Starred Review for Publishers Weekly

Headley makes an impressive debut with this witty, intimate novel about a self-described "bizarrely tall Freakinstein cobbled together from Asian and white DNA," trying to find her niche. Patty Ho, the 14-year-old narrator feels conspicuously out of place whether she is socializing with her white classmates or among her mother's Taiwanese friends. Headley immediately conveys her heroine's sense of humor when she opens with a "Belly-Button Grandmother" who tells Patty's future by probing her belly. When the woman predicts that Patty will marry a white man, Patty's distraught, divorced mother—who would like nothing more than for her daughter to meet a nice Taiwanese boy—sends Patty to math camp at Stanford University. Despite some misgivings, Patty there finds adventure, romance and a level of freedom and acceptance that she has never experienced before. Guided by her outspoken Asian roommate, a compassionate counselor and an open-minded aunt who lives near the campus, Patty begins to view herself in a new light—not as an oddball, but rather as someone who has inherited the best of two different worlds. Through lively, first-person narrative punctuated with creative word play, the author encapsulates Patty's ups and downs and traces her heroine's emotional maturation during the course of an eventful summer. Ages 12-up. <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">(Apr.)

ALA Booklist (Thu Jun 01 00:00:00 CDT 2006)

In a wisecracking, first-person narrative reminiscent of Gaby Triana's Cubanita (2005), half-Taiwanese Patty Ho calls herself "a Freakinstein cobbled together from Asian and white DNA." The 15-year-old feels as uncomfortable at school as she does at home, where her domineering Taiwanese mother subjects her to installments of the "Mama Lecture Series" e of which ends in horrified Patty's enrollment in Stanford Math Camp. To her surprise, she actually likes the brainy, spirited campers, who encourage her to celebrate her hapa (half-Asian) background and spur awakenings about both her intellect and her desirability (she upgrades from "ugly duckling" to "fiery hot chicky babe" by summer's end). Through a supportive aunt who lives near the camp, Patty also comes to a richer understanding of her tough but loving single parent. Headley lays on the empowering revelations with a trowel, and the stream of comic riffs, some of which miss the mark, slow this debut novel's pace. But Patty's contemporary, immediate thoughts about finding direction and relating to family have universal resonance, while her specific struggles will speak directly to biracial teens.

Horn Book (Tue Aug 01 00:00:00 CDT 2006)

Initial horror turns to happiness when, shipped off to nerdy math camp at Stanford, fourteen-year-old Patty Ho finds friendship, romance, her hidden math talent, and pride in her half-Taiwanese, half-white identity. Her strained relationship with her single mother also takes a turn for the better. Despite some wordiness that occasionally slows the pace, Headley's debut novel features a funny, believable narrator.

Kirkus Reviews

A tumble of words flows out of Patty Ho as she tries to figure out how to be 15, and half white, half Taiwanese, hapa , says her buddy Jasmine, the "Asian-ator." The gorgeous Jasmine is one of the friends she makes at Stanford's math summer camp, SUMaC, where she's sent, kicking and screaming, by the mother she's trying to escape. Patty doesn't quite know who she is, or who her white father was, or why her mother is so controlling, so humorless or so bent on embarrassing her. Brian, her brilliant math surfer dude TA, and Stu, source of first kiss and first heartache, allow her some enlightenment, but so do her mother's long-estranged artist sister and a box of family photographs that Patty's never seen. Through it all, Patty never loses her nervy bounce or her need to tell it all as it's happening. Great voice from a very promising debut. (Fiction. YA)

School Library Journal

Gr 9 Up-This novel is a mostly successful exploration of teen "hapa" (half white, half Asian) life and the struggles unique to those who live between two distinct cultures. High school sophomore Patty Ho feels like she doesn't fit in anywhere: in her family, she is a distant second to her older brother; she sometimes feels out of place among her white friends; and she is decidedly concerned about fitting in at the math camp that she's getting ready to attend. When she arrives at Stanford University, however, Patty starts to see her situation a bit differently. The good-looking Asian boy she meets on the first day just might meet her strict mother's approval, and her new roommate is someone who, Patty notes, "breaks all the rules." Just when she's starting to enjoy math camp, her domineering mother arrives and, convinced that Patty is spending more time having fun than studying, threatens to bring her home. There are some funny and thoughtful moments in the narrative as the teen undergoes significant changes in her feelings about herself and her family. The first 75 pages set up her situation at home and at school; they are both funny and telling. However, some readers might be disappointed because they can't see Patty back in her "real world," and how her life has changed. In spite of these drawbacks, Headley's voice is a new and much-needed one that shows great promise.-Amy S. Pattee, Simmons College, Boston Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Voice of Youth Advocates

Getting her fortune told by a Taiwanese "belly-button grandmother" (who feels up her navel) instead of attending the spring dance is just one of the joys of being Patty Ho, a covertly snarky "hapa" (halfAsian, halfwhite) struggling with her dual heritage. Patty's domineering mother is determined to make her a good Taiwanese girl. Gangly Patty, no "china doll," longs to be white like her long-gone father. When her mother mandates Stanford University's math camp, Patty resents being forced down this stereotypically "Asian" path, but being spit upon by a racist bully makes going anywhere better than staying home. To her utter astonishment, though, she loves Stanford. She gains some kickass Asian girlfriends, gets her heart broken by a Chinese boy, gets in some trouble, learns about her mother's past and sacrifices, and finally comes to appreciate the complexity of being hapa. Fans of rapier-wit heroines like Georgia Nicolson will lap up Patty's glib humor and lively narration, which infuse the story with energy. Not every reader will be charmed by her style, though, particularly her relentless, often irritating barrage of one-liners, which range from clever ("Stanford is Club Pre-Med") to juvenile ("Mama's wok and roll band"). Although humor is obviously Patty's way of distancing herself from painful feelings, it too often succeeds in also distancing the reader, masking the depth of a powerful story about identity and race. Neverthless those readers seeing beyond the zingers will find a compelling narrative, and a spunky, sympathetic heroine. The book should enjoy wide appeal.-Rebecca C. Moore.