Yoo follows her picture-book biography Sixteen Years in Sixteen Seconds: The Sammy Lee Story (2005), with a funny, contemporary first novel about a high-achieving high-school senior who struggles between her Korean parents' expectations and her growing desire to shape her own future. Patti, a self-described "B-tier violin prodigy" and class valedictorian, recounts her senior year, in which her first deep crush is a powerful distraction from college applications and her parents' stringent requirements for a "P.K.D." (Perfect Korean Daughter). Like the best comic writers, Yoo uses humor to illuminate painful experiences: "Why does Susan get to be called . . . dork or geek but I always get called Jap or Chink or gook?" Patti wonders. "I'd take geek over gook any day." The frequent lists ("How to Make Your Korean Parents Happy"), SAT questions, and even spam recipes are, like Patti's convincing narration, filled with laugh-out-loud lines, but it's the deeper questions about growing up with immigrant parents, confronting racism, and how best to find success and happiness that will stay with readers.

Patti knows that the only thing harder than calculus, or maybe mastering the cadenza from the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E Minor, is being a PKD, a Perfect Korean Daughter. The PKD achieves great grades, shines at extracurriculars and is devoted to her church but never complains or brags. Most important, the PKD never questions her parents' pushing her to get into Harvard, Yale and Princeton and become a doctor or a lawyer. Though witty, linguistically gifted Patti has a number of academic talents, her greatest joy is playing the violin. She knows she's not supposed to rock the Harvard/Yale/Princeton boat but, encouraged by her violin teacher, she applies to Juilliard. Now her dilemma is not her SAT scores or her grades, but how to hide her desire to attend music school from her academically oriented parents. The Clash, a jam session and a new boy at school encourage Patti to break from her PKD shell and see her social life and violin studies in new ways. Teens living through the pressure of college applications and questioning their futures will sympathize with Patti in this enjoyable, funny but not superficial read, which bears many similarities to Alex Flinn's Diva (2006). (Fiction. YA)

Patty's immigrant parents expect her to be a “P.K.D” (perfect Korean daughter), which means that between AP classes, violin, church and Ivy League applications, Patty gets little time—and less encouragement—to figure out what she wants for herself. When she develops a crush on a new boy and forms a friendship with him, her romantic feelings go unrequited but he does show her to think more broadly, encouraging her to take her violin teacher's advice and apply to Juilliard (her parents insist there is “no security in music”). While Patty is full-out nerdy, she has a great sense of humor, shown through interludes in which she posits her dilemmas as SAT questions or lists “how not to be a P.K.D.”: “Instead of translating Vergil's <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">Aeneid you spend two hours talking on the phone with Susan about how cute Ben is.” Yoo (<EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">The Sammy Lee Story) writes with particular fluency of Patty's love of music. Readers will appreciate, too, that the author does not demonize Patty's high-pressure parents: they may bark<EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC""> “HarvardYalePrinceton” at her but their love is never in doubt. An overneat ending doesn't significantly detract from a funny story that will hit home for many readers. Ages 12-up. <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">(Feb.)

PreS-Gr 2-Going to visit Grandma is always fun. In this book, it is doubly fun-in English and Spanish. The day begins with "Buenos d'as/Good morning." Suitcases in a corner of the bedroom and an airplane on a nightstand indicate a trip in the works. A brother and sister and their father leave their New York City apartment in a taxi, board an airplane, and fly over clouds and fields. They take a bus past pastel houses nestled among tropical trees until they reach Abuelita's casa. The soft, pastel shades of the realistic illustrations on full-bleed, full spreads create a warm, cheerful atmosphere. The art tells the story; the one or two words per page are more labels than narrative.-Linda Staskus, Parma Regional Library, OH Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.

Senior Patti Yoon is stressed. Almost every class period consists of Advanced Placement courses, and her free time is full of practice SAT tests, college application essays, and church youth-group meetings. She is co-valedictorian and has been the concertmaster of the Connecticut All-State Orchestra since her freshman year, even though her parents started her on the violin only because it would look good on her college applications. But this year is different. A cute trumpet player serves as the catalyst for change in Patti's life. She jams with a guitarist, sneaks out of the house for good clean fun, and does not complete bonus assignments. Patti finally grows a backbone and defends her Korean heritage. Patti's parents dream about "HarvardYalePrinceton," but Patti must decide if money equals happiness. What makes this tried-but-true tale of anxious-girl-finding-her-wings stand out is Yoo's interjection of humor and lightheartedness. Who knew that Korean Americans loved Spam? Like a food memoir, Yoo includes three recipes with Spam as the main ingredient. Chapters are interspersed with short comments under the heading "How to Make Your Korean Parents Happy" and finally end with "How to Stop Making Your Korean Parents Happy and Start Making Yourself Happy." Top ten lists, a realistic relationship with Ben, and her Korean American church friends keep the story genuine and appealing. Yoo successfully combines the readability of a chick-lit novel with a fresh coming-of-age story.-Sarah Hill.