Paul Yee,
What Happened This Summer
Tradewind Books, 2005

Rating: E*

In a series of inter-related short stories, Paul Yee tells the stories of first and second generation Chinese-Canadian teenagers who are struggling to find their place in their communities and families. Balancing their families’ expectations with their need to carve out a new "Canadian" life is a struggle that each of the characters in these stories face. Sexuality, religion, education, friendship, romance, identity and family are themes that permeate each of the stories.

"A lot of Chinese people don’t like Toronto’s old Chinatown. My parents don’t. They complain it stinks, especially in the summer, and isn’t clean enough. I think it’s changing. More and more people speak Mandarin there now. Ma shops at the sleek new malls far from downtown. …

Me? I like going to Chinatown, even though you can get the same stuff at our local malls. People at school think I’m weird: they think I connect to Chinatown as a mystic link to community and history. The first Chinese settled in Toronto over a hundred years ago, close to Union Station. Everyone pictures Chinatown as a hell with low wages, long hours and bad haircuts where all immigrants pass through." (from: "Astronaut Dads are a Pain", p. 83-84)

Each of the stories in this collection is full of vivid images of life as a Chinese Canadian teenager in Canada’s big cities. All the characters, even the secondary ones, are interesting and unique and facing challenges that are common to teenagers across the country. Paul Yee is well known for his previous books, including The Bone Collector’s Son and Tales from Gold Mountain. This new book, What Happened This Summer will not disappoint fans of his other books and will no doubt introduce new readers to one of Canada’s most important authors for young people. Highly recommended for high school and public libraries.

Thematic Links: Chinese-Canadian Teenagers; Immigration; Families; Culture; Short Stories

Joanne de Groot
Vol. 12, number 3
February 2007

*Rating System:
E - Excellent, enduring, everyone should see it!
G - Good, even great at times, generally useful!
A - Average, all right, has its applications.
P - Problematic, puzzling, poorly presented.