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Author | Marie Myung-Ok Lee |
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Language | English |
Genre | Young adult |
Publisher | HarperCollins |
Publication date | 1992 |
Publication place | United States |
Media type | Print ( hardback and paperback) and ebook |
Pages | 172 |
ISBN | 9780064472456 (hardback) |
Finding My Voice is a young adult novel by Marie Myung-Ok Lee (writing as Marie G. Lee). First published in 1992, Finding My Voice was republished in 2001 by Harper Trophy, [1] and was reissued in 2021. [2] Finding My Voice is generally considered to be the "first teen novel released by a major publisher with a contemporary Asian American protagonist by an Asian American author". [3] An excerpt from Finding My Voice was included in the anthology Prejudice: stories about hate, ignorance, revelation, and transformation [4] [5] and in Literary themes for students: the American dream: examining diverse literature to understand and compare universal themes. [6]
Lee's novel Saying Goodbye is the sequel to Finding My Voice. [7]
Finding My Voice is a frank presentation of the issue of racism through the experiences of Ellen Sung, a high school senior, who is the daughter of Korean immigrants and is attracted to Tomper, a white classmate.
Kirkus Reviews described it as "Honestly rendered, and never didactic, the story allows readers first to flinch in recognition and then to look into their own hearts." [8] Publishers Weekly's review said "If Lee's story line is somewhat familiar, her portrayal of her heroine is unusually well balanced." [9]
Monica Chiu states "Lee's novel exemplifies that some authority cannot be subverted by young adults, and that students are disadvantaged in fighting a system that is more powerful than they are." [10] Eve Becker, writing in the Chicago Tribune, says the book helps readers understand what it is like to be an outsider, but calls it "sort of predictable". [11]
The American Library Association named Finding My Voice the Best Book for Reluctant Readers in 1992. [12] In 1993, Finding My Voice received the Young People's Literature Award from the Friends of American Writers. [13] The International Reading Association placed it on their 1994 Young Adults' Choices list. [14] In 1997, it was on the American Library Association list of Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults. [15]