The Diamond Explorer
Kao Kalia Yang

Years ago. Kao Kalia Yang came to Dorset to meet with the Sister Wolf Books group shortly after her first book, The Latecomer, was published. With her were her parents, and everyone present was taken with the power and beauty of Kalia’s writing and appreciated her presence and that of her parents.

Since then, we at the store have closely followed Kalia’s subsequent books, as have many of you. She’s written more memoirs, children’s books, and now, a novel for young adults. The Diamond Explorer is based on her youngest brother, Malcolm. As the child of Hmong immigrants to the United States, he, like Malcom in the book, struggled to find his identity in the United States and to balance that with his life as part of the Hmong community. Does this seem a long way from your own life and experience? It may not be.

Throughout the book, I thought of my dad and his siblings, children of Polish immigrants. They were poor, as was Malcolm’s family. School was a particularly difficult environment. I remember my mother (but not Dad) telling me that when my Aunt Mary started school, she spoke no English. My grandparents, who spoke Polish exclusively at home, quickly began using English and attempting to ensure that their children could use it as well. I know that those children struggled to fit in both in school and in the broader community. My dad died many years ago, but as I read The Diamond Explorer, I thought of him and wished I could ask him about his experiences growing up.

As with all of Kalia’s books, this one is beautifully written (in her second language!) and sensitively tells a story we needto hear.

Give your child(ren) the gift of this book. Read it yourself, too, and have conversations about the immigrant children your kids encounter. It’s a great book, and also a great way to foster appreciation for diversity in your kid’s life—and yours!

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