SATA

PERSONAL

Born c. 1968, in Wilmington, DE; married; children: three.

University of Virginia, B.A., 1990, J.D., c. 1994.

ADDRESS

• Home - VA.
• Agent - Quinlan Lee, Adams Literary Agency, 7845 Colony Rd., Unit C4, No. 215, Charlotte, NC 28226.

CAREER

Writer and attorney. Previously worked as an attorney and court advocate in the juvenile justice system. Member of Megaphone Board of Shout Mouse Press.

Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.

Asian/Pacific American Awards for Children’s Literature, American Library Association, 2012, for The Great Wall of Lucy Wu; VOYA Best of Middle Grade list, 2017, for This Is Just a Test.

WRITINGS

• MIDDLE-GRADE NOVELS
• The Great Wall of Lucy Wu, Scholastic (New York, NY), 2011
• The Way Home Looks Now, Scholastic (New York, NY), 2015
• (With Madelyn Rosenberg) This Is Just a Test, Scholastic (New York, NY), 2017
• (With Madelyn Rosenberg) Not Your All-American Girl, Scholastic (New York, NY), 2020
• The Secret Battle of Evan Pao, Scholastic (New York, NY), 2022
• Bubble Trouble, Scholastic Press (New York, NY), 2023
• The Best Worst Summer of Esme Sun, Scholastic Press (New York, NY), 2025
• MIDDLE-GRADE BRAND FICTION
• Over the Moon: The Novelization (Netflix film adaptation), HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2020
• Corinne (“Girl of the Year 2022”), American Girl (Middleton, WI), 2021
• Corinne to the Rescue (“Girl of the Year 2022”), American Girl (Middleton, WI), 2021
• Wish: A Recipe for Adventure (Disney film adaptation), Disney Press (Los Angeles, CA), 2023
• PICTURE BOOKS
• The Rice in the Pot Goes Round and Round, illustrated by Lorian Tu, Orchard Books (London, England), 2021

SIDELIGHTS

An attorney whose career included specializing in juvenile cases, Wendy Wan-Long Shang delved into her own family saga to write her first novel for young readers. A mix of history and fiction, The Great Wall of Lucy Wu won its first-time author an Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature from the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association and introduced readers to a spirited and athletic tween who is about to start her sixth-grade year.

When readers meet her in The Great Wall of Lucy Wu, Lucy is fanatical about basketball and dreams of playing on the professional level some day; in addition to anticipating the coming school basketball season, there is the fact that her older sister has departed for college and will leave Lucy with her own room. Unwelcome developments deflate the preteen’s ebullient mood, however, when her parents discuss enrolling her in Chinese school on Saturdays, a move that will impinge on hoops practice time. Then her father returns from a trip to China with Yi Po, his long-lost aunt, and announces that the woman will now be sharing Lucy’s room. As both Lucy and Yi Po adjust to new challenges, the girl learns valuable lessons about fortune, opportunity, and walls that are both visible and invisible.

Lucy draws upon what she has learned about “Yi Po’s life during China’s Cultural Revolution and determines that she will act with similar courage and conviction,” explained Kim Dare in her review of The Great Wall of Lucy Wu in School Library Journal. A Kirkus Reviews critic remarked that “Shang’s use of traditional tales and Yi Po’s heart-wrenching story add dimensionality and heft” to the coming-of-age novel, while a Publishers Weekly contributor noted that Shang’s heroine “grows tremendously (and rewardingly) while learning about China’s turbulent history and the value of sympathy and strength.” In Booklist, Courtney Jones declared of The Great Wall of Lucy Wu that “Lucy’s struggles and frustrations are realistic” and “readers will find her transformation thought-provoking, funny, and incredibly heartwarming.”

In The Way Home Looks Now, Shang explores a Chinese-American family’s slow recovery from tragedy. “Issues of sexism, racism, and struggles with depression,” stated a reviewer in Publishers Weekly, “are handled deftly in scenarios grounded in reality.” The year is 1972, and twelve-year-old Peter and his family are in shock following the sudden death of Peter’s elder brother Nelson in a car accident. His mother has withdrawn, and Peter finds that school no longer makes sense. In the time before, the two brothers had bonded over baseball; now, Peter wonders if he will ever be able to enjoy the game again. Peter decides to take a risk: he chooses to play Little League baseball. “While Peter wonders how baseball can have meaning without his brother,” explained Jill Ratzan in BookPage, “he finds himself rethinking almost everything about the game.” Shang’s story combines “the different aspects of Peter’s life,” declared a Publishers Weekly reviewer, “robustly characterizing his friendships and his time at school and home.”

Peter is stunned when his father volunteers to act as his team’s coach. In the process, remarked Lisa Nabel in School Library Journal, Peter finds that he really knows very little about his father—“a man who is mourning his son, loves his family, knows a lot about baseball, and believes in fairness.” “Those lessons are also valuable off the field,” concluded Christina Barron in the Washington Post. “Families don’t simply bounce back from a loss like that of Nelson. But hope and persistence are the tools Peter needs to help the family move forward in the After.” “Interwoven with cultural ties,” said Melissa Moore, writing in Booklist, “this touching novel shows the importance of patience—and baseball.”

This Is Just a Test, which Shang wrote with Madelyn Rosenberg, draws on the two authors’ childhood memories of growing up in the 1980s. It tells the story of a Jewish Chinese-American boy named David who struggles with his identity—and with the stresses of the Cold War. “His struggle to make sense of the Cold War,” stated a Publishers Weekly reviewer, “will resonate with readers grappling with a confusing political climate.” “I had been wanting to do a project with Madelyn for a while—and we came up with what we had in common,” Shang declared in an interview with Deborah Kalb on Book Q&As with Deborah Kalb. “We were both the ‘onlies’ at our schools (me being Chinese-American, and Madelyn being Jewish) and grew up in the ’80s. We both had specific memories from the ’80s that we shared with David, such as watching [the TV movie about nuclear war] The Day After.” Rhona Campbell in School Library Journal found the novel “giggle-inducing, light, and charmingly realistic fiction that will resonate with a wide variety of readers.”

Shang and Rosenberg teamed up again for a sequel, Not Your All-American Girl, which is also set in the 1980s. The novel focuses on sixth-grader Lauren Horowitz, a Chinese-Jewish girl whose dreams of singing the lead in the school musical are dashed when the teacher tells her that she doesn’t look “American” enough. Lauren begins to notice all the ways in which she doesn’t fit in to her suburban southern community, and she also starts to recognize the racism that marks her community as well as the wider society. Battling an increasing frustration and despair, Lauren eventually finds solace and strength in the music of legendary country singer Patsy Cline.

Once again, critics responded enthusiastically to the work of Shang and Rosenberg. A Kirkus Reviews contributor called Not Your All-American Girl “a nearly pitch-perfect middle school exploration of race and friendship.” Similarly, School Library Journal contributor Madison Bishop remarked of the book: “this is a funny, tender, quick-moving story of family, friendship, identity, and music.”

The Rice in the Pot Goes Round and Round is Shang and illustrator Lorian Tu’s 2021 musical picture-book effort. Set to the tune of “The Wheels on the Bus,” the story follows a Chinese family as they get together for mealtime. Dinner is at the grandparents’ house. They welcome their family with smiles and open arms, as children and grandchildren file in and make ready to eat. A lazy Susan in the center of the dinner table makes the meal accessible for everyone seated. As they eat, each family member is addressed in Chinese and shown with a particular traditional dish. Grandmother sips tea, while Grandfather slurps his noodles and Dad enjoys Peking duck. “The repetitive stanzas and delectable onomatopoeia establish a rhythmic pace that irresistibly begs for participation,” wrote a contributor to Kirkus Reviews, who concluded that the book is “utterly charming.” Writing in School Library Journal, Kimberly Olson Fakih advised, “with a food glossary included, this is a take-along book for restaurant dining, or a book to start children discussing their own food memories and festivities.”

Evan Pao is plucked from his familiar surroundings in California and dropped across the country in a mostly white town in Virginia in Shang’s 2022 novel, The Secret Battle of Evan Pao. The move follows a divorce wherein Evan’s father had embezzled money and then disappeared. The only person the family knows in Virginia is Evan’s Uncle Joe. Starting fresh, Evan realizes that his new surroundings are going to take some getting used to. At school Evan is the only Asian American student, and his teacher makes a lot of uncomfortable discussion about the Confederacy and Civil War. Other students discriminate against Evan based on his race, and the class bully makes racist comments toward Evan. Even his teacher ignorantly tries to exclude Evan from participating in an annual event at the school that celebrates the Civil War. In his search to understand his torment, Evan learns and then shares with others that the Chinese had a rich history participating in the American Civil War on both sides of the conflict. “The novel also handles with nuance questions about how uncomfortable history can be approached in classrooms and communities,” stated a critic writing in Kirkus Reviews. In Publishers Weekly a contributor remarked, “Shang crafts a well-paced and nuanced story that follows Evan’s growing stronger in his sense of self.”

[open new]In Bubble Trouble, twelve-year-old drama fan Chloe has high hopes about joining her D.C. school’s class trip to Broadway, even if fellow Chinese American classmate Henry is being an obnoxious-but-cute naysayer about it. Yet Chloe’s mother is deceased, her father is a humble inventor, and the fee of $375 is too much for the family to bear. Best friend Sabrina aims to help Chloe raise money, but babysitting is not Chloe’s racket—and making a racket gets her kicked out of Henry’s family’s bubble-tea shop. With that, an idea bubbles up, and Sabrina and rescue dog Phineas help Chloe start a thriving boba-tea business of her own. Henry, meanwhile, is starting to seem like someone other than an adversary.

In view of Chloe’s pressing need for organized neatness, hinting at neurodivergence, a Kirkus Reviews contributor appreciated how her family and friends compassionately “recognize and accommodate her needs.” The reviewer found the plot of Bubble Trouble “buoyant,” the romances “sweet,” and concluded: “What may linger longest are the fantastic bubble tea descriptions, which will have readers salivating.” Likewise appreciating the “abundant confectionary descriptions,” a Publishers Weekly reviewer concluded that “empathetic depictions of tween friendships, familial relationships, and moving on from loss deepen this quick-moving … lighthearted novel.”

Sixth-grader Esme is getting tired of always gazing upward at her three high-achieving sisters in The Best Worst Summer of Esme Sun. However, when friend Tegan cues her to perhaps being a bit too intense, Esme aims for a “zero intensity” summer even while joining the swim team at Deep Woods Pool. As her friendship with the oft-critical Tegan wavers, Esme overcomes a misunderstanding to become closer with new Black friend and fellow swimmer Kaya. As Esme starts winning races and gets in sight of a pool record for her age group, her mother starts attending meets—and unfortunately only cares about whether Esme breaks the record. But Esme realizes she has other priorities.

In School Library Journal, Tracy Cronce hailed narrator Esme for learning to “rely on her inner voice and strength to find both big and small successes that meet the only person’s standards who really matter—her own.” Affirming that the novel “gracefully underscores the importance of talking through problems” and “deftly examines the pressures of success and the courage necessary to find one’s own path,” a Kirkus Reviews writer deemed The Best Worst Summer of Esme Sun “heartwarming.”[close new]

BIOCRIT

PERIODICALS

• Booklist, February 15, 2011, Courtney Jones, review of The Great Wall of Lucy Wu, p. 73; March 15, 2015, Melissa Moore, review of The Way Home Looks Now, p. 76.

• BookPage, May, 2015, Jill Ratzan, “Bonding over Baseball,” p. 30.

• Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, February, 2011, Kate Quealy-Gainer, review of The Great Wall of Lucy Wu, p. 298.

• Kirkus Reviews, December 15, 2010, review of The Great Wall of Lucy Wu; May 15, 2020, review of Not Your All-American Girl; March 14, 2021, review of The Rice in the Pot Goes Round and Round; March 15, 2022, review of The Secret Battle of Evan Pao; May 15, 2023, review of Bubble Trouble; April 1, 2025, review of The Best Worst Summer of Esme Sun.

• Publishers Weekly, November 22, 2010, review of The Great Wall of Lucy Wu, p. 57; March 2, 2015, review of The Way Home Looks Now, p. 83; December 2, 2015, review of The Way Home Looks Now, p. 74; April 17, 2017, review of This Is Just a Test, p. 67; May 23, 2022, review of The Secret Battle of Evan Pao, p. 63; May 15, 2023, review of Bubble Trouble, p. 123.

• School Library Journal, February, 2011, Kim Dare, review of The Great Wall of Lucy Wu, p. 120; March, 2015, Lisa Nabel, review of The Way Home Looks Now, p. 144; May, 2017, Rhona Campbell, review of This Is Just a Test, p. 91; June, 2020, Madison Bishop, review of Not Your All-American Girl, p. 64; August, 2021, Kimberly Olson Fakih, review of The Rice in the Pot Goes Round and Round, p. 64; April, 2025, Tracy Cronce, review of The Best Worst Summer of Esme Sun, p. 121.

• Washington Post, July 12, 2017, Christina Barron, “KidsPost Summer Book Club: Baseball Helps Boy with Loss in The Way Home Looks Now.”

ONLINE

• Book Q&As with Deborah Kalb, http://deborahkalbbooks.blogspot.com/ (July 26, 2017), Deborah Kalb, “Q&A with Madelyn Rosenberg and Wendy Wan-Long Shang;” (May 9, 2021), Deborah Kalb, author Q&A.

• On Our Minds, https://oomscholasticblog.com/ (June 2, 2021), author interview.

• University of Virginia School of Law website, https://www.law.virginia.edu/ (February 22, 2022), Marian Anderfuren, author interview.

• Wendy Wan-Long Shang website, https://wendyshang.com (December 15, 2025).