Don’t Cause Trouble

Gr 5-7–As 12-year-old Ming starts his first day of middle school, his parents leave him with one clear message: don’t cause trouble and get good grades. Ming typically worries about his hair, which his mother cuts, and his shoes and clothes, which come from the thrift shop. Chung’s graphic novel eloquently portrays Ming’s feelings as a child of immigrants. He wants to be like all the other kids at school and struggles to understand his parents’ different approaches to being American and the American Dream. Ming and his two new friends, Vikrum and Marcus, begin to navigate the middle school student body hierarchy, finding their social positions with awkward interactions aplenty. Ming, like all kids, makes poor choices and must face the consequences head-on. Because the story is somewhat autobiographical, it is no surprise that Ming likes to draw. Chung’s illustrations capture Ming’s feelings of being an outsider after Ming discovers his father’s Resident Alien card and begins to draw himself as an actual alien from outer space in his journal. Chung thoughtfully includes notes at the end of the book to show what goes into writing and illustrating a graphic novel.