The leavers

By Lisa Ko

Subjects: Self-actualization (Psychology), Fiction, cultural heritage, Illegal aliens -- Fiction, Mothers and sons, Chinese americans, fiction, Deportation, Fiction, family life, Deportation -- Fiction, Self-actualization (Psychology) -- Fiction, Mothers and sons -- Fiction, New York Times reviewed, Fiction, Illegal aliens, Children of illegal aliens, Children of illegal aliens -- Fiction, Mothers and sons, fiction

Description: "One morning, Deming Guo's mother, an undocumented Chinese immigrant named Polly, goes to her job at the nail salon and never comes home. With his mother gone, eleven-year-old Deming is left with no one to care for him. He is eventually adopted by two white college professors who move him from the Bronx to a small town upstate. Set in New York and China, the Leavers is the story of how one boy comes into his own when everything he's loved has been taken away--and how a mother learns to live with the mistakes of her past"--