RISING FROM THE ASHES: Los Angeles, 1992. Edward Jae Song Lee, Latasha Harlins, Rodney King, and a City on Fire (Norton Young Readers; hardcover & eBook, April 2, 2024; Ages 12+; 9781324030904)

Paula Yoo’s latest is a compelling, nuanced account of Los Angeles’s 1992 uprising and its impact on its Korean and Black American communities.

On April 29, 1992, following the acquittal of four police officers charged with the beating and arrest of Rodney King and the earlier killing of teenager Latasha Harlins, the city of Los Angeles erupted in violence. Many of these events were centered on the city’s Koreatown, where tensions between the Black and Korean American communities had simmered for years, fueled by economic challenges and redlining and enflamed by sensationalized and racist media. Based on more than 100 personal interviews, Rising from the Ashes follows these events through the eyes and experiences of the families of King, Harlins, shooting victim Edward Jae Song Lee, and dozens of business owners, journalists, police officers, firefighters, activists, and other community members.

Deeply researched and compulsively readable, this is a vivid, propulsive, and moving story of a pivotal moment in recent American history that continues to resonate today. (PUBLICATION DATE: April 2, 2024)

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PRESS RELEASE CREDIT: Paula Yoo, June 27, 2023

From award-winning author Paula Yoo, comes FROM A WHISPER TO A RALLYING CRY: The Killing of Vincent Chin and the Trial that Galvanized the Asian American Movement by Paula Yoo (Norton Young Readers; on-sale April 20, 2021; Ages 12+; 9781324002871)—a groundbreaking portrait of Vincent Chin and the case that took America’s Asian American community to the streets in protest of injustice.

Extensively researched from court transcripts and interviews with key case witnesses—many speaking for the first time—Yoo has crafted a suspenseful, nuanced, and authoritative portrait of a pivotal moment in Civil Rights history, and a man who became a symbol against hatred and racism.

In this current climate of civil unrest and a country confronting a history of deeply rooted systemic racism, the story of Vincent Chin is as important now as ever. With Asian Americans being singled out and racist incidents on the rise during the COVID-19 pandemic, the story of Vincent Chin’s killing and its aftermath is incredibly timely, presenting an important learning moment for teen readers and adult audiences alike. Asian American history is often overlooked and undertaught in schools, and Vincent Chin’s name remains relatively unknown despite making national and international headlines at the time. Now, almost 40 years later, it’s time to remember Vincent Chin and the significant role his case played in American history.

FROM A WHISPER TO A RALLYING CRY (SUMMARY)

America in 1982. Japanese car companies are on the rise and believed to be putting American autoworkers out of their jobs. Anti–Asian American sentiments simmer, especially in Detroit. A bar fight turns fatal, leaving Vincent Chin—a Chinese American man—beaten to death at the hands of two white men, autoworker Ronald Ebens and his stepson Michael Nitz. This is a searing examination of the killing and the trial and verdicts that followed. When Ebens and Nitz pled guilty to manslaughter and received only a $3,000 fine and three years’ probation, the lenient sentence sparked outrage in the Asian American community. This outrage galvanized the Asian American movement and paved the way for a new federal civil rights trial of the case—the first on behalf of an Asian American.

Paula Yoo is an award-winning author of children’s and Young Adult books, a former journalist, and current screenwriter who has merged her talents to create thoroughly researched and reported nonfiction books, but with the intensity of a suspense movie thriller, and the intimate emotional character journey of a novel. As a Korean American who’s specialized in multicultural Asian American themed children’s books and having lived in Detroit working as a journalist for The Detroit News, Yoo examines the controversial racial issues behind the Vincent Chin story with sensitivity, authority, and grace in the award-winning FROM A WHISPER TO A RALLYING CRY: THE KILLING OF VINCENT CHIN AND THE TRIAL THAT GALVANIZED THE ASIAN AMERICAN MOVEMENT. The paperback version of FROM A WHISPER TO A RALLYING CRY with a teacher’s guide will be released August 21, 2023. Yoo’s next book, RISING FROM THE ASHES: LOS ANGELES, 1992. EDWARD JAE SONG LEE, LATASHA HARLINS, RODNEY KING, AND A CITY ON FIRE, about the 1992 Los Angeles Uprising and featuring her personal, in-depth interviews with the Lee, Harlins and King families, will be published by Norton Young Readers on April 2, 2024. (Author photo credit: Jarod Lew)