncharted path as a writer seemed like a gamble after her parents worked so hard to ensure she had a successful life in America. Now based in Chicago, Lu has already found success with one YA novel out and another on the way from Simon & Schuster.
Her semi-autobiographical debut novel, American Panda, is about seventeen-year-old MIT student Mei Lu — a pre-med germophobe who would prefer a career in dance, but feels enormously pressured by her Taiwanese immigrant parents to become — and marry — a doctor. It’s a hilarious and heartwarming coming-of-age story about one girl’s search for identity and the courage to forge her own path.
I recently chatted with Chao about American Panda, identity, and Chicago (where her next novel is set).
Rachel León
Where did you get the idea for American Panda?
Gloria Chao
American Panda is largely inspired by my life, and I began writing this book when I switched careers from dentist to writer. During that time, I had difficulty communicating with my parents, and I channeled a lot of that struggle into the narrative. With American Panda, I wanted to write the book I needed then and also the book I needed as a teen. I wanted to show readers that they aren’t alone, that it’s okay to not feel wholly one thing or another, and that cultural gaps can be difficult. I wanted to capture a window into another world, but also write a character that was universal in her search for herself.
Rachel León
American Panda is about the struggle for identity and belonging, and you dedicate the novel to anyone who’s ever felt like they didn’t belong. As a Taiwanese-American did you face these same struggles?
Gloria Chao
Yes, I have struggled with identity my whole life. I never felt quite Taiwanese or American enough. Growing up, it was almost as if there were two versions of me: one that spoke Mandarin at home and obeyed my parents, and the one at school that tried (and failed) to fit in. I want teens to know that it’s okay if they don’t fully know where they belong. For me, figuring that out was learning to love myself even though I don’t fit neatly into a box.
Rachel León
All of the characters are very vivid and feel real, but Mei’s mother is especially memorable. How did you come up with this character?
Gloria Chao
Mei’s mother says many of the things my mother says (like, ‘swing your arms 3,000 times a day for good health’ and ‘papaya makes your boobs grow’), and her personality is based on many people from my life. She came to me fully formed and basically began bossing me around and telling me what she wanted to say. She was my favorite character to write!
Rachel León
In the novel, Mei struggles with whether to conform to her parents’ wishes and the path they have carved out for her or to follow her own dreams. Is that a universal theme in YA or something you wanted to explore?
Gloria Chao
I think coming of age is a universal YA theme, but with Mei’s story, I wanted to explore this in a way that is, unfortunately, less common in YA. I wanted to capture the difficulty of wanting a different life than what your immigrant parents want, and the extreme guilt that comes with it. Further, I wanted to capture both sides of the story and show how, at the core, Mei’s parents just love her and want the best for her, which is why the situation is so difficult. As Mei says in the book, there’s no right or wrong, no morality; the difficulty lies in simply seeing the world differently, which is an incredibly hard obstacle to overcome.
Rachel León
You’re based in Chicago. How has the city shaped your writing life?
Gloria Chao
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Chicago plays a loving role in my next book, Misaligned, which mainly takes place in Indiana, but has some fun scenes in the Windy City.
I am so lucky to have a view of Lake Michigan from my desk, and living in a city dedicated to culture and art is inspiring. We’re also lucky to be home to many wonderful indie bookstores—57th Street Books, Anderson’s Bookshop, Women & Children First, The Book Cellar, and The Book Stall—just to name a few. I have made so many wonderful writer connections here. Chicago is a fabulous place to be a writer!
Rachel León
Your second novel will be out next year. Can you tell us a little about book two?
Gloria Chao
I’d love to! Misaligned will be out fall 2019 with Simon Pulse. The book follows a teen outcast, Ali, who is the only Asian in her small, predominantly white Midwestern town. The book explores racism and prejudice, and when another Asian family moves to town, everyone believes Ali and the other Chinese boy belong together. Despite her initial resistance, she begins falling for him—the one who understands her in a way no one else can—only to learn that her mother forbids them from being together. As Ali searches for the reasoning behind her mother’s disapproval, she unearths dark family secrets that threaten her future.
This book was actually inspired by the big reveal at the end of the book, which is based on a real phenomenon in China!
9781481499101_da35cFICTION—YOUNG ADULT
American Panda by Gloria Chao
Simon Pulse
Published February 6, 2018
Gloria Chao is an MIT graduate turned dentist turned writer who currently lives in Chicago. Visit her tea-and-book-filled world at GloriaChao.Wordpress.com.
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Author Interview with Gloria Chao
Posted on30 January, 2018AuthorJessica
American PandaI’ve been beyond excited for Gloria Chao’s upcoming YA book American Panda. Set at MIT, American Panda follows Mei, a Taiwanese American college freshman who’s set to follow her parents’ plan for her to become a doctor, marry the right guy, and have kids — but life, love, and her own dreams get in the way. As a Taiwanese American, I’m of course psyched for more Taiwanese representation in YA, and can’t wait to read the book when it comes out February 6th. Today, here is Gloria Chao to talk about her new book!
Just this summer, Want by Cindy Pon, a sci-fi thriller set in Taipei, was released. Now half a year later, American Panda is weeks away from joining the few and proud ranks of YA books starring a Taiwanese protagonist. Who is your intended audience for American Panda? How did you go about writing your book and its portrayal of life as a Taiwanese American for that audience?
I am so honored to join the proud ranks of YA books starring Taiwanese protagonists, and I’m so grateful to be a part of Jennifer Ung’s fabulous list, which includes Cindy Pon and Sandhya Menon. My intended audience for American Panda is anyone who is struggling with who they are and where they belong. I believe that the book’s themes of not fitting in and searching for your path is universal, but I also think it will particularly resonate with child of immigrants who grew up with parents similar to mine.
I wrote this book with the goal of capturing an honest portrayal of one Taiwanese American experience: mine. I wrote for me in the initial drafts so that I could get my story down, and then I let the industry and readers in during revisions.
Did you have a central theme or message in mind when you were writing American Panda? Can you tell us what it is?
I wrote the book I wish I had as a teen, and I wrote hoping to show teens they aren’t alone. I was too embarrassed to tell my friends in high school about my struggles with the cultural gap, and I hope this book will show those readers that their struggle is real and that it can get better.
Not many YA books are set in college. Why did you choose college, and specifically MIT, for Mei’s story?
Mei’s story needed to be set in college because she had to be out of her parents’ house to start asking herself what she thinks and what she wants. My own personal self-discovery happened in college, and I felt that setting was the right place for Mei to find herself as well.
MIT is my alma mater and I wanted to capture its unique, supportive, and zany community, where being a nerd is lauded and weekends are spent chair surfing, climbing on the dome, and yelling at the movie projector in lecture halls. Since MIT is a place where students can be themselves, it was the perfect place for Mei to learn who that was.
Aw, you got me right in the college nostalgia feels. So, the cover of American Panda is adorable, and features dumplings which is at least 40% of its charm. What’s your favorite type of dumpling?
I haven’t met a dumpling I didn’t like, but if I had to choose a favorite, I would go with the soup dumplings from Din Tai Fung. They have some fancy ones with shrimp and crab, but their plain soup dumplings are the standard-bearer.
Truth. Do you have another book or project brewing?
Yes! I’m thrilled to be working with Jen and Pulse again. My second book, Misaligned, will release fall 2019 and follows a Taiwanese teen outcast in a small, white Midwestern town. When a second Asian family (including an attractive boy her age) moves to her town, she is swept up in a forbidden romance and down a rabbit hole of dark family secrets. The book explores race, identity, and the difficulty of communicating, especially within family.
Eep! Can’t wait to learn more about Misaligned! And finally, we always ask this question at Rich in Color. What upcoming YA books by/about people of color are you excited for? Share your list with us!
I am delighted to say there are many upcoming YA books by/about people of color that I am excited for! My list includes but is not limited to (in no particular order): The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X.R. Pan, Tyler Johnson Was Here by Jay Coles, The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton, Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi, From Twinkle, With Love by Sandhya Menon, Summer Blue Bird by Akemi Dawn Bowman, Picture Us In The Light by Kelly Loy Gilbert, Dread Nation by Justina Ireland, A Girl Like That by Tanaz Bhathena, The Way You Make Me Feel by Maurene Goo, and A Thousand Beginnings and Endings by Ellen Oh and Elsie Chapman.
That’s quite the list. *Takes notes.* Thank you so much for stopping by! For those of you reading along, be sure to grab American Panda when it comes out on February 6th!
Gloria Chao is an MIT grad turned dentist turned writer. She currently lives in Chicago with her ever-supportive husband, for whom she became a nine-hole golfer (sometimes seven). She is always up for cooperative board games, Dance Dance Revolution, or soup dumplings. She was also once a black belt in kung-fu and a competitive dancer, but that side of her was drilled and suctioned out. American Panda is her debut novel, and Misaligned is forthcoming fall 2019. Visit her tea and-book-filled world at gloriachao.wordpress.com and find her on Twitter and Instagram @gloriacchao.
Interview with Gloria Chao
October 28, 2019 inautopiastateofmind Leave a comment
After finishing Our Wayward Fate I knew I had to reach out to Gloria for an interview. I don’t even have the words to write a cohesive review of Our Wayward Fate. I could go on and on about the plot which will keep you reading until long after you needed to leave the house. Or the characters which will charm you with their love of puns. But the icing on the cake was the way I could relate to Ali’s struggles as one of the few Asian Americans in her mostly white neighborhood.
Our Wayward Fate
Seventeen-year-old Ali Chu knows that as the only Asian person at her school in middle-of-nowhere Indiana, she must be bland as white toast to survive. This means swapping her congee lunch for PB&Js, ignoring the clueless racism from her classmates and teachers, and keeping her mouth shut when people wrongly call her Allie instead of her actual name, Ah-lee, after the mountain in Taiwan.
Her autopilot existence is disrupted when she finds out that Chase Yu, the new kid in school, is also Taiwanese. Despite some initial resistance due to the they belong together whispers, Ali and Chase soon spark a chemistry rooted in competitive martial arts, joking in two languages, and, most importantly, pushing back against the discrimination they face.
But when Ali’s mom finds out about the relationship, she forces Ali to end it. As Ali covertly digs into the why behind her mother’s disapproval, she uncovers secrets about her family and Chase that force her to question everything she thought she knew about life, love, and her unknowable future.
Find Our Wayward Fate on Goodreads, Amazon, Indiebound & The Book Depository.
Interview
I am a huge fan of the mother/daughter relationship in OUR WAYWARD FATE. It’s complex and there’s a lot of good intentions even if they’re misplaced. Can you talk about some of the inspiration and describe these two characters for new readers?
Thank you so much. Both Ali and her mother love each other but don’t know how to express it. They have a generational and cultural divide neither know how to surmount, leading to hurtful secrets they keep for what they believe to be the right reasons. These secrets build over the course of the book and inevitably come to a head.
This was inspired by my own difficulties communicating with my parents, which became especially stark when I switched careers. My parents disapproved because they were worried about my future as a writer (fair), and I wasn’t effectively communicating how miserable I was as a dentist or what my long-term plan was. Over the course of writing American Panda, we learned to communicate better, and years later, my parents are now very supportive.
Where did you get the inspiration for this story? I love how the elements of the Butterfly Lovers is so seamlessly woven in. I saw someone describe it as a re-imagining of the story, but I feel like yours is way more than that! And it functions in a different way that a conventional re-telling might.
Thank you! The idea for Our Wayward Fate came about when my mother sent me a newspaper article about a park in Hangzhou dedicated to The Butterfly Lovers with a unique tradition. It fascinated me so much that I knew I wanted to write a book about it. And because I grew up hearing The Butterfly Lovers story, I wanted to find a way to bring this famous folk tale to a new set of readers.
The re-imagining of The Butterfly Lovers appears as short interstitials between Ali’s narrative, and I pictured these as breadcrumbs for the reader. At first, they aren’t related, but soon the reader knows this will be the answer to what Ali is searching for—the why behind Ali’s mother forbidding her romance with Chase. I was hoping to give the reader a head start on the answers, though I hope the end is still a surprise.
Part of what resonated so strongly with me is Ali’s experiences assimilating to her mostly white neighborhood and the self-erasure. Can you talk about what it was like to write Ali’s character?
It means so much to me that you resonated with Ali’s experiences, and I’m also so sorry you had to go through that. Writing this part of Ali’s story was, unfortunately, not difficult. I didn’t have to reach far for the way the other students mistreat her or the way she reacts. Writing her at the beginning was painful, but it was satisfying when she found her voice. While that means something different for everyone, for a fighter like Ali, she remembers how to stand up for herself.
What was it like to write OUR WAYWARD FATE which is your second book? The sophomore slump?
Our Wayward Fate was easier to write because of all the growing pains I’d gone through with the drafting and revising of American Panda. However, a new struggle was learning how to continue writing as my first book made its way into the world. It took me a little time to quiet the other voices and find my groove again, but luckily, it hasn’t been much of an issue as I work on my third book, Rent a Boyfriend.
And I do have to take this opportunity to say that hearing your reaction to the book helped me so much. You were the first to resonate this personally with the story, and once Ali found her way to you, I was able to let go of pressure I was putting on myself. Thank you for that. I can’t tell you how much it means.
What is a genre you have always admired, but haven’t written yet?
After a decade away during high school and college, I found my way back to reading because of dystopian and fantasy books. I hope one day to write one. However, there are still so many contemporary ideas I want to explore that it likely won’t be for some time. While fantasy holds a special place because I loved them first, contemporary is where my heart lies.
American Panda is one of the covers that comes to mind clearly when I think of POC specifically Asian faces on covers. Can you talk about the cover design process?
I have been incredibly lucky with all of my covers. Simon Pulse does a fabulous job with them, and they value POC representation. For each one of my covers, Pulse sends me a close-to-final version, and they’ve all come to me with Asian people on them, for which I’ve been so grateful. (Yes, you can take that as a hint for the Rent a Boyfriend cover, which I’ve seen and love!) Sarah Creech and Laura Eckes do amazing work, and I’m proud to be at an imprint that celebrates diversity and isn’t afraid to show it on their book covers.
What have been your recent obsessions? Books, TV, film?
I am sad to say I haven’t had as much time for reading as I would like because of Rent a Boyfriend deadlines (and I find it difficult to read after a more than full day of writing), but I recently read and loved Suzanne Park’s April 2020 book, The Perfect Escape, and I’m currently loving Rachel Lynn Solomon’s Today Tonight Tomorrow (6/2020). And as for books on my TBR, I’m so excited for Stacey Lee’s The Downstairs Girl, Kimberly Gabriel’s Every Stolen Breath (11/2019), Lamar Gile’s Not So Pure and Simple (1/2020), Ronni Davis’s When the Stars Lead to You (11/2019), and Rena Barron’s Kingdom of Souls.
For film, I recently loved The Farewell, Plus One, Edge of Seventeen, Lady Bird, and Overboard. And some TV shows I’m loving: Pen15, South Side, The Other Two, Corporate, Schitt’s Creek, and I am a huge, huge fan of Brooklyn Nine-Nine. My husband and I have watched every episode too many times. No surprise it makes a cameo in Rent a Boyfriend.
Find Our Wayward Fate on Goodreads, Amazon, Indiebound & The Book Depository.
About the Author
Gloria Chao is the critically acclaimed author of American Panda, Our Wayward Fate (releasing October 15, 2019), and Rent a Boyfriend (fall 2020).
Her wayward journey to fiction included studying business at MIT, then becoming a dentist. Gloria was once a black belt in kung-fu and an avid dancer, but nowadays you can find her teaming up with her husband on the curling ice.
AMERICAN PANDA received four starred trade reviews, is a Junior Library Guild Selection and Indie’s Next Pick, and is a Seventeen Magazine, Bustle, PopSugar, Chicago Public Library, and Paste Magazine Best YA Book of 2018.
Gloria Chao On Finding Inspiration & What to Write Next
September 8, 2020
Inspiration is a funny thing. It can come to us like a lightning bolt, through the lyrics of a song, or in the fog of a dream. Ask any writer where their stories come from and you’ll get a myriad of answers, and in that vein I created the WHAT (What the Hell Are you Thinking?) interview. Always including in the WHAT is one random question to really dig down into the interviewees mind, and probably supply some illumination into my own as well.
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Today’s guest for the WHAT is Gloria Chao the critically acclaimed author of American Panda, Our Wayward Fate, and Rent a Boyfriend (Nov 10, 2020). Her wayward journey to fiction included studying business at MIT, then becoming a dentist. Gloria was once a black belt in kung-fu and an avid dancer, but nowadays you can find her teaming up with her husband on the curling ice.
Ideas for our books can come from just about anywhere, and sometimes even we can’t pinpoint exactly how or why. Did you have a specific origin point for your book?
For Rent a Boyfriend (out November 10, 2020), there was a clear origin point. When I learned that women in some Asian countries can feel so much familial pressure to bring home the ideal spouse that they hire fake boyfriends, my gut response was, I get it. As a Taiwanese American with traditional parents, I understood that pressure. I found myself wondering how a rental boyfriend would work and what it was like for both sides, and I decided to explore it. I brought the practice to America and created a company, Rent for Your ’Rents, that specializes in training fake significant others.
Once the original concept existed, how did you build a plot around it?
Because I wanted to explore what life was like for a Rent for Your ’Rents operative as well as for a client, this book had to be dual point of view. I also wanted the protagonist/client, Chloe, to fall for the operative, but the real person behind the role, not the persona her parents get to know. And real Drew is not someone Chloe’s parents would approve of.
From there, I worked backward to figure out who Chloe and Drew are. Chloe needed a reason for hiring Drew. Enter Hongbo, the rich, misogynist flagship bachelor of Chloe’s tightknit Asian community. I drew upon my own experiences to create the Asian community that put miànzi/reputation above all else, even their daughter’s happiness. And for Drew, I wanted him and Chloe to understand each other but to be at different points on the journey: Drew has dropped out of college to pursue art and is now estranged from his family because of that choice, and Chloe is still trying to find a way to appease her parents.
Have you ever had the plot firmly in place, only to find it changing as the story moved from your mind to paper?
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For all three of my books, I draft with only the big points planned out, and those did not change. However, the path to those points has taken some very surprising (and very fun!) turns. My favorite part of drafting is when you come up with an idea that ties everything together and you suddenly can’t type fast enough.
For Rent a Boyfriend, there’s a big showdown scene that happens in the middle of the book that came to me as I was drafting, and I was worried it was too out there (I remember texting a writer friend and asking her if it was too much), but it became the scene that most of my early readers brought up to me as a memorable, powerful moment.
Do story ideas come to you often, or is fresh material hard to come by?
When I first started writing, story ideas felt elusive and hard to come by. Now, I have more ideas and it’s getting harder to choose what to focus on next. My debut novel, American Panda, was very much inspired by my experiences and almost everything in that book is from my life or from the life of someone I know. Because of that, coming up with new ideas felt more difficult.
With Our Wayward Fate and Rent a Boyfriend, I finally found the balance of drawing from my own experiences while also having more freedom of story. Once that happened, the ideas started coming easier. I have a notebook I write all my story ideas in that was gifted to me by my husband on our third wedding anniversary (leather anniversary!) soon after I first switched careers from dentist to writer. He wrote inside the front cover that he believed my books would sell and that I would need the notebook for all the books that were to come. I remember not believing him at the time, and the notebook is a wonderful reminder of how far I’ve come from there.
How do you choose which story to write next, if you’ve got more than one percolating?
I talk to my agent about strategizing with my overall career, but at the end of the day, I usually go with the idea I’m most passionate about. I never write for the market, but I do think about which ideas are better follow-ups to my previous books. In general, most of my work fits under the umbrella of Asian American protagonists struggling with their identity, trying to find love, and working through complicated family dynamics. And with humor!
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I have 5 cats and one Dalmatian puppy (seriously, check my Instagram feed) and I usually have at least one or two snuggling with me when I write. Do you have a writing buddy, or do you find it distracting?
I don’t have a writing buddy, but I have some knick-knacks I like to keep on my desk! This little plastic panda was a gift from my brother, and he sits on top of my computer screen. The enamel pins of a panda drinking boba and a soup dumpling are from my PitchWars mentee, Susan Lee. The miniature curling rock is because my husband and I are avid curlers! The Author button is from my first NCTE conference.
Interview: Gloria Chao on Love and Romance in the Asian Diaspora
Terry GalvanApril 22, 2021Fiction, Interviews, Lit
In Gloria Chao’s third YA novel Rent A Boyfriend, University of Chicago freshman Chloe Wang suddenly has to worry about more than grades when her parents start pressuring her to date an insufferable rich boy from their tightly knit Chinese-American community. In an attempt to assuage her parents, Chloe hires “Andrew,” a professional actor trained to stand-in as a perfect suitor to appease parents like Chloe’s. But “Andrew” turns out to be more than just a good actor. Soon, Chloe’s best-laid plans unravel as she gets to know not just her fake boyfriend, but her own heart, and those of her parents'. Book Cover. RENT A BOYFRIEND in white cursive over a happy Asian couple, the man leaning into kiss the girl's cheek as her hair spins and she smiles with joyTerry Galvan: You’ve pivoted careers from dentist to writer. How did that come to pass? Gloria Chao: For most of my life, I wasn’t much of a reader and didn’t think of myself as a writer. I focused on math and science growing up, studied business at MIT, and went to dental school. But while studying dentistry, I developed a hatred for germs. I was so miserable that the one thing that got me through was reading. I fell in love with young adult books. It was my husband who first suggested I try writing. The idea sounded so foreign to me, but I started writing for myself, to work through some of my own struggles. Eventually, I would dream of getting published. It has been a long and winding journey, but I wouldn’t have found my way here if my life hadn’t taken all those turns. You take some very serious, often painful, personal stuff, and make it into YA novels with bright pink covers and a perky sense of humor. What’s the experience like of writing/balancing those two aspects? As a reader, I love humor in all types of books, and as a writer, I feel that serious moments are more impactful when they are balanced with humor. Additionally, I write a lot of my struggles into my stories, and viewing them with a sense of humor helps me personally. For most of my novels, the subject matter lends itself to both serious and humorous material. Rent a Boyfriend is based on a real practice in many Asian countries where some women feel so much pressure to bring home the perfect boyfriend that they turn to hiring fake ones from a company or classified ads. This creates a complicated family dynamic to explore as well as fun humorous comedy-of-error situations. For example, I played around with Drew’s fake identity, having Chloe’s dentist father bring aspiring surgeon Andrew to the office for an emergency procedure. Real Drew is disgusted by the spit and blood flying around and almost blows his cover. These familial struggles exist not just in Asian-American communities, but everywhere—including my own. Heck, I would have rented a boyfriend at 19! That has been one of the coolest parts about writing. I hear from people of all different ages and backgrounds about how they related to certain pieces of my books. Everything from relating to the fairly universal experience of not wanting to disappoint your loved ones or struggling to communicate, to the mother constantly leaving voicemails for the main character. One reader joked with me, Did you somehow transcribe all my mother’s voicemails from my phone? Another reader thanked me for writing a sweaty girl who got the guy. Your acknowledgement sections mention that you consult with your parents as you’re writing. How do those conversations go? Some of the questions are about traditions and a lot are about Mandarin. I think in what a lot of Chinese Americans call “Chinglish.” In particular, I use a lot of Chinese words in otherwise English sentences when the Chinese word has no good translation. The two languages are so different that a lot of very bizarre grammar questions arise. I joked in the acknowledgments of Our Wayward Fate that no one has discussed the usage of the Mandarin phrase tīnghùa as much as my father and I have. My mom often jokes that she’s never had to think about any of these things before, and she enjoys the challenge. I love that the books give us a reason to chat on the phone more often and about fun things! What’s your favorite folktale or what’s your favorite Chinglish phrase? My second book, Our Wayward Fate, is based on my favorite folktale, “The Butterfly Lovers.” It’s one of China’s Four Great Folktales and has famous movies, plays, operas, music, and more associated with it. I grew up with the story and Our Wayward Fate is my fictional version of it. My fourth book (which is set in Chicago!) will also pay tribute to another one of my favorite Chinese folktales, "The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl." One of my favorite Mandarin phrases that shows up in many of my works is rènào. It represents the buzzing and high energy of a crowded, lively room, and that one phrase evokes a feeling for me that takes many more English words to describe. Another favorite Mandarin word that I like to work into English sentences is featured in Rent a Boyfriend. When Drew and Chloe are eating hot pot, he scoops something out of the boiling water and uses the word lāo, which means to fish something out of water. Book cover, white writing over an image of a tree with the afternoon sun behind it and the silhouette of a dark-haired girl in a jean jacket with her back to the viewer, gazing up at the treeThat’s a delightful part of your writing style—having two different arsenals of words at your disposal. It was really pretty. I was learning things, but also very much in the room with them. Thank you. That means a lot. It takes a lot of work to structure it in a way to make sure readers can pick it up while reading, so I’m glad it paid off. I was going to ask about one that’s a bit more serious. In Rent a Boyfriend, it becomes the main conflict—the one that means, “saving face.” I feel like you explained it really well to an audience that’s not familiar with it. Making it into the main conflict was brilliant because then you can see the clear consequences, as plot and action and irony. How do some immigrants coming over here adapt coming from those kinds of norms? How do you negotiate that kind of difference of values within a family? Miànzi. There’s a lot to unpack in such a small phrase, and it’s difficult to get all the nuances. Miànzi is the reason that Chloe and Drew’s communities growing up are so different. Chloe’s community is extremely focused on “saving face” and their reputation whereas Drew’s was not. Chloe’s community is more cutthroat, trying to one-up one another, and resulting in the kids competing. I grew up in several tight-knit Chinese American communities. Some of them were like Drew’s, very supportive and nurturing, while some were like Chloe’s. I drew from different aspects of my experiences because I wanted to represent the range that is out there. I’m glad to hear that you’re drawing on multiple different parts of the diaspora. It’s easy for outsiders to develop overly simplified ideas, like for example, “Chinese people think pears mean this” when in fact there’s a lot of different ideas about what pears might mean among diaspora members. The scene you’re referencing in Rent A Boyfriend is when Drew brings Korean pears as a gift for Chloe’s parents. His family views this as an expensive and treasured gift because one of the things they missed most after immigrating was the fruit they could get in Taiwan. Giving an Asian pear from overseas is giving someone a piece of home. But Chloe’s parents believe that giving pears to someone is wishing for them to have a falling out with a loved one because the Mandarin phrase for pear is a homonym for separate. With this, I wanted to show the multitudes of diaspora, how traditions evolve and one cannot predict which traditions they’ve come across in their lives, or which they let go and which they’ve held onto. Chloe’s mother was also one of my favorite parts. She’s described as being either so polite it was fake or so honest you wished she’d lie. She was such a good character and she was in so much pain too. How did you come up with her character? Thank you so much! From the start, I knew that Chloe and her parents had to be close and that her parents had to put a lot of pressure on her, enough that she would turn to hiring Drew. The mom came to me pretty fleshed out, and I loved writing her dialogue and antics. For example, she continually tells Chloe “no hanky-panky” but she also wants to buy Chloe sexy underwear in case they peek out—a perfect example of how she cares a lot about miànzi and how other people see them. Do you have any thoughts on healthy ways to manage this kind of mother-daughter relationship? At the end of Rent a Boyfriend, Chloe realizes that while her mom does irritate her, she wants her mom to be herself, just like she’s learned to do. It’s an interesting conundrum. She understands where her mother comes from and the traditions her mother was brought up with, but it doesn’t mean things aren’t hard for her at the same time. It’s a difficult question that I don’t have a black-and-white answer to. In fact, that’s exactly why I write about these types of complicated relationships—because there is no easy answer. I believe the best you can do is try to communicate on your end. You said you got into YA around when you started writing. Who are your favorite YA authors? I have so many! Let’s start with some of my favorite Chicago authors. For fantasy and magical realism, Rena Barron, Kat Cho, and Crystal Cestari. For contemporary, Samira Ahmed, Ronni Davis, Stephanie Kate Strohm, Michelle Falkoff, Adi Alsaid. For thriller, Kimberly Gabriel, Amelia Brunskill, and Caleb Roerhig. A non-exhaustive list of more favorite contemporary authors: Kelly Loy Gilbert, Julian Winters, Sandhya Menon, Emily X.R. Pan, Rachel Lynn Solomon, Emiko Jean, Axie Oh, Lyla Lee, Akemi Dawn Bowman, Sarah Suk, Suzanne Park, Ariel Kaplan, Nicola Yoon, David Arnold. A nonexhaustive list of more favorite fantasy writers: Elizabeth Lim, Lori M. Lee, Cindy Pon, Julie Dao. You mentioned your Chicago writer group in your acknowledgements as well. How did you meet this group? Many of us met when we were just getting agents. We all attended Book Expo America when it was in Chicago and met at a gathering of authors and aspiring authors. Once we realized we were all around the same stage of the process and in the same city, we started meeting regularly for brunch. It’s nice to have a group because publishing can be so lonely sometimes. It’s wonderful to be able to cheer each other on, commiserate, and share knowledge. That’s such a dream come true, to be able to go to a conference and walking out with a support network. Definitely. I was very alone walking in. I didn’t know anyone in the industry before that. Especially doing the career change from dentistry into writing. Yes! To finish off, I have some superficial questions. Are there any Chicago-area Chinese cultural events or Taiwanese-American that you’d like to tell people about? People ask me a lot where to get the best dumplings. My favorite spot is QXY dumplings in Chinatown. They have lamb dumplings that are out of this world! You can also get frozen ones to make at home. Taipei Cafe in Chinatown has wonderful Taiwanese food, and a lot of the items they offer are mentioned in my books. Te’Amo Boba Bar is delicious and they have honey-soaked boba—one of my favorite places to get boba tea. Chatting with you, you seem like a very fun person. Would love to meet in real life for boba or something. Thank you so much. I had such a blast talking to you, and boba would be so much fun!
Four Questions for Gloria Chao
By Amanda Ramirez | Dec 17, 2024
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Taiwanese American author Gloria Chao travels to Taipei for the first time on the page in her new YA romance, Ex Marks the Spot. When 18-year-old Gemma Sun is contacted by an attorney, who tells her that her Taiwanese grandfather recently died—and that he’d left Gemma old newspaper clippings with a secret message urging her to visit his apartment in Taipei—the news causes a rift between Gemma and her mother, who’d told Gemma that he died a long time ago. Blaming her mother for her disconnect with her heritage, Gemma determines to fly to Taiwan to unravel the mystery behind her grandfather’s message. But to do that, she’ll have to make nice with her popular and charismatic ex-boyfriend Xander Pan, whose connection to their culture she envies. In a conversation with PW, Chao spoke about exploring her own identity through her work, pushing the boundaries of children’s literature, and making the leap from YA to adult fiction.
You write in your acknowledgments that you drew from your love of puzzles and Taiwan to craft Ex Marks the Spot. Can you elaborate?
Ex Marks the Spot is a combination of so many things that I’ve always wanted to write about. As a kid, I loved puzzles and puns, and I used to make treasure hunts for my family. They were terrible; the clues were things like, “go to the piano,” “go to the kitchen.” They were not clever riddles by any means. But they were how I connected with my family. That was where the idea for this book first came from—I wanted to have this treasure hunt, and then I realized I could also combine it with another thing that I’ve always wanted to do, which was write a book set in Taiwan, my family’s home. I was lucky enough to visit my grandparents there growing up, and it always felt like this magical place to me. I wanted to try and capture a little piece of that magic for the reader, so I packed the novel with all my favorite sites and food. I was the hungriest and most nostalgic I’ve ever been while writing this book. It ended up turning into a love letter to my culture, to my family, to Taiwan, and to puzzles and puns and games.
What was it like being able to write about Taipei and Taiwanese culture in a way you hadn’t before?
I almost felt like I had too much information. I went through old family photos and wrote a list of all the things I wanted to include. I was like, “How am I going to work everything in there?” There are so many things that I couldn’t get into the book.
But in some ways, it almost felt easier to write than my previous books because there was so much information to work from. I just felt so passionate about it. I really wanted to capture all these different pieces, so that when I’m describing a certain place, I not only described what it was like but also how it felt for me when I was there.
Themes of exploring one’s cultural identity are evergreen throughout your work. How does that show up in Ex Marks the Spot?
I feel like questioning who you are is such a universal thing that we deal with in so many different parts of our lives, but especially in this 17–18 age range when we’re trying to figure out what the next step of our life is. Knowing who you are and what your relationship is with your culture and your family have always been big questions for me, especially when I was writing my first book [American Panda], which was very much inspired by my life. My family had a hard time when I changed careers from dentistry to writing, so a lot of that made its way into American Panda. I keep coming back to identity because it’s something that I’m continuing to question for myself. Writing has helped me a lot with it; it lets me take a step back to see it from my character’s point of view, and it helps me figure out what I want my own relationship with my identity to look like.
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It’s also something that Gemma thinks about in a way that none of my other characters have. Her mom really pushed assimilation, so she grew up without knowing anything about our culture and without speaking the language. And then there’s her ex-boyfriend Xander, who’s the complete opposite. He speaks perfect Mandarin, and he knows everything about Taiwanese culture, so she feels embarrassed by the fact that she isn’t connected to her roots. She’s so insecure about it that she puts on a brave face and pretends like it doesn’t bother her. It isn’t until she goes on this journey and meets all these other Taiwanese Americans with different experiences and different relationships to their culture that she realizes it’s not a one size fits all. It doesn’t have to look exactly like Xander’s relationship, and she doesn’t have to speak the language to feel connected. It isn’t until the end of the book that she figures out how she wants her relationship to her culture to look and that’s something that I feel like I’ve only recently come to realize myself.
Your forthcoming novel, The Ex-Girlfriend Murder Club, is an adult mystery. How was your experience been like shifting categories from YA to adult?
I think the bigger change for me was going from romance to mystery. I feel like I’ve always been pushing the age limit with YA. I had a hard time selling American Panda because I wanted it set in college, and in 2016, there weren’t that many YA books set in college—everybody thought YA had to end in high school. But even once I published that one, I continued pushing the age limit: my third book, Rent a Boyfriend, has characters who are 19 and 21. I feel like I’ve always been on the borderline between YA and adult, so it didn’t feel like that big of a transition. Obviously, the protagonist [of The Ex-Girlfriend Murder Club] is older, and in some ways, they’re dealing with different things, but I’m still talking about questioning identity, so I almost feel like there weren’t that many changes. It was more difficult figuring out how to write a mystery and how to plant all the clues.
Ex Marks the Spot by Gloria Chao. Viking, $12.99 paper Dec. 31 ISBN 978-0-593-69271-4
Gloria Chao on “Ex Marks the Spot,” Diasporic Storytelling, and the Puzzles That Reveal Us to Each Other
Posted on Thursday, February 13th, 2025 at 7:14 pm.
Written by Leona
Gloria Chao is one of the most prolific writers of our generation, and I was thrilled to speak with her about her latest YA novel, Ex Marks the Spot. We’ve previously discussed her 2023 release, When You Wish Upon a Lantern, and I was delighted to find that her newest book revisits similar riveting themes—young love, intergenerational tenderness (and misunderstandings!), and family rivalries—while presenting them in an entirely fresh and unexpected way.
I am always drawn to the depth and sincerity of Chao’s characters, particularly her female protagonists, who navigate complex romantic and familial relationships with nuance and heart. What moves me even more is how she seamlessly weaves entire families into each other’s schemes, dreams, and desires, creating stories that feel both intimate and expansive.
Ex Marks the Spot takes this a step further, adding even greater depth to each generation by threading together political trauma, migration, and an unexpected twist (no spoilers!) that binds grandparent, parent, and child. As each character guards their secrets, the protagonist’s unwavering determination to uncover the truth propels us into a dynamic, thought-provoking exploration of Taiwan through time and space.
It is also deeply rooted in the diasporic experience, filled with pinyin Easter eggs for Taiwanese Americans. Yet, I am confident that readers of all backgrounds will be drawn in by its cleverly crafted puzzles and enjoy solving them alongside the protagonist.
Synopsis:
This latest YA novel by acclaimed writer Gloria Chao takes readers on a soaring adventure through love, loss, and the lively streets of Taiwan.
For Gemma’s whole life, it has always been her and her mom against the world. As far as she knew, all her grandparents—and thus her ties to Taiwanese culture—were dead. Until one day when a mysterious man shows up at her door with two shocking things: the news that her grandfather has just recently passed, and the first clue to a treasure hunt that Gemma hopes will lead to her inheritance.
There’s just one major problem: to complete the hunt, she has to go to her grandfather’s home in Taiwan. And the only way she can get there is by asking her ex and biggest high-school rival, Xander, for help. But after swallowing her pride, Gemma finds herself halfway across the world, ready to unearth her life-changing prize. Soon Gemma discovers that the treasure hunt is about much more than money—it’s about finally learning about her family, exploring her cultural roots, and maybe even finding true love.
We are pleased to present the following interview with author Gloria Chao, lightly edited for concision and clarity.
L: Gloria, we have to talk about the puzzles. I was gobsmacked by their intricacy and wit. Without giving anything away… how does a puzzle begin for you? How did you develop the clues and ensure they were thematically consistent while being meaningful to Gemma’s journey?
G: Thank you so much! I’m so thrilled you enjoyed the puzzles. I knew from the beginning that I wanted the puzzles to connect, to have bigger messages that would impact Gemma’s journey, and for there to be a larger theme that would cohesively tie the entire hunt together. I also had a list of Taiwan locales I wanted to send Gemma to, a list of the types of puzzles I wanted to incorporate, and a list of ways in which I wanted the treasure hunt to be meaningful for Gemma’s journey. So before drafting, I spent a week putting all these pieces together and planning out the puzzles. It was one of my favorite parts of writing this book! Just like Gemma, I sometimes feel like I see things differently and am on a different wavelength from others, and this served me well in creating the puzzles. I especially loved incorporating Mandarin characters and trying to see them in a new way.
L: I giggled over the TARP acronym, which – for those who haven’t read the novel – stands for Taiwanese American Roots Pursuit. It’s an autological term for a program that empowers Taiwanese Americans to go “back” to Taiwan to better connect with their heritage. Have you ever done anything like this? How did that experience (or your imagination of it) inspire this element of the plot?
G: I wish I had done a program like this! It would have been so wonderful to meet other participants and explore Taiwan together. It was so much fun creating this fictional experience for Gemma and writing a big fun cast for her to interact with. I knew from the beginning that I wanted her to learn from the other TARPers and vice versa.
Even though I didn’t get to be a part of something like TARP, I was lucky to spend many summers in Taiwan visiting my grandparents. And the time I spent there was magical, which made me want to try to capture a piece of that magic for readers. This book ended up being my love letter to Taiwan, packed with all of my favorite Taiwanese sights and food, like Yehliu Geopark, Shilin Night Market, the National Palace Museum, Taipei 101, Chengcing Hu, beef noodle soup, Peking duck, turnip cakes, boba, shaved ice, soup dumplings, and so much more. I have never been so nostalgic or hungry while writing before. I wanted to either remind readers of the beauty of Taiwan or to transport them to a place they’ve never been before.
L: For readers familiar with Taiwan in the same way as the TARPers (tourists in their own supposed “motherland”), what do you hope they take away from this perspective?
G: One thing I hope readers take away is that your connection to your culture doesn’t have to look like anyone else’s. At the start of the novel, Gemma is embarrassed that she doesn’t know much about her roots, and she thinks she should be more like Xander, who speaks perfect Mandarin and knows customs, folktales, and history. But seeing all the TARPers helps Gemma realize that she can decide what her connection will look like. This is something I wish I had realized sooner, which is why I wanted to explore it in Ex Marks the Spot.
L: I found the grandfather character so astonishing – the complexity of his life, the difficulty of the choices he made. What did you enjoy most about developing this character?
G: I wrote the grandfather’s storyline wanting to capture the coming-of-age moment when you see your parents or grandparents as people for the first time. They’re humans who make mistakes. And I was so fascinated by this character who had so many secrets and different sides. I loved the challenge of showing little bits of him to Gemma (and the reader) through the treasure hunt. I wanted the reader to feel like they knew the grandfather by the end of the book even though he doesn’t appear on the page, which is exactly how Gemma feels—like she understands him and his story by the end, for better or worse. I also wanted to capture how hard it can be to tell your story, especially when it’s been a struggle, even to your own family, and how people find different ways to do it. For Gemma’s grandfather, it was through this treasure hunt.
L: The dynamic between Gemma and Xander really reminded me of the dynamic between Liya and Kai in your last novel – your heart and compassion for young adults really shines through in them! How do you develop the chemistry between your love interests?
G: Thank you so much! I always try to make it clear how the love interests bring out the best in each other and how they help each other grow, because I think that’s what makes for a healthy relationship in real life. I also like to take small pieces from my own life to develop the chemistry. For example, the way Xander jokes with Gemma and how they banter is similar to how my husband and I joke.
And Liya and Kai play charades through the shared window of their family stores just like my husband and I played charades when we first met (we were in college and other people saw; I was embarrassed).
L: I love that so much. Thank you for sharing with us, Gloria.
G: Thank you so much for having me, Leona and TaiwaneseAmerican.org! I’m so grateful for all that you do!
Gloria Chao is a screenwriter and the author of The Ex-Girlfriend Murder Club (forthcoming 6.24.25), Ex Marks the Spot, When You Wish Upon a Lantern, Rent a Boyfriend, Our Wayward Fate, and American Panda. Her award-winning novels have received starred trade reviews; were Epic Reads x Target, Junior Library Guild, Indie Next List, YALSA Teens’ Top 10, Amelia Bloomer List, YALSA Amazing Audiobook, and Common Sense Media selections; and were featured on the “Best of” lists of Seventeen, Bustle, Barnes & Noble, PopSugar, Paste Magazine, Booklist, Chicago Public Library, Bank Street, The Honey Pop, and more. She graduated from MIT and became a dentist before realizing she’d rather spend her days in fictional characters’ heads instead of real people’s mouths. When she’s not writing, you can find her on the curling ice, where she and her husband are world-ranked in mixed doubles. Visit her tea-and-book-filled world at GloriaChao.wordpress.com and find her on Instagram and X @GloriacChao.
AMERICAN PANDA
Four starred reviews for this incisive, laugh-out-loud contemporary debut about a Taiwanese-American teen whose parents want her to be a doctor and marry a Taiwanese Ivy Leaguer despite her squeamishness with germs and crush on a Japanese classmate.
At seventeen, Mei should be in high school, but skipping fourth grade was part of her parents’ master plan. Now a freshman at MIT, she is on track to fulfill the rest of this predetermined future: become a doctor, marry a preapproved Taiwanese Ivy Leaguer, produce a litter of babies.
With everything her parents have sacrificed to make her cushy life a reality, Mei can’t bring herself to tell them the truth–that she (1) hates germs, (2) falls asleep in biology lectures, and (3) has a crush on her classmate Darren Takahashi, who is decidedly not Taiwanese.
But when Mei reconnects with her brother, Xing, who is estranged from the family for dating the wrong woman, Mei starts to wonder if all the secrets are truly worth it. Can she find a way to be herself, whoever that is, before her web of lies unravels?
From debut author Gloria Chao comes a hilarious, heartfelt tale of how, unlike the panda, life isn’t always so black and white.
OUR WAYWARD FATE
A teen outcast is simultaneously swept up in a whirlwind romance and down a rabbit hole of dark family secrets when another Taiwanese family moves to her small, predominantly white midwestern town in this remarkable novel from the critically acclaimed author of American Panda.
Seventeen-year-old Ali Chu knows that as the only Asian person at her school in middle-of-nowhere Indiana, she must be bland as white toast to survive. This means swapping her congee lunch for PB&Js, ignoring the clueless racism from her classmates and teachers, and keeping her mouth shut when people wrongly call her Allie instead of her actual name, pronounced Āh-lěe, after the mountain in Taiwan.
Her autopilot existence is disrupted when she finds out that Chase Yu, the new kid in school, is also Taiwanese. Despite some initial resistance due to the “they belong together” whispers, Ali and Chase soon spark a chemistry rooted in competitive martial arts, joking in two languages, and, most importantly, pushing back against the discrimination they face.
But when Ali’s mom finds out about the relationship, she forces Ali to end it. As Ali covertly digs into the why behind her mother’s disapproval, she uncovers secrets about her family and Chase that force her to question everything she thought she knew about life, love, and her unknowable future.
RENT A BOYFRIEND
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before meets The Farewell in this “entertaining and nuanced” (Kirkus Reviews) romantic comedy about a college student who hires a fake boyfriend to appease her traditional Taiwanese parents, to disastrous results, from the acclaimed author of American Panda.
Chloe Wang is nervous to introduce her parents to her boyfriend, because the truth is, she hasn’t met him yet either. She hired him from Rent for Your ‘Rents, a company specializing in providing fake boyfriends trained to impress even the most traditional Asian parents.
Drew Chan’s passion is art, but after his parents cut him off for dropping out of college to pursue his dreams, he became a Rent for Your ‘Rents employee to keep a roof over his head. Luckily, learning protocols like “Type C parents prefer quiet, kind, zero-PDA gestures” comes naturally to him.
When Chloe rents Drew, the mission is simple: convince her parents fake Drew is worthy of their approval so they’ll stop pressuring her to accept a proposal from Hongbo, the wealthiest (and slimiest) young bachelor in their tight-knit Asian American community.
But when Chloe starts to fall for the real Drew–who, unlike his fake persona, is definitely not ‘rent-worthy–her carefully curated life begins to unravel. Can she figure out what she wants before she loses everything?
WHEN YOU WISH UPON A LANTERN
Acclaimed author Gloria Chao creates real-world magic in this luminous romance about teens who devote themselves to granting other people’s wishes but are too afraid to let themselves have their own hearts’ desires–each other.
Liya and Kai had been best friends since they were little kids, but all that changed when a humiliating incident sparked The Biggest Misunderstanding of All Time–and they haven’t spoken since.
Then Liya discovers her family’s wishing lantern store is struggling, and she decides to resume a tradition she had with her beloved late grandmother: secretly fulfilling the wishes people write on the lanterns they send into the sky. It may boost sales and save the store, but she can’t do it alone . . . and Kai is the only one who cares enough to help.
While working on their covert missions, Liya and Kai rekindle their friendship–and maybe more. But when their feuding families and changing futures threaten to tear them apart again, can they find a way to make their own wishes come true?
EX MARKS THE SPOT
This latest YA novel by acclaimed writer Gloria Chao takes readers on a soaring adventure through love, loss, and the lively streets of Taiwan.
For Gemma’s whole life, it has always been her and her mom against the world. As far as she knew, all her grandparents—and thus her ties to Taiwanese culture—were dead. Until one day when a mysterious man shows up at her door with two shocking things: the news that her grandfather has just recently passed, and the first clue to a treasure hunt that Gemma hopes will lead to her inheritance.
There’s just one major problem: to complete the hunt, she has to go to her grandfather’s home in Taiwan. And the only way she can get there is by asking her ex and biggest high-school rival, Xander, for help. But after swallowing her pride, Gemma finds herself halfway across the world, ready to unearth her life-changing prize. Soon Gemma discovers that the treasure hunt is about much more than money—it’s about finally learning about her family, exploring her cultural roots, and maybe even finding true love.
Chao, Gloria. American Panda. Simon Pulse, February 2018. 320p. $17.99. 978-1-4814-9910-1.
5Q * 4P * S
Can you be a doctor with an aversion to germs and a deep love for hand sanitizer? Seventeen-year-old MIT freshman Mei Lu is caught between two worlds--the hyper-traditional Taiwanese-Chinese culture of her family and the 21st-century world of Boston--with no true footing in either. What Mei really loves is dance, but after her older brother Xing was disowned by her family years ago for reasons Mei still does not understand, can she disobey her parents and follow her own path? Could she go back to life in the shadows, after having caught the eye of cute and understanding classmate Darren Takahashi? And, most importantly, does she want to?
Debut author Chao nails it with this charming, funny, and true-to-life contemporary novel. Chao is a Taiwanese-American MIT graduate turned dentist (and now writer) with a clear understanding of the difficulties of straddling two cultures, attempting to be respectful to both while still truthful to oneself. Mandarin phrases and Taiwanese culture references create an authentic and lively backdrop for Mei's freshman year struggles. Teens will easily see themselves in Meis (dance) shoes as she tries to make friends, falls in love for the first time, and shows her parents that she is her own person with valid and valuable interests. Readers will laugh, cry, and ultimately cheer for Mei as she decides that making herself happy is a priority. This deserves a place on every shelf, though it will not stay there long.--Aileen Valdes.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 E L Kurdyla Publishing LLC
http://www.voya.com
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Valdes, Aileen. "Chao, Gloria. American Panda." Voice of Youth Advocates, vol. 40, no. 5, Dec. 2017, pp. 53+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A522759399/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=d8ae1d8f. Accessed 13 Mar. 2025.
Chao, Gloria AMERICAN PANDA Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster (Children's Fiction) $17.99 2, 6 ISBN: 978-1-4814-9910-1
A Taiwanese-American girl finally starts to experience life beyond her overbearing parents.
Mei, a 17-year-old freshman at MIT, has followed her parents' plans so far. Now all she has to do is get into a good medical school, become a doctor, and marry a nice Taiwanese boy. But with some distance from her parents (living in the Boston suburbs, they still demand to see her at weekly check-ins), Mei starts to buckle under the weight of their expectations and the truths she discovers about herself: she's a germophobe who can't stomach the thought of medical school. She really, really likes Darren, a Japanese-American classmate. Unfortunately, a thinly drawn cast of characters (an old friend appears in just one chapter to make a point) and heavy-handed first-person reflections ("She didn't know anything about them, my situation, how hard it was to straddle two cultures") sometimes read more as a book about cultural stereotypes and self-discovery than a compelling, fully fleshed novel. Awkwardly specific and quickly dated cultural references such as a Facebook check-in and an explanation of the term "hack" jar readers from the narrative. Nonetheless, Chao's inclusions of an Asian male romantic interest, a slightly nontraditional Asian female lead (size 8 with a big nose and "man-laugh"), and casual Mandarin dialogue are welcome and will appeal to uninitiated readers.
A worthy story that stumbles. (author's note) (Fiction. 12-17)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
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"Chao, Gloria: AMERICAN PANDA." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Dec. 2017. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A518491290/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=a543cdc3. Accessed 13 Mar. 2025.
Chao, Gloria OUR WAYWARD FATE Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster (Young Adult Fiction) $18.99 10, 15 ISBN: 978-1-5344-2761-7
When the new student in town happens be Taiwanese just like her, Ali Chu's world is turned upside down--and not in the ways she might have imagined.
Ali is used to being different: Since moving to Indiana, she's been the only Asian in her whole school. Her classmates can't pronounce her name, and she has to drive to another town for kung fu lessons--where she's still the only Asian. Things aren't much better at home, with parents who won't address any of their problems or family secrets. Instead, they don't talk at all. Then Chase Yu arrives, and suddenly Ali has someone who understands her jokes and has her back when she stands up to teachers. The problem of Ali's family remains. To move forward, Ali has to uncover what their past means for her future. Chao (American Panda, 2018) brings readers a witty protagonist who breaks stereotypes of Chinese Americans by simply being herself. At the same time, she faces problems, including casual racism and balancing commitments to family and self, that she experiences in culturally specific ways. Interspersed throughout are scenes from "The Butterfly Lovers," a folktale that at first seems a perplexing addition to Ali's story but becomes relevant in the end.
A spirited novel exploring the clash between Midwestern America and the expectations of immigrant parents. (note about Mandarin, author's note) (Fiction. 13-18)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2019 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
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"Chao, Gloria: OUR WAYWARD FATE." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Aug. 2019. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A596269617/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=fd31016d. Accessed 13 Mar. 2025.
CHAO, Gloria. Our Wayward Fate. 320p. Simon Pulse. Oct. 2019. Tr $18.99. ISBN 9781534427617.
Gr 8 Up--Ali Chu knows the key to survival is not saying what's on her mind--at home where her parents act like strangers toward her and each other, and at school where she is the only Asian person. So what if no one can pronounce her name and people made fun of the Chinese food she used to bring for lunch, at least she has friends with whom to eat her disgusting peanut butter sandwiches. She is content to merely survive until she goes to college--until she discovers a new kid has started at school. He's cute, Asian, and may be the answer to questions Ali didn't even know she needed to ask. However, when Ali's mother forbids her from spending time with Chase, will she be able to go back to just surviving or will she discover the freedom that comes from not holding her tongue? This is more than a coming-of-age novel, and readers will fall in love with Ali. Chao includes Chinese within the story with perfect context but no translation, allowing readers to embrace what Ali may have felt as she converses in daily life. The settings and interactions feel real, and the alienation and parental conflict she and others experience is relatable. Chao also weaves in her take on a traditional Chinese myth, an interesting perspective on what might seem like a "typical" teen love story. VERDICT A great purchase for school and public libraries looking to enhance their modern YA fiction collections.--DeHanza Kwong, Butte Public Library, MT
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2019 A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/
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Kwong, DeHanza. "CHAO, Gloria. Our Wayward Fate." School Library Journal, vol. 65, no. 8, Sept. 2019, p. 122. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A597859047/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=c78b12ef. Accessed 13 Mar. 2025.
Chao, Gloria RENT A BOYFRIEND Simon & Schuster (Teen None) $18.99 11, 10 ISBN: 978-1-5344-6245-8
Chloe hires the perfect Chinese boyfriend to thwart—and appease—her parents.
College sophomore Chloe Wang is horrified by her parents’ latest misguided endeavor: relentlessly pushing her to accept a proposal from the insanely well-off—and deeply sexist—golden boy of their Palo Alto Chinese community, Hongbo Kuo. So, Chloe enlists the help of Rent for Your ’Rents, a “Match.com on steroids” providing fake boyfriends who pass even the most traditional Asian parents’ standards. But even with his perfect Taipei-accented Mandarin and pre-med major, it’s an uphill battle for Andrew Huang to earn enough “mooncake points” to win over the Wangs. Masquerading as Andrew, 21-year-old Drew Chan’s operative training as a winsome boyfriend is severely tested. Over the course of several holiday dates, it becomes progressively harder for both Chloe and Drew to follow the playbook: “Always know the line between the job and reality.” And it turns out, they aren’t the only ones keeping up a charade. Through alternating points of view, Chao keeps up the romantic and dramatic tension, and her characters bring welcome layers to the fake dating trope. Both children of Taiwanese immigrants, Chloe and Drew come from tight-knit communities, and Chao presents the diversity within the diaspora. Frustrating familial tensions and miscommunication abound, and the reconciliation is realistically complicated but also optimistic. Most of the cast of characters are Chinese American.
Entertaining and nuanced. (glossary) (Romantic comedy. 14-18)
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"Chao, Gloria: RENT A BOYFRIEND." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Sept. 2020. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A634467408/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=9f530f43. Accessed 13 Mar. 2025.
CHAO, Gloria. Renta Boyfriend. 400p. S. & S. Nov. 2020. Tr $18.99. ISBN 9781534462458.
Gr 7 Up--Jing-Jing (or, as she calls herself, Chloe) invents an imaginary boyfriend for her parents' benefit. She has a good reason: They are trying to marry her off to awful Hongbo, the son of family friends, as a business arrangement rather than a love connection. Desperate, she turns to Rent for Your 'Rents, which supplies rental boyfriends for many similar situations. Her rental, Andrew, does an excellent job of portraying her supportive, potentially successful (studying medicine), family-oriented boyfriend. He does it so well that his real self, Drew, the emotional artist, never surfaces on a job. And yet, this time, Drew is having a hard time being just a fake boyfriend. As time goes on, he develops real feelings for Chloe, and finds her both brave and fierce. But Drew isn't sure if she likes him or Andrew, his stuffy, formal, rental version. Wrought with the difficulty of navigating familial and cultural loyalty, this novel offers a glimpse into the conflicting priorities of these Chinese American young adults. Chloe wants to do the right tiling for her family but isn't willing to give up on her dreams to do so. Drew has already cut ties with his own family and knows the pain and loss it can bring. VERDICT A potentially simple, comedic premise shows its dramatic layers with appeal for a wide audience.--Kelly Jo Lasher, Middle Township H.S., Cape May Court House, NJ
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2020 A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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Lasher, Kelly Jo. "CHAO, Gloria. Renta Boyfriend." School Library Journal, vol. 66, no. 11, Nov. 2020, p. 63. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A640013003/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=e4ad017c. Accessed 13 Mar. 2025.
Chao, Gloria WHEN YOU WISH UPON A LANTERN Viking (Teen None) $18.99 2, 14 ISBN: 978-0-593-46435-9
Best friends reunite to make other people's wishes come true--and maybe even their own.
Chicago teens Liya Huang and Kai Jiang, childhood friends whose families own a lantern shop and a bakery respectively, have been avoiding one another ever since Liya threw up her boba tea on Kai and he assumed it was because he had asked her out. Their friendship is further strained by the fact that their families have been feuding since a dumpster incident in their shops' shared Chinatown alley. NÇinai, Liya's paternal grandmother, was the peacekeeper, but since her passing, every argument between the families has only escalated. Also, Liya has stopped trying to make customers' wishes--written on the shop's lanterns--come to pass, something she used to secretly do with NÇinai. Eager to fight her loneliness from missing both Kai and her NÇinai, she decides to start working on granting wishes again, beginning with arranging a meet-cute between two community elders. Liya enters the Jiang's bakery to order a mooncake as part of her plan, and Kai, who misses her and is dealing with strained family relationships, offers to be her new wish-granting partner. Their friends-to-lovers romance is an endlessly frustrating yet adorable cycle during which there are frequent misunderstandings and oh-so-close moments. Chao immerses readers in Chinese culture, incorporating a variety of Chinese traditions and folktales that are relevant to the couple's story.
As delectable as a mooncake. (note about Mandarin, author's note, glossary) (Fiction. 12-18)
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"Chao, Gloria: WHEN YOU WISH UPON A LANTERN." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Dec. 2022. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A729072611/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=38d42fbc. Accessed 13 Mar. 2025.
Gloria Chao. Viking, $18.99 (352p) ISBN 978-0-59346-435-9
Two Taiwanese American teenagers explore friendship, romance, and family in this humorous and sincere novel by Chao (Rent a Boyfriend). Liya Huang and Kai Jiang have been best friends since they were children, but they haven't spoken in the months following a deeply awkward and embarrassing incident: Liya vomited on Kai while he was trying to ask her out. And their parents' mutual feud doesn't help matters. After Liya finds out that her beloved family store, which sells paper wishing lanterns, is in debt and in danger of closing, she embarks on a scheme to try and save it. Believing that there's no magic in the world, she works to secretly grant customers' wishes herself, something she used to do with her paternal grandmother but stopped doing after her death. Missing Liya and hoping to rekindle their friendship, Kai offers to help her carry out her mission arranging meet-cutes and perhaps granting a wish of her own. Together, they navigate their insecurities, evolving feelings for one another, and duty to their families. Laugh-out-loud dialogue, the pair's simultaneously innocent and snarky alternating POVs, and a vividly captured Chicago Chinatown setting imbue this memorable narrative with warmth and joy. Ages 12-up. Agent: Kathleen Rushall, Andrea Brown Literary. (Feb.)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2023 PWxyz, LLC
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"When You Wish upon a Lantern." Publishers Weekly, vol. 270, no. 1, 2 Jan. 2023, p. 54. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A733160549/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=7d8ef1a8. Accessed 13 Mar. 2025.
Chao, Gloria EX MARKS THE SPOT Viking (Teen None) $12.99 12, 31 ISBN: 9780593692714
Recent high school graduate Gemma Sun goes on a treasure hunt in Taiwan.
Gemma, who's from "Podunksville, Massachusetts," is looking ahead with excited trepidation to attending Amherst College. But covering the tuition weighs on her mind since she and her single mom have limited finances. So she's shocked to hear that her grandfather in Taipei, whom she had believed to be long dead, was in fact estranged from her mom and died only weeks earlier. His attorney shows up with their inheritance: a box filled with old newspaper clippings. Gemma quickly realizes that the articles contain clues hinting at a big treasure for her to find in Taiwan. Her mother agrees to let her go--if she can pay her own way. The tightly written plot moves quickly as Gemma swallows her pride, asking Harvard-bound ex-boyfriend and nemesis Xander Pan to allow her to participate in the all-expenses-paid Taiwanese American Roots Pursuit program he founded (and which she previously scorned). There Gemma explores Taiwanese culture--and her own independence. As she solves puzzles and her hunt for her grandfather's treasure escalates, she also must collaborate with Xander to get to the solution, bringing them closer together in the process. Chao artfully weaves in themes of Asian American identity, generational trauma, and compassion as each clue that Gemma uncovers leads to another compelling revelation.
A thoroughly enjoyable romp that's also rich in self-discovery and romance.(Fiction. 12-18)
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"Chao, Gloria: EX MARKS THE SPOT." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Nov. 2024. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A813883645/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=8cdfe0f0. Accessed 13 Mar. 2025.
Ex Marks the Spot.
By Gloria Chao.
Dec. 2024. 384P. Viking, paper, $12.99 (9780593692714).
Gr. 9-12.
Gemma is ready to put high school behind her. After giving a lackluster valedictorian speech--a role she had to share with her ex-boyfriend Xander--she's happy to close that chapter. A lawyer then unexpectedly shows up at Gemma's home with a seemingly nonsensical letter from her late grandfather. It's possible this letter from the grandfather she never knew contains a series of clues that will lead her to a secret inheritance. The only problem is, her grandfather died in Taiwan, with a family she never met, in a place she's never visited. Despite her mother's wishes, she applies to a program that brings Taiwanese American students to Taiwan; unfortunately, Xander will be there too. While the treasure hunt is an alluring aspect of the work, Gemma's discovery of her culture will be what really pulls readers in. Chao's descriptions of Taiwan are lush and vibrant, and she crafts a narrative that makes it easy to understand how Gemma would feel like a fish out of water. A beautiful story about discovering your roots and understanding the difficult choices adults make.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2024 American Library Association
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Hayes, Amber. "Ex Marks the Spot." Booklist, vol. 121, no. 5-6, Nov. 2024, p. 72. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A829739980/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=c9c126c9. Accessed 13 Mar. 2025.