The Not-So-Uniform Life of Holly-Mei

Written by Christina Matula

Inkyard Press

978-1-335-42488-4

288 pp.

Ages 8-12

April 2022

Twelve-year-old Holly-Mei Jones knows she needs to filter more. After she costs her class a pizza party when she reveals cheaters–she also loves following rules–and loses her best friend, Holly-Mei might have despaired but she's still hopeful about turning things around. Then her mom announces that they are moving to Hong Kong and without Holly-Mei's dearest grandmother, Ah-ma. So off they go: her mom to a posting as chief operations officer for Asia-Pacific for Lo Holdings International; her dad, a prof, to a leave and an opportunity to write; and Holly-Mei and her eleven-year-old sister Millie to the prestigious and very expensive Tai Tam Prep. 

 

As they begin their new lives, Holly-Mei is confident that this fresh start will offer her unique opportunities, particularly in making friends. Fortunately the girls' cousins, Rosie and Rhys, and Aunt Helen and Uncle Charlie already live in the same building complex and the twins are in Grade 7 of the upper school along with Holly-Mei. Tai Tam Prep, with its own beach, sailing club, tennis courts, organic vegetable garden, swimming pool with retractable roof, and restaurant-quality caf–the food, oh, the food!–may be the school of the rich and famous but it's also where Holly-Mei hopes to find new friends. Among those she meets, there's queen bee Gemma Tsien, daughter of a toy factory magnate and a former film star; her sidekicks Rainbow Hsien and Snowy Wong, a YouTuber; Jinsae Kim; Henry Lo, of the Lo family of mom's company; his cousin Theo Fitzwilliam-Lo; and Dev Singh, a skilled field hockey player. But as she meets new people and works hard to fit in, she is reminded constantly by her mother that this is her opportunity to meet "the right people" and to always make a good impression. It's all about giving the family face i.e., honour and respectability.

"Guanxi, my darlings, is the Chinese word for connections, but it's so much deeper that that. It's not just knowing someone. It's about trust and loyalty. Opportunity." (pg. 113)

Of course, with her tendency to blurt things out and need to adhere the rules as she knows them, Holly-Mei has a few fumbles. Worse yet, they happen while she is working with a small group of her peers for a performance to celebrate the opening of the new Tsien Wing, named for its benefactors, Gemma's family. Holly-Mei is reminded of Ah-ma's Taiwanese saying ku jin gan lai which means bitterness finishes, sweetness begins, but she's starting to see that sometimes someone is "seemingly sweet like chocolate but bitter like raw cocoa." (pg. 125) Can Holly-Mei make some new friends, not alienate others with her unfiltered comments, and uphold her own family's standing in this new and very different society?

 

If you blended "Crazy Rich Asians" with "Mean Girls," you'd have The Not-So-Uniform Life of Holly-Mei. It's the opulence of a wildly wealthy community and the tricky family expectations experienced by a group of preteens trying to find their ways with each other and their families. The struggles of Holly-Mei and her peers may be familiar to young readers but set in the gloriously exotic Hong Kong, rich in architecture, history and culture, The Not-So-Uniform Life of Holly-Mei becomes an incomparable story. Many, nay most, young readers will not be familiar with affluence depicted but they will know about messing up, fitting in and pleasing their families. They'll know that things don't always go smoothly and sometimes they work out well and that how things turn out may or may not be up to them. But, like Holly-Mei, they have some of the means to make things right to move from bitterness to sweetness. 

 

This is Christina Matula's debut children's book and her "Author's Note" suggests she knows much about what Holly-Mei lives. Christina Matula's Chinese heritage comes from her mother's Taiwanese side while her father is European–Holly-Mei's is British, Christina Matula's Hungarian–and the opportunity to live abroad is part of her background. She brings that familiarity with being biracial and culturally diverse to Holly-Mei and several of her peers to help young readers understand the challenges of fitting in and being oneself while loving who you are as you are. Hopefully Holly-Mei will learn to grow into herself and be comfortable with who she is in possible later stories, as HarperCollins lists this book as A Holly-Mei Book: Volume Number 1, suggesting a sequel. Here's hoping we get to revisit Hong Kong and Holly-Mei and her family and friends soon to enjoy more tasty treats (two recipes append the story), take in a tourist attraction or two, and have some sensational fun.