Outsider Kids by Betty C. Tang

 

Last week on Sunday, I read Outsider Kids by Betty C. Tang. The sequel to Parachute Kids, this historical fiction graphic novel is about the Lin siblings after they have spent seven months as undocumented immigrants and adjusted to their new lives in California. While Jia-Xi (Jesse) has a new job and Ke-Gāng (Jason) has a new crush, Feng-Li (Ann) is looking forward to her birthday and enjoys hanging out with her new friends and playing flute in band. Although they're still waiting for their parents to receive visa approval in Taiwan, they try to help each other out and avoid the attention of immigration authorities. When their stuck-up cousin Josephine, who is a violin prodigy, moves in with them, she gives them all a rough time, but Feng-Li is especially disappointed because she and Josephine used to be friends. As things become tumultuous once again, they wonder if they'll have to give up the lives they have built.

This sequel was fantastic. I enjoyed spending more time with the Lin siblings and seeing Feng-Li go trick-or-treating with her new friends at the beginning. It was also a lot of fun when the three siblings celebrated different American holidays for the first time. Because they're undocumented immigrants, I suspected that their stability wouldn't last, but I could have never predicted how chaotic their lives became after Josephine was left with them when her mom went back to Taiwan because of Wai Gong being deathly sick. Even though she is given some depth late in the book, Josephine was a complete brat and there are no excuses for how she treated Feng-Li. I definitely wanted her to be gone. It's just unfortunate how much damage she did in the time she lived with the Lin siblings. On the other hand, I really liked that Ke-Gāng had a positive romantic experience in this book. I just felt very bad for him by the end. I also had mad respect for Jia-Xi retaking the S.A.T. to raise her score so that she could improve her chances of going to Harvard. The ending is bittersweet, but there is going to be a third book, so I'm not too sad. I would recommend Outsider Kids to anyone who enjoyed the first book in the series.