One Tribe (Awp Award Series in the Novel)
Galang infuses her novel about Filipino Americans with a sense of urgency by crafting it around the lives of a group of troubled teenagers struggling to find their way in both their ethnic and geographic communities. Their parents are determined to keep the teens tied to tradition and have enlisted the aid of drama teacher Isabel Manalo to provide instruction on Filipino history. But Isabel has her own demons and finds herself conflicted over how to address the needs of her students while respecting their parents' demands. As the teens become more embroiled in gang violence, she is forced to make tough decisions about how best to help them. Ultimately, she must show them how to craft their own solutions, just as she must find a way to discover her true self. The danger teens face and the concern Galang expresses are real, and she demands that readers acknowledge just how difficult it can be to straddle two ways of life while seeking your own place in the world.Colleen MondorCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved