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Reviewed by: Anna Bayerl, Junior High School Librarian Title: You Are Here: Connecting Flights
Author: Ellen Oh
Publisher: Allida a division of HarperCollinsPublishers
Year: 2023 Good for Grades: 4-8 Genre/Type of Book: Realistic Fiction/Story Collection
Content Warnings, or things that other School Librarians should be aware of: Examples of implicit bias
Recommended for a school library: Yes Reason(s) for choosing the book: It was provided for me
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Review:
You Are Here: Connecting Flights by Ellen Oh is a collection of short stories by various well-known Asian young adult authors. The stories takes place in a Chicago airport on the fourth of July. The first story which sets the stage for all the others, begins with a family heading to Thailand for a family visit. Paul, his little sister, who is a bundle of energy hard to harness, his parents and his beloved grandmother approach the security gate when Paul’s grandmother reveals to him that she has hidden her husband’s remains (ashes) in her carry on bag. Paul hopes they make it through TSA but are stopped for questioning. Paul is terrified that they will all be turned away. They close the baggage line Paul’s family is in and force the other passengers into the one remaining open line. Paul explains the situation to the TSA officer who politely assures Paul and his family that the ashes are permissible. The incident which began as frightening, ended on a positive note thanks to the understanding security agents. However, in the chaos, Paul’s little sister wanders off into the airport which is very crowded because of thunderstorms forcing the delay and cancellation of hundreds of flights. From that incident stems eleven other stories. Each story deals with an Asian American youth and their experience in the airport that day. One young girl adopted from Korea, is traveling with her two dads to visit the country of her origin. Her dads want her to have a connection to her culture of origin, but she does not see it that way. She feels no attachment to Korea and feels her culture is American. She desperately doe not want to go but loves her dads and doesn’t want to disappoint them. Another young man, traveling on his own, without an adult, is excited to visit his uncle who shares his love of music and guitars. The boy carries his guitar with him having learned that he could bring it on the plane as carry-on. After the original incident with Paul’s family, security is on alert and rumors fly believing that Paul’s family were foreigners trying to smuggle something onto the airplane, such as weapons. Security officers approach the boy and his guitar and begin questioning him about its contents, refusing to believe that an Asian kid would play the guitar. The entire book is filled with stories like these that include young Asian children who must deal with the racist attitudes and behavior of others leaving them feel bad about themselves, but who learn during their time in the airport the importance of speaking up.
There were clearly at least two messages in this book. Firstly, the abundance of implicit bias existing in our culture among all white people and how it is realized on a minute by minute basis as white people deal with anyone not white. This book focuses on implicit biases demonstrated toward East and Southeast Asian young people by both those who love them (and don’t know any better, yet) and those who refuse to believe there is no such thing as implicit bias.
I really enjoyed this book because being a white woman, I need all the help I can get to exorcise the demon of implicit bias from my head! The stories are wonderfully written, brilliantly connected, and present great lessons for all of us.
My students do not often head toward our short story collection to select books. However, more and more worthwhile story collections are being produced. As a librarian, its my job to bring these collections to the forefront and “sell” them to the students. Having read, You Are Here, I am excited to both read and promote these worthwhile new titles!
Podcast interview with authors: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AISgWJp1oL0
Interview with Ellen Oh: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-WoM5dXcwk
First chapter read (First Chapter Fridays): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQGkWsHriBQ
Number of party hats:
Find resources for You Are Here: Connecting Flights at Teachingbooks.net
For more information about this book, see the Publisher's Website
Access this book in the Monroe 2 Sora Collection