What’s Eating Jackie Oh?
Written by Patricia Park
Published by Random House Children's Books
Jackie Oh is done being your model minority.
She’s tired of perfect GPAs, PSATs, SATs, all of it. Jackie longs to become a professional chef. But her Korean American parents are Ivy League corporate workaholics who would never understand her dream. Just ask her brother, Justin, who hasn’t heard from them since he was sent to Rikers Island.
Jackie works at her grandparents’ Midtown Manhattan deli after school and practices French cooking techniques at night—when she should be studying. But the kitchen’s the only place Jackie is free from all the stresses eating at her—school, family, and the increasing violence targeting the Asian community.
Then the most unexpected thing happens: Jackie becomes a teen contestant on her favorite cooking show, Burn Off! Soon Jackie is thrown headfirst into a cutthroat TV world filled with showboating child actors, snarky judges, and gimmicky “gotcha!” challenges.
All Jackie wants to do is cook her way. But what is her way? In a novel that will make you laugh and cry, Jackie proves who she is both on and off the plate.
Primary ISBN: 9780593563410
Publication Date: April 2024
Available As: Hardcover, Paperback, Audiobook, eBook
Young Adult, Age 12 or older
Community Represented: Korean/Korean American
Themes: Accolades & Awards: Starred Review, Cultural Empowerment & Joy: Identity, Discrimination: Racial, Family Relationship: Siblings, Format: Audiobook, Generation: 2nd, Own Voices/Lived Experience
Setting: United States (NYC/Bronx, NY)
Character's Place in the Immigration Journey: 2nd Generation
Book Creator(s) Connection to the Community Represented: Own Voices/Lived Experience
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