The Fold
When Joyce’s image-obsessed aunt Gomo offers to pay for surgery to make Asian eyelids appear more Western, the teen is unsure about going under the knife, even though she dreams of finally wearing eye shadow “without looking weird” and fluttering extrawide eyes at her crush. Her agonized decision making provides readers with the medical nuts and bolts, as well as a balanced look at the issues, with input from a responsible plastic surgeon, Joyce’s outraged older sister, and a peer who has already acquired “the folds” with no regrets. Though just as rooted in contemporary Korean American family life as Na’s previous books, which include Printz winner A Step from Heaven (2001), the author’s third outing is both lighter in tone and less multidimensional—a flaw that isn’t much aided by a hurried revelation about a family member’s sexuality. That being said, few teens exist who have not yearned for a quick-fix transformation, including many for whom surgery may be a real option, and they’ll welcome the solid facts as they, along with Joyce, ask difficult questions about the correlation between superficial alterations and genuine empowerment. Grades 6-10. --Jennifer Mattson