Winnie Zeng Unleashes a Legend

February 7, 2022
Chinese American Winnie Zeng, 11, a rising sixth grader at her Groton, Mich., middle school, has much on her mind: as if making new friends wasn’t difficult enough, her archnemesis David Zuo, who always bests her in Sunday Chinese school and piano, transfers to her school for “um, reasons,” and their rivalry soon generates a bake sale bet. But when Winnie unearths a cookbook that belonged to Lao Lao, her deceased grandmother from Shanghai, and makes mooncakes, she accidentally summons Lao Lao’s ghost, unlocking her own inherited shaman powers. To complete her training and join the Shaman Task Force, Winnie must defeat three spirits in succession, but the task seems less appealing when she discovers the other shaman in town. The narrative often relies upon well-trod Asian character tropes—the lunch-box moment, Winnie’s characterization of the Zengs as an emotionless “robot family,” and tropes relating to grades, money, and comparison—and pop cultural references are noticeably dated. Still, Zhao creates a fast-talking, quippy protagonist in Winnie, and the developing relationships and establishment of the shaman world allow room for deeper exploration in future installments. Back matter features recipes for mooncakes and red bean brownies. Ages 8–12. Agent: Penny Moore, Aevitas Creative Management.

February 15, 2022
Already overwhelmed with obligations, an 11-year-old Chinese American girl reluctantly answers the call for a hero. Fueled by parental expectations, Winnie has always strived to be the best. It doesn't help that her rival, David Zuo, bested her (again) at their last piano competition and has transferred to her public middle school from his fancy private one. As if things couldn't get worse, Winnie is still grieving the fact that her once-close relationship with her older sister, Lisa, has turned antagonistic. When the sixth grade homerooms hold a bake sale competition, Winnie finds her grandmother's old cookbook and bakes a batch of mooncakes. Taking a bite, she unwittingly unlocks both her shaman powers and the spirit of Lao Lao, her late maternal grandmother. The jampacked story reveals that Winnie is a descendant of a line of shamans who must train with Lao Lao to capture malevolent spirits before they grow more powerful and wreak chaos in the human world. As Winnie navigates demon-possessed teachers, conflict in family relationships, and academic pressures, Zhao provides space for her to sincerely question whether she can handle it all and to discover nuances within her family dynamics. The exact parameters governing the spirits' interactions with the human world are highly detailed, but the big picture feels hazy; a hinted sequel may provide more answers. An ambitious fantasy outing. (recipes) (Fantasy. 9-12)

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April 15, 2022
Grades 5-8 Groton, Michigan, is supremely boring--at least, that's what 11-year-old Winnie Zeng thinks, until she learns that the town houses a passage to the spirit realm and that it's her task as a shaman to keep the human world safe. This information is dumped on her by the ghost of her grandmother, Lao Lao, a former shaman whom Winnie accidentally summoned. All Winnie wanted was to get through sixth grade, but now she must balance her schoolwork, her piano practice, her shaman training, and her parents' expectations to make it through the year alive and stop the spirit attacks that seem to be building toward a grand event during the Mid-Autumn Festival. Pop-culture references feature heavily as Winnie grapples with what it means to be a hero. Her fear of never being enough--for her parents; for her older sister, who no longer wants anything to do with her; for her grandmother, who acts as her guide and mentor--drives her actions in ways that are realistic and relatable. A fun, fast-paced fantasy with heart.

COPYRIGHT(2022) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.