When her mother takes her to a local temple to reinforce her cultural pride, she winds up with – the Monkey King of Vietnamese legend? He is very impressed with her strength, and soon has her skipping class and sneaking out at night to practice her skills. Thom has learned never to ask questions about the father she never knew, and is used to being a team with her mother – but this seems so potentially humiliating that it’s worth disappointing her mother. So when her mother spots the Culture Day flyer Thom had hidden in her backpack, Thom is horrified at her mother’s suggestion that she dress in traditional Vietnamese clothing for it. On top of that, she’s gone from being one of many students of color to being one of two Asian-American kids in her class. When she actually tries to play soccer well, instead of avoiding the ball, she knocks out the rival goalie. She’s recently become strong, so strong that she’s always breaking things like doorknobs accidentally. Eleven-year-old Thom Ngo’s mother has recently moved them from California, where Thom had friends and was a key player on the soccer team, to Georgia, where she has no friends, can’t play well, and there aren’t even any bubble tea shops close to their house.
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