Contemporary Authors

• American Panda ( young adult novel) Simon Pulse (New York, NY), 2018

1. American panda LCCN 2017014314 Type of material Book Personal name Chao, Gloria, 1986- author. Main title American panda / by Gloria Chao. Edition First Simon Pulse hardcover edition. Published/Produced New York : Simon Pulse, 2018. Projected pub date 1801 Description pages cm ISBN 9781481499101 (jacketed hardcover) Library of Congress Holdings Information not available.

• Gloria Chao Home Page - https://gloriachao.wordpress.com/

  ABOUT ME
  G.Chao.pngMIT grad turned dentist turned writer.

  Author of AMERICAN PANDA (out now!) and MISALIGNED (fall 2019).

  I am always up for cooperative board games, Dance Dance Revolution, or soup dumplings. I was also once a black belt in kung-fu and a competitive dancer, but that side of me was drilled and suctioned out.

  BUZZ FOR AMERICAN PANDA
  Seventeen’s 20 Best YA Books of 2018
  Bustle’s 27 Most Anticipated YA Contemporary Books
  Barnes & Noble’s 21 Most Anticipated Debuts of 2018
  Buzzfeed’s Start Off Your 2018 Right by Reading These 18 YA Books
  New York Public Library’s Most Anticipated YA Books of 2018
  Teen Librarian Toolbox’s 18 2018 YA Books To Have On Your Radar
  Epic Read’s 12 Most Exciting Books, Winter 2018
  Bustle’s 17 YA Books by Authors of Color To Look Out For, first half of 2018
  Hypable’s Most Anticipated Diverse YA Books of 2018
  Book Riot’s 6 YA Romance Novels to Swoon for in Winter 2018
  Justine Magazine’s Most Anticipated Books of 2018
  Read Brightly’s 18 Most Exciting YA Books of 2018
  Cultured Vultures’s 20 Most Anticipated Books of 2018
  YA Books Central’s Buzzworthy Books of Winter 2018
  Epic Read’s 17 #OwnVoices YA Books Coming Out This Year We Can’t Wait to Read
  Pick My YA’s 18 YA Books to Read in 2018
  School Library Journal’s List of Asian American Voices in Young Adult Literature
  Book Riot’s 10 YA Books Set in College
  Cultured Vultures’s 13 Biggest New Books of February 2018
  Epic Read’s 17 Most Anticipated YA Books to Read in February
  Bustle’s 17 Best YA Books of February
  Barnes and Noble’s 28 Most Anticipated February YA Books
  Book Riot’s Must Read February Books
  Barnes & Noble’s 8 YAs About Defying Parental Expectations
  Paste Magazine’s Best Young Adult Books of February 2018
  Barnes & Noble’s 7 YA Novels That Take on the Journey from High School to College

• Rich in Color - http://richincolor.com/2018/01/author-interview-with-gloria-chao/

  AUTHOR INTERVIEW WITH GLORIA CHAO
  Posted on 30 January, 2018 by Jessica
  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.

• Reading (As)(I)An(Am)Erica - https://readingasiam.wordpress.com/2017/05/10/author-interview-gloria-chao/

  Author Interview: Gloria Chao
  May 10, 2017InterviewContemporary, Own Voices, Taiwanese American, Young Adult
  This is the third in my interview series for Taiwanese American Heritage Week. Today’s special guest is Gloria Chao. Her debut novel, American Panda, will be releasing in Spring 2018, which cannot arrive soon enough!

  Since there’s no cover for American Panda yet, here’s the aesthetic collage she put together for her book:

  American Panda Aesthetic

  Not surprisingly, there is food involved. But also the Great Dome of MIT, an MIT class ring, a stethoscope, traditional Chinese dance, and terracotta warriors, not to mention DDR, and are those wedding decorations? Time to find out more.

  From Goodreads:

  At seventeen, Mei Lu 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 she 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.

  My comments and questions are marked in bold and labeled “SW.”

  SW: To start off, since food is such an important part of Taiwanese culture and because your book’s aesthetic collage inspired me/made me hungry, what’s your favorite Taiwanese food? (You are more than welcome to list multiple foods as I’m sure it is impossible to choose just one.)

  Gloria: I agree, it’s not possible to choose just one. But if I absolutely had to, I’d go with soup dumplings because I will never say no to one, no matter how full I am. Other favorites include shredded turnip cake (drool), pork belly buns, braised pork rice, three cup eggplant, and oyster pancake. Aiyah, I’m so hungry now!

  SW: Soup dumplings are everything. Too bad there’s no Din Tai Fung anywhere near me.

  I feel like I have the Goodreads synopsis for American Panda memorized by now and need more teasers. Can you tell us a little bit more about the story and the inspiration behind it beyond what’s in the synopsis?

  Gloria: Ah thank you so much! American Panda is the book I wish I had as a young adult, and I started writing it because I wanted other children of immigrants to know (1) they aren’t alone, and (2) it’s okay to feel stuck between two cultures without fully belonging in either.

  Also, I wanted to write a Chinese My Big Fat Greek Wedding chock-full of cultural humor. An example: in the first five pages, a family friend compliments the main character’s big nose, referencing a Chinese superstition that having a big nose means you will make a lot of money. But of course, the protagonist, Mei, only hears that she has a gigantic nose, which is not something an American teen typically wants to hear. And yes, I am speaking from personal experience—I was cursed, er, blessed with a large “lucky” nose.

  American Panda is also about figuring out who you are and how to be that person. Being different makes it hard to fit in, but I didn’t feel whole until I owned it. Mei Lu may struggle with her identity, but she doesn’t hesitate to own the parts she does know—like ordering hot chocolate in front of her crush even though she thinks it’ll look juvenile, or continuing to dance even though her parents want her to focus on her studies.

  SW: *checks my nose* I think mine’s fairly average sized, but hopefully hard work will make up for that, ha. American Panda sounds like a book that I would have loved as a teen. I only had one #ownvoices YA featuring a Taiwanese American protagonist when I was a teen.

  Writing a book that’s considered “own voices” means you’re writing about a character whose identity or experience(s) you share in some way. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s autobiographical (which is an assumption I’ve heard several marginalized authors say they’ve dealt with). How much of American Panda would you say is based on your own life? In what ways is it different?

  Gloria: While Mei’s storyline is not completely autobiographical, it is rooted in truth. The themes, struggles, and emotional arcs are based on my experiences, as are the MIT setting and medical scenes. I also drew upon the lives of friends and acquaintances who trusted me with their stories. The novel is based on experiences, but it has been fictionalized and no characters or situations are exactly as they unfolded in reality.

  For example, my parents did not insist I become a doctor, but they initially were not on board with my career change from dentist to writer. While I am not as germophobic as Mei, I always carry hand sanitizer with me, and I struggled with spit, pus, and cadaver bits in dental school. While my mother was supportive of my non-Chinese husband, she did try to set me up with her Taiwanese friends’ sons on multiple occasions.

  As for Mei’s personality, she’s an exaggerated version of me, especially her awkward social skills and sweaty palms. When she tries to flirt with her crush, she pops these weird hip-level waves, and yes, I did that when I met my husband.

  I worked hard to keep the book based on real experiences to breathe more life into the pages. Also, it was important to me to keep the story authentic. Since there aren’t enough Taiwanese-American stories out there (and I hope there will be more soon), I wanted to do everything I could to write an accurate representation of at least a few Taiwanese-American experiences, starting with mine. In the future, I plan to continue writing Taiwanese-American characters, exploring even more personal demons along with storylines that diverge from my own.

  SW: The doctor thing is so real for Taiwanese kids, and I found out from my dad that there’s a historical reason behind it. During Japanese colonial rule of Taiwan, one of the few professions that offered upward social mobility for Taiwanese people was studying medicine. My dad himself was faced with that pressure early in his life, but thankfully my grandfather let it go later on. I was lucky that my parents never pressured me to become a doctor, but it’s still a career that’s highly valued among Taiwanese parents for sure.

  After thinking about it a bit, I realized the synopsis for American Panda focuses a lot on what Mei Lu doesn’t like or want. So I’m curious, what are some things that do spark her interest and passion?

  Gloria: Dancing is Mei’s passion. She loves to mix styles and music in her private dance sessions—the one place she feels like herself, where she doesn’t have to choose between her two cultures or identities. Her dream is to open a dance studio where she can teach Chinese dance to hip hop music, or ballet to Chinese pop.

  Mei is also a nerd, but not in the stereotypical way. She’s intellectually curious and fits in at MIT in a way she never has elsewhere.

  And of course, she loves Chinese food. There are food references and dumpling metaphors throughout the book!

  SW: Food references are the greatest! Dumplings aside, I think this is only the second YA story featuring an Asian American whose passion is dance that I’ve heard of (the first being Tiny Pretty Things by Sona Charaipotra an dDhonielle Clayton, which features a biracial white/Korean American ballerina as one of the three main viewpoint characters). I’m constantly yearning for more Asian American stories that focus on sports and dance and art and so on because the stereotype is that we’re only good at academics and nothing else.

  This next question is just for fun: If Mei Lu had a Twitter account, what would her handle/@ be and what would her profile bio say?

  Gloria: @TwirlingPanda

  TIM the MIT beaver’s sidekick. DDR maniac. Dumpling expert. Dancing is dreaming with your feet! 💃

  SW: TwirlingPanda brings to mind the cutest image. I went to Google and this was among the image search results:

  maxresdefault

  I’m greatly entertained by how appropriate it is.

  It’s rare for YA to tackle college since college students are generally considered to be outside of the range of YA. Personally, I wish there were more stories about the first years of college, not only because most first/second-year students are 18/19 and still technically teens (legal status aside) but also because it’s another stage of the coming-of-age period in life. If you’re not living at home, it involves a different environment than high school because you’re not as beholden to your parents, for better or for worse. Would you say that writing about a college student influenced the way you approached the story, and if so, how?

  Gloria: I knew from the beginning that I wanted Mei to be in college for the exact reasons you mentioned. I wanted her to explore the fear, freedom, and self-discovery that comes with being on your own for the first time. I needed her out of her parents’ house to realize that what she wants isn’t the same as what they want. I also needed her doctor future to be closer on the horizon, and I wanted her to be struggling with what she wanted to do with the rest of her life.

  And the more fun reason I wrote a college setting: I wanted to share some of MIT’s zany, unique culture with the world. Some scenes involve sneaking onto the iconic dome, chair surfing in the underground tunnels, hacking, and being nerdy in the best way possible.

  Like you, I wish there was more college YA. Unfortunately, it’s a hurdle in the publishing industry. I’m grateful every day to have landed an agent and publisher supportive of American Panda’s MIT setting!

  SW: I visited MIT with my family years and years ago, in 2007, and I remember the distinctive architecture and the lore surrounding the Great Dome and senior pranks. Later, I applied to MIT and didn’t get in, but no hard feelings. I’m excited to explore MIT through Mei’s eyes.

  Last question set! What was the hardest part of writing American Panda? What was your favorite part about writing it?

  Gloria: The hardest part of writing American Panda was finding the line between fact and fiction. The first draft of my book was essentially a memoir; I didn’t know how to separate my life from the narrative. It took three complete rewrites for the characters and plot to blossom from their real-life counterparts into fiction.

  Funnily enough, my favorite part is closely related to the hardest. American Panda forced me to ask my mother questions about her upbringing, mine, and our culture, and it eventually improved our communication and helped us understand each other better. I drew upon all this while writing, and there’s one chapter toward the end of the book that always makes me tear up because it reminds me how far my mother and I have come.

  Thank you so much, Shenwei, for these thoughtful, wonderful questions, and for putting this together for Taiwanese American Heritage Week! I’m honored to be a part of it!

  SW:I also have to thank you so much for answering these questions so thoroughly. I’m honored to host on you my blog! I can’t wait for more news on American Panda and for it to hit the shelves next spring. 🙂

  G.Chao--Author PhotoGloria 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 Dance Dance Revolution, cooperative board games, or spontaneous dance parties. 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.

  Visit her tea-and-book-filled world at gloriachao.wordpress.com and find her on twitter @gloriacchao.

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• Children's Book Review - https://www.thechildrensbookreview.com/weblog/2018/03/debut-author-gloria-chao-discusses-american-panda.html

  Debut Author Gloria Chao Discusses American Panda
  The Children’s Book Review | March 2, 2018

  Welcome to The Children’s Book Review, Gloria! Thanks for joining us. I laughed out loud many times while reading AMERICAN PANDA. In so many ways, everyone can relate to it, while in other ways it is a very unique look in to Taiwanese American culture. It’s a joy to read and everyone should buy it immediately!

  Why don’t you start by telling us a bit about your book, AMERICAN PANDA.

  Gloria Chao: Thank you so much for having me! I’m so thrilled to be here! And thank you for your lovely comments about the book!

  AMERICAN PANDA follows a Taiwanese-American MIT freshman whose traditional parents want her to be a doctor and marry a preapproved Taiwanese Ivy Leaguer despite her squeamishness with germs and crush on a Japanese classmate. There’s a little romance plus a lot of humor—both nerdy and cultural in the vein of My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

  I know this is a very personal story for you. Obviously it’s not a memoir, but can you tell us how you drew on your own personal story to create Mei and her struggles at MIT, as well as with her family?

  When I started writing this book, I wanted to write the book I needed as a teen as well as the book I needed as I switched careers from dentist to writer, which my parents were having a hard time with. I wanted to capture the struggles I went through as a child of immigrants, and I wanted to tell teens that they aren’t alone, it’s okay to not feel wholly one thing or another, and cultural gaps can be difficult.

  I also wanted to capture a universal experience in Mei’s difficulty fitting in at MIT. I dedicated the book to anyone who’s ever felt like they don’t belong.

  Upper YA/crossover is becoming very popular lately. How does Mei’s story in AMERICAN PANDA fit in to the increasingly wide-ranging YA market?

  AMERICAN PANDA was a tough sell because of the college setting. I received rejections from publishers solely based on this and the fact that they weren’t sure how it fit in the YA market, and I’m so grateful I found a publisher who was supportive of it. I feel that my coming of age didn’t happen until college, and because of Mei’s sheltered background (similar to mine), I feel she wouldn’t have found herself until college either. Because of this, I always knew I needed the book to be post-high school, which is still an obstacle in publishing. I’m hoping it will be less difficult in the future so teens can read a wider range of college experiences!

  Mei takes a pretty tough emotional journey in your book. Was that hard to write? Therapeutic?

  It was both difficult to write and therapeutic. This book made me face many demons which was incredibly hard at the time but so worth it. Writing this book forced my mother and me to communicate about our culture, which I’d been too afraid to broach before, and as a result, we have a very close relationship now. I don’t think we could have gotten here without Mei.

  I loved the “hacks” at MIT, they were so fun to read about. What aspects of the story were the most fun to write?

  Thank you so much! I went to MIT, discovered a lot about myself when I was there, and love MIT’s unique, adventurous, nerdy culture. The “hacks” are based on real, long-standing MIT traditions, and I’m so happy to share them with a wider audience.

  My favorite part of the book to write was Mei’s mother. Her voice came to me fully formed, and she practically wrote herself. It was so much fun to write all the ridiculous things she says, like swing your arms three thousand times a day for good health, which, yes, are based on things my mother has said to me and my friends’ mothers have said to them.

  Is American Panda your first novel? What was your journey to publication with this novel?

  I wrote another novel that I shelved because I couldn’t stop thinking about Mei. I drafted AMERICAN PANDA for NaNoWriMo 2015, revised for about two years (and querying periodically) before signing with my fabulous agent. I revised with her for two months, then the book sold in a week.

  What is your writing process like? Are you working on something new and exciting for us to look forward to?

  I’m discovering that my writing process is different for each book. My second book, MISALIGNED, will be forthcoming from Simon Pulse fall 2019, and I’m thrilled to be working with my amazing editor again.

  MISALIGNED follows a teen outcast, Ali, whose family are the only Asians in their small, predominantly white Midwestern town. When another Chinese boy moves to town, Ali connects with him, who understands her in ways no one else in the town does. Ali believes her mother will be happy with her Chinese boyfriend, but the mother forbids them from being together. As Ali searches for the reasoning behind her mother’s disapproval, dark family secrets come to light that threaten more than just her budding romance.

  While AMERICAN PANDA began with a character, MISALIGNED began with the plot reveal at the end (which is based on a real phenomenon in China).

  AMERICAN PANDA has some amazing descriptions of food. What’s your favorite Taiwanese snack?

  Like Mei, I love dried squid. But it’s difficult to find where I am, so my go-to writing snack is dried seaweed.

  Writing is a difficult job! What kind of hobbies do you enjoy to relieve stress and help inspire you?

  I took up curling this season and am completely in love with it. My husband and I curl in a regular league. DDR is also a great stress reliever for me!

  What were your favorite books growing up?

  The Baby-Sitters Club! I brought them with me everywhere and they eventually became covered in food (which I would never let happen now).

  If you could go back and tell your teen-self one thing, what would it be?

  Be yourself.

  Thank you so much for joining us today, Gloria!

  Thank you so much for having me! It was such a pleasure!

  —

  American PandaAmerican Panda
  Written by Gloria Chao

  Publisher’s Synopsis: An 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.

  Ages 14+ | Publisher: Simon Pulse | February 6, 2018 | ISBN-13: 978-1481499101

  Available Here:

  IndieBound-Iconamazon-smile_color_btnBarnes&Noble-Icon

  About The Author
  Gloria Chao is an MIT graduate 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. Visit her tea-and-book-filled world at GloriaChao.Wordpress.com.

  This interview—Debut Author Gloria Chao Discusses American Panda—was conducted between Gloria Chaor and Denise Mealy. For similar books and articles, follow along with our content tagged with Determination, Dogs, Matt Myers, Picture Book, and Sherri Duskey Rinker.

• Hardcovers and Heroines - https://hardcoversandheroines.com/2018/02/26/author-interview-gloria-chao/

  Author Interview: Gloria Chao
  Posted on February 26, 2018 by Alison Doherty
  G.Chao--Author PhotoI first learned about Gloria Chao through one of my favorite podcasts, 88 Cups of Tea. I’m on the podcast community’s amazing facebook group and saw her commenting on the page as well. Then I listened to her interview with Yin Chang and knew I’d be reading (and loving) her debut YA novel, American Panda – a hilarious and romantic contemporary story about a Taiwanese-American teen who’s parents want her to become a doctor and marry another Taiwanese Ivy Leaguer despite her squeamishness and crush on a Japanese classmate. So much tension! So many potential swoons! And I was *very* intrigued about a YA set on a college campus.

  A review post will appear in the next week or two, but in the meantime Gloria was generous to answer some of my questions for the blog.

  How long did it take you to write American Panda and did you develop a writing routine?

  The first draft of American Panda was written for NaNoWriMo 2015, and I revised for about a year and a half before signing with my amazing agent. I am lucky enough to write full time, so my writing routine is as simple as making a cup of tea and settling in my home office. The only change recently with the book release is I usually spend a couple hours catching up on emails and social media before diving in to my WIP!

  When developing this story, did you begin with plot, character, or setting?

  I love this question so much! American Panda began with the character, setting, and the goal of being the book I needed as a teen, and it took me many writing sessions to find the plot. Interestingly, my second book, Misaligned (fall 2019) began with the plot twist at the end, and it took me some time to find the character and setting that the plot needed! I love that each book is an entirely different being!

  Has anything surprised you about the publishing process?

  I’m amazed (and so grateful) at how many people are involved in putting a book into the world, and I feel indebted to each and every one of them! I have also been blown away by the reader responses. I’m so incredibly thrilled that readers of all ages and backgrounds have related to Mei’s story, which is a wonderful example of how similar we all are in our humanity, the difficulty in finding ourselves, and our love for our (sometimes very peculiar) families.

  Do you remember the first story you ever wrote? How old were you and what was it about?

  This may or may not have been the first, but I’m happy to share an image from a very early story I wrote.

  Picture1

  It was a poorly executed mystery where the character became a detective (and yes, there is one panel where she literally says, “I’m a detective now!”). I wrote a lot of stories like this when I was little and they’re all tucked into the drawers of my parents’ house.

  Are there any other genres you want to write in someday?

  Fantasy was my first young adult love, and I may write some speculative someday! Most of my future ideas are contemporary, but I am definitely open to exploring other genres, especially fantasy!

  BAH I would read the heck out of a fantasy written by you! Thanks for answering these questions. I’m eagerly awaiting your next books (no matter what genre they are!)

Chao, Gloria: AMERICAN PANDA
Kirkus Reviews.
(Dec. 15, 2017):
COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
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 Bosto
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Chao, Gloria. American Panda
Aileen Valdes
Voice of Youth Advocates.
40.5 (Dec. 2017): p53+.
COPYRIGHT 2017 E L Kurdyla Publishing LLC
http://www.voya.com
Full Text:
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.
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Valdes, Aileen. "Chao, Gloria. American Panda." Voice of Youth Advocates, Dec. 2017, p. 53+. General
OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A522759399/ITOF?
u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=c3cb9b57. Accessed 4 Mar. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A522759399
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American Panda
Publishers Weekly.
264.47 (Nov. 20, 2017): p91+.
COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
* American Panda
Gloria Chao. Simon Pulse, $17.99 (320p) ISBN 978-1-4814-9910-1
Mei is only 17 and already a freshman at MIT, but her Taiwanese immigrant parents won't be satisfied until
she has a medical degree, a Taiwanese doctor husband, and children. To ensure the success of this plan,
Mei's mother monitors Mei's behavior, calling constantly, nagging her to be more feminine, and engineering
meet-ups with approved boys. But there's so much her parents don't know: the boy Mei likes is Japanese
American, she's too germophobic to be a doctor, and she'd rather be dancing. Worse, she's in touch with the
brother her parents disowned when he failed to meet family standards. Chao's effervescent debut explores
topics and themes that are salient for all teens--finding oneself and establishing an identity separate from
one's family--and perhaps even more so for children of immigrants, who have a foot in two cultures and an
ever-present awareness of the sacrifices their parents have made. With sensitivity and an abundance of
humor, Chao captures Mei's growing realization that her desires are worth pursuing and the way that this
discovery eventually brings Mei and her mother closer together. Ages 12-up. Agent: Kathleen Rushall,
Andrea Brown Literary. (Feb.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"American Panda." Publishers Weekly, 20 Nov. 2017, p. 91+. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A517262163/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=577e25e2.
Accessed 4 Mar. 2018.
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American Panda
Reinhardt Suarez
Booklist.
114.5 (Nov. 1, 2017): p64.
COPYRIGHT 2017 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist_publications/booklist/booklist.cfm
Full Text:
* American Panda.
By Gloria Chao.
Feb. 2018.320p. Simon & Schuster/Simon Pulse, $17.99 (9781481499101). Gr. 9-12.
For Mei, age 17 doesn't involve prom dates. Instead, she's a hopeful medical student at MIT, exactly as her
parents planned. Mei strains against the expectations of her traditional Chinese parents, especially after they
disowned her brother for choosing love over familial duty. At first, dance is the secret indulgence she must
hide from them, but soon it graduates to a cute Japanese (read: unsuitable) boy and even worse--contact
with her ostracized brother. She comes to understand her culture to be both a source of pride and a prison
sentence, and she must find the strength to empathize with her parents, who are just as trapped by
expectations. Vibrant, complex, and refreshing, this book crafts a nuanced view of growing up in a family
beholden to centuries of tradition. Chao is meticulous in showing the wrinkles of a Chinese upbringing,
especially in the face of an individualistic American society. Chao's also wickedly funny; she's not afraid of
placing Mei in embarrassing situations to show readers what she's made of. Moreover, Chao devotes a
generous amount of effort to fleshing out Mei's mother, transforming her from antagonist to someone with
whom Mei learns to identify. A soulful and hilarious debut. --Reinhardt Suarez
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Suarez, Reinhardt. "American Panda." Booklist, 1 Nov. 2017, p. 64. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A515383095/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=49838a1d.
Accessed 4 Mar. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A515383095
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CHAO, Gloria. American Panda
Kate Olson
School Library Journal.
64.2 (Feb. 2018): p99.
COPYRIGHT 2018 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No
redistribution permitted.
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/
Full Text:
* CHAO, Gloria. American Panda. 320p. S. & S./Simon Pulse. Feb. 2018. Tr $17.99. ISBN
9781481499101.
Gr 9 Up--Mei Lu is out of place at MIT and everywhere else in her life. At 17, she is younger than all of the
other college fresh men. In her Taiwanese family, she is struggling against her parents' expectations of med
school and an approved marriage. Mei is a dancer at heart with a lifelong dream of opening a dance studio,
and her fear of germs is another strike against her future as a doctor. As she fights to create her own place in
the world, she must also restore her relationship with her exiled brother and figure out how her crush on a
Japanese fellow student fits into her traditional family's expectations. The college experience is a unique
and welcome setting, and the Mandarin language woven throughout creates a rich reading experience. Mei's
relationship with her parents is emotionally complex, with deeply ingrained cultural traditions and biases in
sharp contrast to the life Mei imagines for herself. While Chao writes in the author's note that this is just one
story of one Taiwanese American experience, the themes of defying parental expectations, following
dreams, and fighting to belong are universal. VERDICT A first purchase for libraries serving teens.--Kate
Olson, Bangor School District, W1
KEY: * Excellent in relation to other titles on the same subject or in the same genre | Tr Hardcover trade
binding | lib. ed. Publisher's library binding | Board Board book | pap. Paperback | e eBook original | BL
Bilingual | POP Popular Picks
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Olson, Kate. "CHAO, Gloria. American Panda." School Library Journal, Feb. 2018, p. 99. General
OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A526734106/ITOF?
u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=327106f3. Accessed 4 Mar. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A526734106

"Chao, Gloria: AMERICAN PANDA." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Dec. 2017. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A518491290/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF. Accessed 4 Mar. 2018. Valdes, Aileen. "Chao, Gloria. American Panda." Voice of Youth Advocates, Dec. 2017, p. 53+. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A522759399/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF. Accessed 4 Mar. 2018. "American Panda." Publishers Weekly, 20 Nov. 2017, p. 91+. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A517262163/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF. Accessed 4 Mar. 2018. Suarez, Reinhardt. "American Panda." Booklist, 1 Nov. 2017, p. 64. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A515383095/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF. Accessed 4 Mar. 2018. Olson, Kate. "CHAO, Gloria. American Panda." School Library Journal, Feb. 2018, p. 99. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A526734106/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF. Accessed 4 Mar. 2018.

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