Indies Introduce

Young Adult

• 
  This Place Is Still Beautiful, XiXi Tian
  Balzer + Bray, 9780063086029, June 7, 2022 (Young Adult)
  

  "After a hate crime is committed in their home, two very different Chinese-American sisters have to navigate how to deal with this incident without tearing their family apart. There is so much packed in this novel and I am in awe of its beauty."

  - Joseline Diaz, Kepler’s Books, Menlo Park, CA
  
  

  “What’s most impressive about This Place Is Still Beautiful is how it manages to be so many things at once — it’s a hopeful romance, a critical look at racism and complicity, and a family drama with characters who leap off the page. This is an absolutely incredible debut and should be on every shelf this summer.”

  Kassie King, The Novel Neighbor, Webster Groves, MO
  

  “When Annalie comes home to a racial slur painted on her garage, she calls her older sister Margaret to come home from college to keep her from falling apart — but they clash on how to handle the devastating hate crime. This Place Is Still Beautiful ultimately revolves around how the two sisters both navigate their lives as young biracial women in a small Illinois town. A thoughtful and poignant novel of heartbreak and healing.”

   

  - Andrew King, Secret Garden Bookshop, Seattle, WA

   

   

  “The heartbreak of this story is contained in the absolute realism and relevance of the plot — that hate crimes exist in the day-to-day life of teens. The joy in reading it, however, is found in the authentic alternating voices of these two sisters as they navigate their response to more than just this traumatic event, but to their different views of growing up in the same small Midwestern town. The story feels both intimate and huge, as it perfectly captures the details of one family’s interactions while offering the reader space to consider larger themes of racial identity and acceptance.”

   

  Cynthia Compton, 4 Kids Books & Toys, Zionsville, IN