Breakaway

Dave Jenkinson is a professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Manitoba and the author of the “Portraits” section of Emergency Librarian.

Set in the Depression-ridden Vancouver of 1932, Yee’s first
young-adult novel effectively utilizes the enduring adolescent theme of
identity, while exposing readers to historical, yet contemporary, social
issues. Though the book’s title could refer to a scoring opportunity
in soccer, a sport in which 18-year-old Kwok-Ken Wong, a
first-generation Chinese-Canadian, excels, it more aptly indicates
Kwok’s ardent desire to escape both his Chinese heritage and his
immigrant father’s expectation that he eventually take over the
family’s debt-ridden farm.

Kwok and his older sister, Ying, are the only Chinese students in their
all-white high school and are friendless. In one pivotal day at school,
a helpless Kwok twice feels racism’s harshest stings. Not only is the
academically well-qualified Kwok denied the scholarship he requires for
university tuition, but he is also dropped from the city’s all-star
soccer team because he is a “Chinaman.” Kwok’s mother, determined
that her son secure a better life via a university education, is
prepared to marry daughter Ying to a Chinese businessman in order to
secure the “bride money.” When another financial alternative—in
the form of a wealthy white land developer—presents itself, Kwok
unsuccessfully tries to persuade his father to sell their farm.
Ultimately, by playing on Vancouver’s Chinese soccer team against
Caucasian teams, Kwok discovers who he really is and learns that his
identity can include both his cultural roots and his father’s values.
A good read for students in Grades 6 to 10.