From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry

This was beautifully written and researched. I knew a little bit about the case but not the whole details or the numerous trials. Definitely a new classic of civil rights literature.

Compelling and unfortunately timely! A few months ago I saw a twitter poll asking if readers had heard of Vincent Chin, and TBH the only reason I had was because I'd seen reviews of this (then-upcoming) book. It's unfortunately safe to assume a lot of teen readers won't have learned about this story in school, either. Anyway, Yoo does a great job of unpacking the sort of messy details of the legal case(s) involved but the heart of the story is the Asian American civil rights movement responding to the case. A great read for teens (or underinformed adults!) interested in history/social justice (I saw some reviews listing this as “true crime” which I guess...technically....it is....but the murder itself isn't exactly the focus of the story. So if you just want to read about murder this probably isn't your best bet.) There's a short afterword talking about the ongoing anti-AAPI racism of the COVID era, which is grim but helpful for readers who might not have been able to connect the dots.