What's Eating Jackie Oh?

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A Korean American teen tries to balance her dream to become a chef with the cultural expectations of her family when she enters the competitive world of a TV cooking show. A hilarious and heartfelt YA novel from the award-winning author of Imposter Syndrome and Other Confessions of Alejandra Kim and Re Jane.

"Park’s novel delivers authentic characters who will make you laugh…and cry. Not to be missed!" --Ellen Oh, author of The Colliding Worlds of Mina Lee

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.

Patricia Park's hilarious and stunning What’s Eating Jackie Oh? explores the delicate balance of identity, ambition, and the cultural expectations to perform.

 
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# of Pages: 336

Book Binding: Hardcover

Year of Publication: 2024

Publisher: Crown Books for Young Readers

Language: en

ISBN: 9780593563410

Patricia Park is a Korean-American author and literary scholar known for her debut novel, "Re Jane," and her latest work, "What's Eating Jackie Oh?" Born and raised in Queens, New York, Park's writing often explores themes of identity, immigration, and cultural clashes. She received her BA in English from Swarthmore College and her MFA in Fiction from Boston University. Her writing has been featured in publications such as The New York Times, The Guardian, and Salon. Park is also a recipient of fellowships from Fulbright, the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, and the PEN Emerging Voices Fellowship. She currently resides in Brooklyn, New York and teaches creative writing at American University.