• Booklist Reviews : Booklist Reviews 2019 December #2
  *Starred Review* Yumi, 11, has plenty on her plate. She helps out at her parents' restaurant in L.A.'s Koreatown, she's taking prep classes to win a scholarship her private school offers, and almost every moment involves living up to her parents' high expectations. Yumi's passion, however, is comedy, and when she accidentally finds herself in a kids' comedy class—taught by her YouTube idol, no less—she decides to take full advantage. This, of course, leads to a web of lies from which Yumi tries to untangle herself with varying degrees of effort. Author Kim is juggling a lot here, but she does so with aplomb. Along with Yumi's comedy joys and woes (one of her jokes is that she's a zoo animal now because she's a lion cheetah), she's dealing with the family restaurant's slow demise, her older sister's anxieties, and her desire to leave prep school for a new public school centered on the arts. Kim has taught school, and it shows, both with the spot-on dialogue and the up-to-date social media references. She also offers readers solid suggestions on building self-esteem. This will certainly remind readers of Kelly Yang's Front Desk (2018), but instead of a deus ex machina solving the family's problem, Yumi does it herself. Grades 4-7. Copyright 2019 Booklist Reviews.

Jessica Kim writes about Asian American girls finding their way in the world. Before she was an author, Jessica studied education at UC Berkeley and spent ten years teaching third, fourth, and fifth grades in public schools. Like Yumi, Jessica lives with her family in Southern California and can't get enough Hot Cheetos, stand-up comedy, and Korean barbecue.