American Panda

Price: $11.99 - $11.17
(as of Apr 09, 2026 20:04:10 UTC – Details)

“Weepingly funny.” —The Wall Street Journal
“Delightful.” —BuzzFeed
“Charmed my socks off.” —David Arnold, New York Times bestselling author of Kids of Appetite and Mosquitoland

Four starred reviews for this incisive, laugh-out-loud contemporary debut about a Taiwanese American teen whose parents want her to be a doctor and marry a Taiwanese Ivy Leaguer despite her squeamishness with germs and crush on a Japanese classmate.

At seventeen, Mei should be in high school, but skipping fourth grade was part of her parents’ master plan. Now a freshman at MIT, she is on track to fulfill the rest of this predetermined future: become a doctor, marry a preapproved Taiwanese Ivy Leaguer, produce a litter of babies.

With everything her parents have sacrificed to make her cushy life a reality, Mei can’t bring herself to tell them the truth—that she (1) hates germs, (2) falls asleep in biology lectures, and (3) has a crush on her classmate Darren Takahashi, who is decidedly not Taiwanese.

But when Mei reconnects with her brother, Xing, who is estranged from the family for dating the wrong woman, Mei starts to wonder if all the secrets are truly worth it. Can she find a way to be herself, whoever that is, before her web of lies unravels?

From debut author Gloria Chao comes a hilarious, heartfelt tale of how, unlike the panda, life isn’t always so black and white.

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Publication date ‏ : ‎ July 2, 2019
Edition ‏ : ‎ Reprint
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Print length ‏ : ‎ 336 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1481499114
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1481499118
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1 pounds
Reading age ‏ : ‎ 12 years and up
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.8 x 8.25 inches
Grade level ‏ : ‎ 7 – 9
Best Sellers Rank: #732,211 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #579 in Teen & Young Adult Humorous Fiction #679 in Comedic Dramas & Plays (Books) #125,091 in Children’s Books (Books)
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