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Review: Uprooted

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Uprooted: A Memoir About What Happens When Your Family Moves Back
By Ruth Chan
New York: Roaring Brook Press, 2024. Comics. 285 pages.

In 1993, Ruth's parents tell her that her dad has found a new job, and so they will be moving from their home in Toronto, Canada back to Hong Kong. Ruth is apprehensive about the move. She loves her friends and life in Toronto, she isn't confident speaking in Cantonese, and her older brother is staying in Canada -- at a boarding school, so he can finish his senior year. Adjusting to life in Hong Kong is predictably difficult for Ruth. School is harder, the city is bigger, and she struggles to make friends. Meanwhile, her father is busy traveling throughout China for his new job, leaving Ruth without their nightly chats, and her mother is busy with her social life, now that she's back in her home country. How much can one 13-year-old be expected to endure?

Graphic novel memoirs have become a mainstay of the children's comics section, and this one will be especially popular. Ruth's story of migration is highlighted by memories from her parents of their own immigration from Hong Kong, and the family story of leaving China during the Sino-Japanese War. Filled with emotional depth and stories of perseverance, this story could easily feel really heavy. But Ruth Chan, who is well-known for her humorous picture books, adds a sense of laugh-out-loud humor that makes for a really complete feeling memoir. 


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