The Ping-Pong Queen of Chinatown

Chinese American Felix Ma struggles to find his footing after moving from Flushing to suburban Long Island in this spirited novel by Yang (I’m Not Here to Make Friends). After quitting piano and ping-pong, Felix searches for an essay topic that will impress his college admissions coach while also proving his parents “didn’t raise no quitter.” Inspired by his love of movies, Felix starts a classic film club and finds a fellow cinephile in Gaspard Pierre-Duluc, who reads as Black. They become fast friends and decide to film The Ping-Pong Queen of Chinatown, a movie inspired by high school senior Cassie Chow, who lives in Chinatown and with whom Felix has “a history of chance encounters”—including at the Rubenstein Center piano competition and the Citywide Table Tennis Championship. What starts as a ploy to stand out and befriend Cassie turns into a more complicated venture that depicts the sometimes-fraught relationship between the teens and their immigrant parents. Candid prose deftly articulates Felix’s inherent privilege as well as the ways in which Felix and Cassie’s class differences impact their friendship, home lives, and futures. Ages 13–up. Agent: Patrice Caldwell, New Leaf Literary. (July)