a terrific book of YA non-fiction. I saw Gene Yang recommend it on Twitter and I wasn't disappointed. Vital for libraries across the country, as well as a good selection for classrooms.

I always enjoy YA nonfiction because it gets to the meat of the story. I’ll admit I had never heard of Vincent Chin until I read this book. It was filled with tons of facts, along with background information about the auto industry, and it was something I found fascinating. I could’ve done without the Jarrod storyline sprinkled in, but I loved how the author tied in current events at the end. A great example of AAPI representation and one I will surely add to my classroom library!

Nonfiction about Asian Americans is hard to find, let alone about Vincent Chin. A very timely and accessible work of nonfiction, with appeal for both adults and teens.

Reading this felt like grieving for a loved one even though I never knew Vincent Chin. I've known about Vincent Chin for almost a decade now, having first learned about him during my undergrad years, but this is my first time finding out about a lot of the nitty-gritty details of his death and the trials that followed. Reading the multiple witness testimonies describing the scene of his beating really broke me. It hurt a lot to read this, but remembering that we are undergoing a revival of Asian American activism gives me hope.

This was such a heartbreaking story to read. Im most hurt at how this could have not only happened to him, but also how the trial played out. But truthfully, I'm not suprised at the outcome. What he, his mother and the rest of his community dealt with throughout the entire ordeal was just wrong on so many levels.

I had only briefly heard of Vincent Chin before reading this book. I enjoyed learning about him. The book was hard to walk away from and stirred many emotions in me.

I struggle with the rating for this book because while I really enjoyed learning about Vincent Chin, the book really dragged with reviewing the case. I'm sure the dragging was synonymous with the criminal justice system in the United States but still, there were parts in this book that I could've done without.

This true crime examination of the wrongful murder of Vincent Chin, a young Asian American attempting to live the American dream in Detroit. We follow the events that led up to Vincent Chin's murder to the LONG trajectory his case went through for his family to receive some justice. We follow the case as it moves through multiple barriers - gaining traction in the AAPI community, gaining allies, navigating the criminal justice system, etc - and how Chin's case sparked a social justice movement.

I think this book is very important and a timely read for the current hate crimes that the AAPI community is experiencing. But, I'm not sure if this book is for the YA genre. I think there were maybe two sections in the book where the author attempted to connect present-day family members to Vincent Chin's but I seriously could've done without that; it just felt like an afterthought. Overall this was a quick and easy (at times) read but I'm still torn on who this book is for.
Thank you to Paula Yoo, WW Norton and Co, and Netgalley for gifting me with this advanced reader's copy in exchange for my honest review.

June 2012. Jarod Lew came face to face with his past, a past that he never knew existed. Eventually he would uncover a thirty-year-old family secret.
June 1982. Vincent Chin was sitting in front of a McDonalds when he was bludgeoned with a baseball bat. Days later, he died of massive brain injuries.
Yoo's narrative introduces several seemingly unconnected individuals and brilliantly interweaves their life stories. Jarod Lew wanted to understand his past. Vikki Wong fought for justice after the violent death of her son. Detroit auto workers Ronald Ebens and Michael Nitz worried about job security when Toyota, Datsun, and Honda began to dominate the car market.
Vincent Chin's life and death is the common factor that connects these people. It is a real life drama: a heinous hate crime and the resulting mobilization of the Asian American community.

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​Born in China, Chin was adopted and raised by Asian American parents. To celebrate his upcoming marriage to Vikki Wong, Chin went with friends to a strip club. At the club’s bar he traded insults with Ebens and Nitz. When words escalated to a fight and a smashed chair, all were evicted by the bouncer. Vincent wandered Detroit’s streets and eventually sat down in front of a local McDonalds. Ebens and Nitz were driving around the area when they spied Vincent. Eben stopped, took a baseball bat from his car, and brutally beat Chin until his face was battered beyond recognition. Chin was taken to the hospital where he died days later.
A lengthy legal battle ensued. Initially Ebens and Nitz were charged with manslaughter but the sentence was reduced to probation with no jail time. The Asian American community was shaken by this verdict. They determined to no longer remain silent when faced with inequity and racism. Asians and Pacific Islanders united to protest, seek legal redress, increase media exposure, and join with other civil rights advocacy groups to combat overt and subtle forms of discrimination.
With excellent pacing and stunning detail, Yoo uses newspaper reports, court documents, and in depth interviews to recount events leading up to this tragedy and its long-term affects.
The work is well supported with extensive back matter: a detailed timeline, 311 source citations, numerous photos, and a bibliography. The author’s Afterward personalizes this defining moment in history and brings current events, especially the world wide pandemic into the equation. She suggests that reports of the virus have helped foster and exacerbate targeting Asians.
From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry: The Killing of Vincent Chin and the Trial that Galvanized the Asian American Movement chronicles a pivotal moment in the ongoing struggle for civil rights. It’s the story of a hate crime, the creation of the first pan-ethnic Asian American civil rights organization, and the genesis of the Asian Lives Matter movement. ​Compelling nonfiction.

When Vincent Chin was brutally murdered in Detroit by an auto worker and his laid off step-son in June of 1982, I had just finished my sophomore year of high school in the suburbs, where I was the only Japanese-American student and everybody seemed to assume that me and Kim the only Korean-American and Plato the only Chinese-American were all either related or interchangeable. My Japanese father, who was working in the auto industry at the time, died last year, and this is yet another thing I wish I'd had the opportunity to discuss with him. Especially now, in light of all the anti-Asian violence Trump instigated with his China Flu baiting. Paula Yoo's timing for this book release is impeccable. I like how she describes the local and national history leading up to the fateful event, which became the country's first federal civil rights trial in connection with an Asian American citizen, in addition to faithfully researching its personal, legal and political aftermath.

I was so sickened by Ron Ebens being sentenced to probation and a $3,000 fine for bashing in a young man's head over and over and over again with a baseball bat. And then all the more with the realization of what he meant when he told police officers on the scene "he shouldn't have done it". That Vincent Chin shouldn't have reacted to insults being hurled at him, that he should have sucked it up like he's supposed to. To quote Helen Zia, "it just goes to show just how ignorant white America is."

Talk about things I didn’t learn in school! Although marketed as a YA title, adults will similarly benefit from reading Paula Yoo’s comprehensive account of the 1982 murder of Vincent Chin, an event that remains little-known outside of Asian American communities. We hear not just from Chin’s mother and his friends; we also hear from community members and advocates of Asian descent and otherwise. Interestingly, Yoo includes anecdotes from the perpetrator’s circle, and the perpetrator himself, but ultimately leaves it up to the reader to make their own judgment. In light of current anti-Asian sentiment, FROM A WHISPER makes for an especially timely read, and an excellent introduction to a frequently minimized part of history.

I admit, I had no idea who Vincent Chin was when I read this book, but the author, Paula Yoo, is someone I admire and am colleagues with within the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators community. Though not normally a big reader of nonfiction, I chose to read this book, and am glad I did.

I am a teacher of predominantly minorities, and am not afraid to admit that as a white woman, I have a level of privilege in the United States. So I always try to hear my students when they tell me about oppression and injustice they experience. And though I was only twelve myself when Vincent Chin's life was taken in Detroit, it hurts to admit we are no farther now from prejudice and bigotry and hate crimes than we were then. The difference is, now people speak up, and they rail against crimes against Asian-Americans in the same way we see other minority groups railing against injustices, i.e., Black Lives Matter.

I can't review this book the way I would review fiction. What I can say about it is that Yoo presented this story clearly, in a way that allows the reader to learn about the death of Vincent Chin and its aftermath. It is a well-told, factual story, with many endnotes backing up Yoo's text from her extensive research. And as we sit here still in the throes of a pandemic crudely referred to by prominent politicians using what amount to Asian insults/slurs, I can't help but hope that people read this book and learn from it, and stand up to neighbors and peers who commit hate crimes against Asian-Americans and all other oppressed minorities.

Thank you, Paula Yoo and Norton Books for Young Readers, for keeping Vincent Chin's memory alive.

Thanks to the publisher for providing an eARC of From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry in exchange for an honest review.

It's difficult with books like these to separate content and intent from impact because ultimately while I think Vincent Chin's story and the implications of it on a global scale are important things to examine, I don't think Yoo did a good job of it here.

From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry turns the story of Vincent Chin and the impact of his murder into a YA piece and while I appreciate Yoo's intent, it wasn't well done. This is mostly just shelved as YA because we occasionally peak in on the son of Chin's fiancée, but I wouldn't even call it a framing device. It's more like an occasional after thought to justify this being YA. The story is also way longer and slower than it should have been to novelize everything and the narration is blunt and clinical and honestly, the whole time I was reading it, I was just wishing I'd researched Vincent Chin on my own instead. Everything good about this comes from facts and quotes surrounding the case and instead of making that more lyrical or more compelling to appeal to a new audience, this book bogs it down to try and turn it into a novel and it didn't work for me.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I was born in the late 80s so just slightly past when the last bit of these court proceedings passed. I still never heard anything about this story though. This book really touched my heart, especially in light of recent hate crimes against the AAPI population. This is an important book to read.

From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry by Paula Yoo is a compelling narrative account of the terrible event that spawned Asian American civil rights movement.

Overall, this book did a good job of relaying the complexity of the Vincent Chin case from the cultural context, the act itself, the trials, and its legacy, up to and including the racism surrounding the Coronavirus.

That said, this retelling was a slog. If part of the intent was to sympathize with the dragging of the justice system that ultimately failed by being slowly dragged through the process, then it succeeds. I don't see a YA audience going for this. I dont see other 40 somethings like myself going for this.

I am also not sure how this is YA. There is an occasional parallel story drawn about the son of Vincent's former fiancee. It was distracting more than enlightening and the story arc never was completed.

My take away is to seek out the documentaries mentioned and / or shorter video clips to incorporate into lessons on the economic changes in cities like Detroit in the 70s and 80s. If anyone has opinions or sources on those, let me know!!

Thank you to Paula Yoo, WW Norton and Co, and Netgalley for a free ecopy in exchange for an honest review

"From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry" is pretty heavy for a Children's Nonfiction book, but appropriately so. Building on "Every truth has two sides; it is as well to look at both, before we commit ourselves to either," Yoo compiled a narrative of VIncent Chin's story (and beyond) from numerous vantage points, including those of the men who pled guilty to his death. The end product is a book as heartbreaking as it is detailed. The story follows Chin's story from his childhood, the local court, the local federal court, and its legal end in appeals court. Additional context is provided for how Lily Chin lived the rest of her life on earth, an update on the guilty party, and how Vincent's story led to changes in the legal system. The courtroom drama portion of the book may turn off younger readers, but the narrative spared from inline footnotes made it more compelling to me. I received a free electronic copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

After reading 'from a whisper to a rallying cry', one thing stands out to me: Even after 40 years, Vincent Chin's case is still very much present in the world, the hate is still here and unforgivably living.
This book gave me a part of American/world history I didn't know. And showed me that I need to look harder at the world and history & today.
This book was a perfectly unbiased read; it made sure you felt the heartbreak of the case and that you knew everyone from Lily Chin to Eben were human, and it gave their sides and the facts. No one can claim it was biased or that it affected their opinion in this case. It, in the end, left me heartbroken.

Little note: I will be requesting my store and stores surrounding me to get this book. The hate and harassment that Asians in the world had to experience during the pandemic were awful, and I hope that many can read this and realize we must always fight for each other. We have to fight for the BLM, Chinese Muslims, and more.