Summary from GoodReads:

Nea, a Chinese-Cambodian teenager, flees to Texas as a refugee from the Khmer Rouge regime when a miracle occurs. Although her family has been struggling to support itself, they discover that a wealthy aunt and uncle have managed to make it to America as well. Nea and her family rush to join their relatives and help run a Chinese restaurant in Nebraska. But soon Nea discovers their miracle is not what she had expected. Family fights erupt. Then the past – and a forbidden love– threaten to tear them all apart.

Dragon Chica follows Nea, an indomitable character in the tradition of Holden Caulfield, Scout Finch and Jo March, as she fights to save her family and herself.

My Review:

My review on Dragon Chica is split into two parts –  I & II.

I.  I did not like the first part of this book.  It was difficult to follow, some interesting choices of words brought home the reality that, even though this book is about an 11 year old girl at first, this is not a story you would want your 11 year old daughter reading.  That said, there were parts that were driven home to me.  The difficulty faced by an immigrant to the states to Texas.  The confusion people had with equating Nea, a Chinese-Cambodian with the Native Americans in school.  These are things that I normally would not have thought about, but the struggles were made very real and were laid out with absolutely no apology in the story.  While I understand that Nea, with all of her rebellion and acting out against her mother, her uncle and her aunt, might be construed as being strong I actually thought the strong one of the bunch was first, her mother and second, her sister Saudi.   Nea came across as being spoiled, willful and very difficult to like – which is the strongest reason I had for disliking the first part of the book.

II.  In the second part of the book things started to click for me.  Maybe it was the growing maturity of Nea, or the heartbreaking story of Saudi, or the revelation of a close secret.  With the turning of the tide in the story I was able to sympathize with Nea a little more, to understand how difficult she really did have it.  With that sympathy, to be fair, came also a mellowing of Nea’s character and, rather than just fight for herself, I began to see her struggling through her own issues to forgive as well.

Overall – Dragon Chica is a worthwhile read.  It’s a strong, powerful story and filled with intense, emotional pictures of Chinese-Cambodian immigrants. It also really made me crave Chinese food while I was reading it – the descriptions of the food were perfect and had my mouth watering more than once!

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from NetGalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”