This novel is for “Little House on the Prairie” fans, but with a racial equity twist. Obsessed with the Laura Ingalls Wilder books herself in her youth, Linda Sue Park was Laura in her imagination. But in her imaginings, she became an Asian girl living in De Smet, South Dakota — a Chinese girl with some Korean blood.

Our heroine is 14-year old Hanna, whose Caucasian father moves them to the Dakota Territory after Mama died. Hanna is half Asian and in 1880 in this part of the country, is the only Asian in the community. Hanna hides under her bonnet as long as she can and when the students in her one-room schoolhouse first discover she is not White, all but one stops coming to school. The racism that Hanna confronts is largely autobiographical and Ms. Park weaves many of her true-life occurrences into her book. Hanna’s strength is sewing, something she learned from her mother. Her father plans to open a Dress Goods shop, but the community shows no signs of wanting to frequent an establishment whose owner has a “Chinaman” daughter. Painful yet funny, the reader will cheer for Hanna’s strength on every page.

This book received the Asian/Pacific American Award – Honor Book in 2021.