On Dessie Mei Breedlove's first day at a new school in the middle of her sixth-grade year, who does she see? A classmate who looks exactly like her. As in: Dessie and Donna Lee have the exact same glossy black hair. The exact same brown eyes. The exact same cheeky smile.
A secret DNA test reveals the shocking truth: Dessie and Donna are identical twins, adopted from the same orphanage in China, then separated into two different families: one white, the other Taiwanese American. The Breedloves and the Lees.
Making up for lost time, the girls throw themselves into their newfound sisterhood, relishing every similarity. Cats or dogs (dogs!). Sweet or savory (both!). Favorite band (A2Z, duh!). But the small differences between the girls soon create tension...and when crisis strikes, Dessie must figure out who she is, where she belongs, and what it truly means to be a sister.
Justina Chen is the award-winning author of several young adult novels, including Lovely, Dark, and Deep and North of Beautiful, With Twice the Love, Dessie Mei is middle grad debut. While her forever home may be in Pacific Northwest, Justina cherishes the feeling of homecoming when she meets bookish people anywhere and everywhere.
Website: www.justinachen.com
Insta/FB/Threads: @authorjustinachen
Q&A with Justina
What is this book about and why did you write it?
My beloved Mama—who we lost a few months ago—was such a beautiful force of community. I saw that in the way she embraced my two stepdaughters who were adopted from China into a white family. She scooped them to her heart. So when one of my dear friends told me in close conversation that she and her daughter—both adopted, one from Korea, the other from China—had never felt welcome in the Asian American community, well, that was a dagger in my heart. With the rise of anti-Asian violence, the need to write this story became urgent. We’ve become so good at calling people out at a time when we must be exceptional at calling people into community. That’s the heart of this book. I hope that every reader who picks up With Twice the Love, Dessie Mei knows with utter conviction at the Mama-level that: YOU BELONG.
What do you want to share with adoptees who wants to read this book?
I knew I was handling the most sensitive material in my entire writing career: adoption and adoptees. So I listened intently to the people I love most in the world who are adopted. I found a counselor who’s adopted and who works with a number of adolescent adoptees. She gave me an incredible reading list, and from there, I dove into abandonment and belonging, complex PTSD and attachment theory, identity-formation and community-building. It was important to me that adoptees were represented in my entire team: my agenting team to my editorial team, including my authenticity reader.
Reviews:
“Universal themes of identity and belonging radiate in this exploration of international, transracial adoption.” –Kirkus
“As a Chinese adoptee, there are 2 media representations in which I have felt truly represented. The first is the documentary ‘Somewhere Between.’ The second is WITH TWICE THE LOVE, DESSIE MEI.” –our very own Laney Allison, president & co-founder, CCI
“Dessie’s detailed first-person narrative moves quickly from one concern to another. A complex…interconnected web of emotional longing for supportive relationships, a growing sense that families have different cultures and approaches to problems, and a strong-minded determination to carry on Grammy’s legacy of working for social justice. An engaging middle-grade novel.” –Booklist
To get an autographed book with 10% of purchase donated to CCI, you can buy your copy at my local bookstore, Island Books: Justina Chen Signed Editions | Island Books
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