Nothing but the Truth (and a few white lies) by Justina Chen Headley

Headley, Justina Chen. 2006. Nothing but the Truth (and a few white lies). New York: Little Brown and Company. ISBN 0316011282

Summary
Patty Ho is fourteen, extremely tall, has a difficult mother, a popular brother, and doesn't fit in. Anywhere. Since her mother is from Taiwan and her father is white, Patty doesn't feel Taiwanese or white. "It's as if God cruised through one of those Chinese fast-food buffets and bought Abe the full meal deal so he can pass for Mama's beloved son. When it came to my turn, all that was left was one of those soggy egg rolls that doesn't qualify as real Chinese food (Headley, 2006 p. 21)." Patty's brother is off to Harvard in the fall, and Patty's Taiwanese mother is determined that Patty will excel. So Patty gets sent to math camp at Stanford. During her first extended trip away from home Patty will make new friends, have her first kiss, and learn the truth about her family.

Analysis
At the beginning of this book the character of Patty's mother seemed very stereotypical. Her character speaks in short sentences with few pronouns. "You need, you need. When I was little, we so poor even though my father was a dentist. But who could pay him? Not with money (Headley, 2006. p. 12)." She brags about her son getting into Harvard and puts pressure on Patty to succeed academically. But Patty's mother turns out not to be stereotypical at all. Patty imagines that her parent's divorce is her mother's fault. Patty imagines that her mother drove her father away but that is not what happened. Patty's mother left and took her children because Patty's father is abusive. We also find out that Patty's grandparents disowned Patty's mother for marrying a white man. Patty's mother is not the stereotypical docile Chinese woman.

Patty's mother was the only character that bordered on a caricature, the other characters seem true to life. Patty and her friends seem like normal teenage girls. Patty's struggles with being mixed come across as very genuine. When Patty learns the truth about her mother and father, it gives her permission to embrace her Taiwanese heritage and it doesn't seem contrived. This book was very funny. I recommend it.

Connections
For compare and contrast this book could be paired with The House you Pass on the Way by Jacqueline Woodson, or Mexican White Boy by Matt de la Pena.
This book could also be paired with biographies of famous people of mixed heritage like Tiger Woods or Barack Obama.

Review Excerpts
In School Library Media Connection, Shelley Glantz says, "Following an incident of racial discrimination where a fellow student spits upon her, she continues to struggle with the stereotypes forced upon her by her classmates. Her over-protective, overlypushy
mother forces her into attending a summer math camp at Stanford where she meets
others from similar situations, many of whom have found ways of coping."

School Library Journal says, " This novel is a mostly successful exploration of teen "hapa" (half white, half Asian) life and the struggles unique to those who live between two distinct cultures. High school sophomore Patty Ho feels like she doesn't fit in anywhere: in her family, she is a distant second to her older brother; she sometimes feels out of place among her white friends; and she is decidedly concerned about fitting in a the math camp that she's getting ready to attend.

Works Cited
Glantz, Shelley. 2007. "Nothing but the Truth (and a Few White Lies)." Library Media Connection 25, no. 4: 75-75. Academic Search Complete database. Last accessed July 30, 2009.

Headley, Justina Chen. 2006. Nothing but the Truth (and a few white lies). New York: Little Brown and Company.

Pattee, Amy S. 2006. "Nothing but the Truth (and a Few White Lies)." School Library Journal 52, no. 7: 104-104. Academic Search Complete database. Last accessed July 30, 2009.