Asian American Literature Fans

A Review of Patti Kim’s I’m Ok (Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2018)
By Stephen Hong Sohn

Wow, it’s been a busy quarter, but I’ve managed to sneak in the occasional reading. I picked up this one because I was very excited by Patti Kim’s next publication. I remember being absolutely floored by Kim’s A Cab Called Reliable, a very slim narrative that yet packed a very big punch. I’m Ok takes a slightly different tack through its focus on middle grade readers. When I first read the title, I actually had misread it, thinking that it was something like “I’m Okay.” The cover shows someone roller skating, and the image seems to suggest that the main character has fallen. This image is perhaps why I misread it. Being of Korean background, I later quickly understood that Ok is actually the name of the protagonist. Growing up, I recall two brothers who had the last name of Ok, so there was already that kind of baseline familiarity with this surname.

In any case, B&N provides a basic scaffolding of the plot: “Ok Lee knows it’s his responsibility to help pay the bills. With his father gone and his mother working three jobs and still barely making ends meet, there’s really no other choice. If only he could win the cash prize at the school talent contest! But he can’t sing or dance, and has no magic up his sleeves, so he tries the next best thing: a hair braiding business. It’s too bad the girls at school can’t pay him much, and he’s being befriended against his will by Mickey McDonald, an unusual girl with a larger-than-life personality. Then there’s Asa Banks, the most popular boy in their grade, who’s got it out for Ok. But when the pushy deacon at their Korean church starts wooing Ok’s mom, it’s the last straw. Ok has to come up with an exit strategy—fast.”

This description does give us one of the key, intriguing details of Ok’s desire to make money: he takes advantage of a unique skill: braiding! I am reminded of the fact that, as a kid, I was absolutely enthralled by the variations I saw in braiding, so I immediately took a liking to this resourceful Ok, who would use any skill necessary to help out his mother. The problem that the novel sets up is Ok’s feelings of abandonment. His father’s death leaves not only a huge hole in his life, but also makes him wary of his mother’s growing attention to the deacon. Ok’s desire to ensure that he will be able to live a life without his mother, who seems to be drifting away from him (at least from his perception) leads him to fundraise for a tent that will allow him to live in a location that holds great personal meaning to him.

The uplifting thing about this novel is the deft way that Kim is able to develop the side characters: both Mickey and Asa turn out to be very different than how they are painted in their first scenes with Ok. In this sense, Kim grants Ok a larger berth for the community that the readers know he needs even if he himself has not yet realized it. In this way, you’re rooting for Ok to find a way out of his predicament and to reconsider his approach to all the people in his life, if only to face the possibility that there may be a brighter future than he ever expected. As I’ve read further into the children’s literature genres, I’ve been especially happy with books like this one because I don’t recall ever reading about a single Korean American character. It’s certainly a new age, and we’re lucky that Kim has contributed such a spritely addition to the growing pantheon of children’s Asian American literatures!

Buy the Book Here!

Review Author: Stephen Hong Sohn
Review Editor: Gnei Soraya Zarook

If you have any questions or want us to consider your book for review, please don’t hesitate to contact us via email!
Prof. Stephen Hong Sohn at ssohnucr@gmail.com
Gnei Soraya Zarook, PhD Student in English, at gzaro001@ucr.edu