SUMMER AT SQUEE

Yu-Li Alice Shen portrays the tweens and adults who take part in the Boston-based Summertime Chinese Culture, Wellness, and Enrichment Experience. Sewing enthusiast Phoenny Fang is determined to make her last year at overnight camp the most epic one yet. But a cliquey group of newcomers forces Phoenny's squad to be split up, the boy she likes keeps flirting with her rival, and hate speech from online trolls threatens the safety of the camp. To build relationships this summer, she will need to learn about Chinese American experiences different from her own. Shen delivers beautiful pronunciations of Chinese words, taking care to mess up inflections on purpose like some of the girls with less fluency. She is talented at capturing the enthusiasm and attitudes of tweens. S.S. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine [Published: MARCH 2024]