runningjenw 's review for:

The Comeback by E.L. Shen
4.0

Thank you to Macmillan Children's Publishing Group and NetGalley for this digital ARC.

The plot of The Comeback reads like an 80's movie--in the best way! This is the story of Maxine Chen: a 12 year old sixth grader, a competitive skater, and one of the only Chinese people in her town. She works hard at practice, enjoys her friends, and does normal preteen stuff like watch YouTube make-up tutorials. But Maxine has to contend with a bully, a racist bully. While she works to keep his racist comments a secret, she also tries to alter her looks to make herself appear less Chinese. At the same time, the new girl in town is a better skater than Maxine. All of this adds up to more pain than a 12 year old should have to deal with. With the right amount of tension and triumph, this book had me feeling all the excitement and horror right alongside Maxine.