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Kween by Vichet Chum

Kween

Vichet Chum

HarperCollins · Hardcover · October 3, 2023

"Vichet Chum is a beautiful wordsmith and a fresh, welcome new voice in the YA canon.” -Jodi Picoult, #1 New York Times bestselling author A searing, joyful debut about a queer Cambodian American teen’s journey to find her voice and step into her legacy, perfect for fans of Ibi Zoboi and Elizabeth Acevedo.

YA LGBTQ+Immigration for TeensAsian American YAfamily
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Who it’s for
A verse-driven coming-of-voice story where family upheaval meets the courage to speak publicly.
Genres
YA LGBTQ+, Asian American YA, Immigration for Teens
Published
HarperCollins, October 3, 2023

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About this book

"Vichet Chum is a beautiful wordsmith and a fresh, welcome new voice in the YA canon.” -Jodi Picoult, #1 New York Times bestselling author A searing, joyful debut about a queer Cambodian American teen’s journey to find her voice and step into her legacy, perfect for fans of Ibi Zoboi and Elizabeth Acevedo. Soma Kear’s verses have gone viral. Trouble is, she didn’t exactly think her slam poetry video through. All she knew was that her rhymes were urgent. On fire.

Continue reading

An expression of where she was, and that place…was a hot mess. Following her Ba’s deportation back to Cambodia, everything’s changed. Her Ma is away trying to help Ba adjust to his new life, and her older sister has taken charge with a new authoritarian tone. Meanwhile, Soma’s trending video pushes her to ask if it’s time to level up. With her school’s spoken word contest looming, Soma must decide: Is she brave enough to put herself out there? To publicly reveal her fears of Ba not returning? To admit that things may never be the same? With every line she spits, Soma searches for a way to make sense of the world around her. The answers are at the mic. From debut author Vichet Chum comes a celebration of Khmer identity, queerness, and embracing the complicated histories that shape who we are and want to be.

Finding the Mic

A verse-driven coming-of-voice story where family upheaval meets the courage to speak publicly.

Come here for

  • A queer Cambodian American teen finding her voice through slam poetry
  • Family change and Khmer identity in the same emotional frame

Expect

  • Urgent rhymes and the pressure of a school spoken word contest
  • A joyful, complicated look at queerness, legacy, and belonging

Where it sits

Asian American YA51%
YA LGBTQ+42%
Immigration for Teens38%

Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.

Publisher categories

  • Coming of Age
  • Diverse YA Fiction
  • YA Stories About Parents
  • YA Sibling Stories
Show all 8 publisher categories
  • Asian American YA
  • Music Stories for Teens
  • YA Romance - LGBTQ+
  • Immigration for Teens
Authors
Vichet Chum
Publisher
HarperCollins
Published
October 3, 2023
Format
Hardcover
Reading lane
Coming of Age