The Way Home Looks Now

by Wendy Wan-Long Shang

From the award-winning author of THE GREAT WALL OF LUCY WU comes a beautifully written and poignant story of family and loss, healing and friendship, and the great American pastime, baseball.

Twelve-year-old Chinese American Peter Lee and his family always shared a passion for baseball, bonding over backlot games and the Pittsburgh Pirates. But when a devastating tragedy strikes, the family flies apart and Peter's mom becomes paralyzed by grief, drifting further and further from her family. Hoping to lift his mother's spirits, Peter decides to try out for Little League. But his plans become suddenly complicated when his strict and serious father volunteers to coach the team. His dad's unconventional teaching methods rub some of Peter's teammates the wrong way, and Peter starts to wonder if playing baseball again was the right idea -- and if it can even help his family feel less broken. Can the game they all love eventually bring them back together, safe at home?Acclaimed author Wendy Wan-Long Shang brings her signature warmth, gentle humor, and wisdom to this poignant story of healing and loss, family, and the great American pastime, baseball.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Sports, Middle Grade, Family, Realistic Fiction, Baseball, Death

211 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 28, 2015

About the author

My parents, who grew up in China, had no favorite books from their childhood to share with me, which left me to my own devices in the library. When I mentioned this to a friend, she was a bit stunned, and I understood this reaction. I certainly never felt deprived as a child, but as a parent, it's hard to imagine not having that link.

My own book is about finding the stories we discover about our families and how we are changed by them. I hope my book inspires its readers to find the powerful stories, both great and small, in their own families.

Reviews

[Jenna Gano · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very emotional throughout, never a permanent solution, but still draws you in until the end. Problems arise, and Peter believes baseball can help. My heart broke at the beginning, so very sad. Really hits home with its messages.

[Michelle Simpson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a heartwarming story of Peter Lee and his family. They share a genuine love for the game of baseball, but a tragedy changes the dynamics within their family. Peter tries to move forward by joining a baseball team. During this time he sees that they all handle their grief differently. This one was hard for me to put down once I got into the story.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this.

[Mady Dailey]

Review is from Books in Print http://www.booksinprint.com/DetailedV...

School Library Journal
( March 01, 2015; 9780545609562 )

Gr 4-6-Twelve-year-old Peter just wants his home to be the way it was before-before his mother stopped talking, before she started sitting on the couch staring at the TV, and before his older brother died in a car accident. Peter's father is a strict Chinese immigrant who stresses homework, emphasizes respect for authority, and forbids baseball. Peter's mother and siblings loved the sport before his brother died; now baseball is no longer played or even talked about in the family. Peter becomes convinced that the way to get his mother back is to join Little League and play baseball again. He persuades his father to allow him to play, but during tryouts so many children show up that another coach is needed and Peter's father volunteers. This stressful dynamic shows Peter a different side of his father, a man who is mourning his son, loves his family, knows a lot about baseball, and believes in fairness. Peter is a fully realized character, but the rest of his family and most of the players on his team fall flat. VERDICT Though the plot occasionally gets bogged down with too many side stories, this heartwarming story is still a worthy purchase.-Lisa Nabel, Dayton Metro Library, OH (c) Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

The review discusses Peter's father very well as a man who wants his children to succeed in their studies and be respectful of their elders. Throughout the book, Peter always tried so hard to get his mother's attention and just have a conversation with her. But with the loss of Peter's oldest brother, mom was always on the couch and never interacted with the family anymore. I had emotions of sadness and anger toward this situation while reading. Peter never gave up though and was always looking for ways to get mom to interact and talk with him and the family. He worked hard in baseball and got to know another side of his father when his father became his baseball coach.

[Gabrielle Schwabauer · Rating 5 out of 5]

[2023 review]
I liked this book even more on a second read and I'm upping my review to five stars. I disagree with my former self: I DID find elements incredible this time around. At every turn where the author had the chance to go for a cliche middle-grade Triumphant Scene, she dodges the obvious and goes for a difficult but more believable outcome. This is a rare sports story that doesn't just pretend to "not be about winning"--this is truly about the joy of teamwork, the joy of growth, the joy of the sensory experience of baseball. I mean, I was transported. Peter Lee and his friends love the chain-link fence between their fingers, the crack of bat on ball, the dust they slide through, the slap of a high five, the holler of a chant. Everything feels so gloriously immediate and alive, such that baseball itself becomes the story, not the outcome of a certain championship or game. I don't exaggerate when I say that this is the best sports story I've ever read. Baseball is the perfect lens through which to explore the pain of a family that has lost a member and the power of community to band together in the face of oppression or great suffering. This book manages to tackle racism, sexism, death, platitudes, generational disconnect, and insurmountable loss without ever feeling like it's taking on too much. I want to be a kid again and live in this book, just for a month or so, to play baseball with Peter. What a masterful story.


[2018 review]
No one element of this book stood out to me enough to rate it as incredible, but I'd happily pass it on to any kid. Several difficult topics were handled with nuance, and the author avoided easy answers or trite solutions. This book took me back to my own childhood recesses and ball games, afternoons with one hand sweating inside a leather glove, the slide of runner into base, the sound of kids yelling chants and rattling a chain-link fence. Simply put, this book made me miss baseball.

[The Styling Librarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Way Home Looks Now by Wendy Wan-Long Shang – Historical Fiction – Really enjoyed this touching book. To be released April 28th, 2015-

Book Talk: Baseball, can baseball save his family? That’s what Peter is hoping when he takes a risk. He learns more about his Dad and has a little hope for the future.

I appreciate when you anticipate something for an entire book and an author doesn’t really provide you with an outcome if it makes sense… Loved reading about lovely family that has a pretty happy life until a devastating event that changes almost everything. This book tears you up as you read the struggle Peter Lee has trying to communicate with his parents, recover from loss, and find a new direction for his life. Quite recommended.

[Esther | lifebyesther · Rating 3 out of 5]

GENERAL
- read for Battle of the Books club

LIKES:
- appreciated the ambivalent ending. Life is ambivalent, and I appreciate when literature reflects that.
- I don't usually like sports books, but this one used sports as a vehicle to discussing familial themes.
- As a Taiwanese American, I always love me some good Taiwanese American protagonists.

DISLIKES:
- There were a lot of micro-aggression comments that went unanswered. I wish those were addressed at least once, by one of the characters.
- The plot twist around one of the characters on the baseball team felt out of nowhere, and was distracting to the central story. It felt like a different plot altogether.
- The only reason why this was not rated higher was because I wanted more. There was so much room for richness and pathos and character development, but the writer didn't take advantage of it.

[Ananya :) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn’t really enjoy the book “The Way Home Looks Now” by Wendy Wan, because it didn’t really pull me in and make me want to read it. This book is about a boy named Peter Lee who has a passion for baseball, but when Peter’s mom becomes paralyzed she starts drifting further away from her family. Peter's strict dad affects his life a lot throughout the book, but when Peter joins the baseball team his dad decides to coach it. Since the dad and Peter had lots of time together they started bonding more and the dad changed his perspective a bit of Peter. If you are interested in baseball I think you will enjoy this book. I personally don’t think the author was successful because he didn’t really have any elements such as big shifts, etc. which engaged the reader in the book. I think you should read this book if you want to read a fictional book incorporating the social issue of women injustice.

[Donny Barbanente · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a mixture of inspiring and just a good book. It talk alot about how they overcome things and is just in general a good book. I hope someone takes the time to read this book because it is in fact a very good book.

[Yoo Kyung Sung · Rating 4 out of 5]

I appreciate how Wandy Wan-Long Shang's books portray Asian American, more specifically, Chinese-Americans and Taiwanese-American experiences as cosmopolitans in terms of describing Asian characters as members of transnational community. The Way Home Looks Now portrays stories of a young Taiwanese-American boy, Peter and his family. Peter's father who Peter calls Ba is a strict and conservative Taiwan-born man who is not that far from typical Asian fathers who are often portrayed in stores someone inflexible but rule-based. Peter has a big brother Nelson who is biculturally insightful and a baby sister, Laney. After his brother, Nelson, was killed by car accident, things are dramatically changed. Most of all, Peter's mom goes through heavy depression. She cannot play the active mediator when Peter and Ba face heavy tension. The story depicts several themes through great baseball connections. Team spirit, gender issues and even subtle microaggression are embedded in story. Ba volunteers to be a coach for the baseball team and participating games and facing issues to maintain the team gradually changes Peter and Ba both to be open for each other.

The story conveys universal themes in personal relationship, gender stereotypes, death, and school. However, Shang did great job to implement cultural connections and information while she challenges subtle social gaze of Otherness toward "Orientals" whose names and languages are different from their names-- " How do you say ' shut up' in Chinese? Is it chigng chang chong?" " p. 112. Ba brings up several cultural awareness. 1) How the nation of Taiwan started to be different from China 2) What Confucianism is and how it affect Ba for his transnational cultural ethos 3) Japan occupied Taiwan and Trainees Baseball team was born under Japanese influence 4) Even baseball play has different styles between American styles and Taiwanese styles 5) Even though Peter is an Asian (Taiwanese-American), he still should study about Asian history like Korean war

This book may inform the internal diversity under Asian-Americans. Touch of brief Taiwanese history and cultural ethos are applied in authentic ways while it doesn't make Peter as foreigner but enhance his being a member of "one of us" to audience like baseball creates “We” spirit for all boy characters and the girl baseball player, Erin.

[Madelyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I hate using the word "moving" because it's overused, plus I fear it will scare people off, but it's the right word so here I go: This book moved me to laughter (see? nothing to be scared of) and tears -- not to mention the places where my eyes stung but the wet stuff didn't actually leak out of them. This is life after a bad thing happens, where some people go on and LIVE and some people stop living, from the POV of a kid who is trying to figure out how to make everything (and everybody) work again. Baseball is center stage, along with Wendy Shang's deft observations of American culture, Chinese-American culture, and Middle School culture. FTW.

[Moira · Rating 5 out of 5]

You will cry, you will cheer, you will sit on the edge of your seat. And if you are like me, you will walk around the house with this book in your hand because you don't want to stop reading it just to get a glass of tea. This is such a realistic, sad, funny and heart-wrenching look at grief. Shang deftly takes you through the world or grief after the death of a 17-year old boy and shows how the family--especially the younger brother--manages to find a way to cope and forge ahead with life. And what an amazing, exciting tale of baseball (which as we all know is not usually anywhere near as exciting as hockey!). READ IT!

[Chalida · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another wonderful book by Shang. Peter, a 12-year-old Chinese American, deals with life after tragedy and watches how his family confronts grief. A beautiful portrait of family and baseball and life during the Vietnam War as a Chinese American. I love tenderly crafted Ba and the sacrifices he makes for his children. His evolution is subtle and warm. Shang captures the changing times of the 60s with women, immigrants and pick-up game baseball. Liam is re-reading because he loved so much the first time.

[Jacqueline · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is beautiful in every way. Peter's passion for baseball is artfully woven into a story of family, grief, and learning who you are. Peter is a character who will resonant with boys and girls alike. His complicated relationship with his father grows to a moving crescendo in this story. This is a book that kids, parents, and teachers should read.

[Hoover Public Library Kids and Teens · Rating 4 out of 5]

Publisher's Weekly sums this one up perfectly -- "A grieving Chinese-American family begins to find strength and healing through a shared passion for baseball in this warm, hopeful novel set in 1972."

[pati · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tragedy can really derail a person and it wrecks havoc on Peter's family. Great book - I really like Peter's father, Ba.

[Rodger · Rating 5 out of 5]

There's a difference between The Before and The After. It takes a few chapters to tell what happened and why home life has changed. The main character, Peter, is a 12 year old boy whose parents are immigrants from China and Taiwan. His dad (Ba) seems particularly old-school. He observes Chinese custom and the confucianist hierarchy of relationships (respect superiors) and doesn't play baseball with his children. "A man does not play the games of a child." p. 123. Peter was a middle child. His sister was seven and loves birds. His brother was 18 and in college.

Before, Peter was all about baseball. After, he didn't talk about it so much. Then, Peter caught a glimpse of his old life's happiness talking about baseball with his mom, so he made a wish: that baseball would make everything better (fix his family). He decided to go out for little league. The league needed one more coach. Of all people, Ba volunteers to coach.

I really enjoyed reading about the little league experience. It seemed a little bit like Karate Kid with non conventional coaching. I could really picture this dynamic. I liked how I could relate to both Ba and Peter.

Aside from home life and baseball, this book also gives some glimpses into its historical setting. Richard Nixon was President. There was a reference to talks of removing Taiwan from the United Nations in favor of China. This happened on October 25, 1971. The MLB went on strike, which occurred in April, 1972. There are references to the equal rights amendment and the use of the title Ms.

"'I don't understand these young people, trying to introduce some new form of address, when Miss and Mrs. have been doing perfectly well for centuries. It's nonsense if you ask me'...as far as I could figure, was meant to blend Miss and Mrs. What no one has been able to explain to me, though, is what Ms. is short for." Pp. 56-57

It was funny that there was a different "face book" referred to.

The cover of the book shows Peter in a red shirt. This is inconsistent with what Peter says on p. 48: "I never wanted to wear red again."

The end of the book has descriptions for seven baseball related pick-up games to play.

Content considerations: several instances of rude language, but no swearing. A 12 year old boy minor character talks about kissing a girl. Gender debate about who can play sports.

I noticed a couple typos:
"she says, in a voice that is supposed to her teacher's" p. 62 (missing 'be')

"The he begins hitting grounders to first." p. 106. (should be 'then').

[Jaclyn Hillis]

It’s the year 1972. Taiwan won the Little League World Series. The Pittsburgh Pirates won the World Series the year before, but now MLB is on strike. Peter and his family have always bonded over baseball, but when tragedy strikes their family, they have to find their way back to each other again.

“The world is messed up. But then, we have baseball. Baseball reminds us that there are still good and joyful things in the world, even when times get hard.”

Peter tries out for his Little League team, and his dad ends up coaching. His dad has very unusual coaching tactics and it was cracking me up. Peter wants more than anything for his mom to come to one of his games, but she is still paralyzed with grief and it’s so heartbreaking. The author did an amazing job showing how everyone was coping with their grief differently.

“Part of what I like most about baseball is that there are rules, and then there are mysteries and possibilities within the rules.”

I really loved the baseball parts of the book, and the team building. It was a ragtag bunch and they really came together by the end. Win or lose, they were a team. My favorite character was Aaron, but I don’t want to spoil anything with my reasons.

Baseball is truly a metaphor for life, how could you not love it?

Content warnings: car accident, death of a loved one, grief, depression, sexism, microaggressions

[Jennifer Bailey · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Way Home Looks Now is a deft look at the impact on a family when an unexpected loss of a family member comes to pass. Peter and his family are in shock at the loss of Peter's older brother, Nelson. A family once brought together because of baseball is now torn apart. Peter's father, Ba, volunteers to coach Peter's baseball team. This comes at a shock to Peter because he never even knew his father knew about how to play baseball. Though Peter doesn't get a shot to play on the top team, his father puts together a hodge podge team of kids that desire to play baseball. And as a twist, on this team is a girl named Erin. Ba is an excellent coach, completely accepting of his team–his whole team, and leads them to the championship game. Peter is the starting pitcher and Erin the catcher right under the nose of the bigoted, sexist coach of the opposing team. Peter realizes that his success at baseball is not the magic key that will bring his mother back from her depression, but it is the roadmap on sticking with someone even in the deepest, saddest moments of their life. Oh, Peter is a Pirate's fan.

[Paula · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really lovely story about how grief can affect a family, and the different ways they try to cope with it.
A love of baseball has been a common bond for Peter and his immediate family, with the exception of his father, Ba. So when tragedy strikes, Peter eventually tries to see if baseball can bring happiness back to his depressed and grieving mother. What he doesn't expect is that it will help him better understand Ba, and bring him closer to accepting his own feelings of grief and loss. There is no definitive happy ending, just the promise that things will get better
Although this novel is set in the early 70's during the Vietnam War, the war doesn't have any real bearing on the story other than as a source of disagreement between Peter's older brother Nelson and Ba. This family, whose parents are from Taiwan, apparently lives in a mostly white suburb, and there are some incidents of racist behavior. There is also a secondary storyline dealing with "women's lib" (oh, it's been a long time since I've heard that term).

[Nicolas G · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Way Home Looks Now:

The book The Way Home Looks Now is an inequality book which means that the actions showed in this book are unfair or uneven. This injustice is shown towards women’s rights that the main character experiences, Peter, a teenaged boy. Those people who like realistic fiction books about injustices and how people overcome issues to improve themselves as persons would like this book since it shows a lot of these cases. The author of this book is a woman called Wendy Wan-Long Shang and is really successful with her books' publications like The Great Wall of Lucy Wu. I think this book should be read because it is important to know that the world we live in has problems that we need to solve like how women deserve to have their own rights since it’s not fair to treat others differently when we are actually the same. We are all unique in our own ways and we should not be judged for that.

[Brittany · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so incredibly important, how did I not know about it?

Set during the Vietnam War and featuring an Asian-American family, I purchased this book for the diversity it would bring to my classroom (most of my students do not have experience understanding this cultural group).

This book was so powerful. It begins shortly after the tragic death of the narrator's older brother, the star of the family. The father is put in the domestic role (rare for the time and culture) when the mother falls into a very deep depression and withdraws from all activities and refuses to leave the home.

The older brother was a baseball fanatic and Peter, our narrator decides he's going to okay as a way to affect himself and his family.

The results of this experiment are profound, poetic and moving, and the last lines of the book with its connections to the game are just perfect.

[Cheriee Weichel · Rating 4 out of 5]

After his older brother's death, Peter Lee's mother sinks into a deep depression. Baseball was something the family celebrated together, so he concocts a plan to play baseball as a way of bringing her back to them. Whether it worked or not we don't find out in this book, but it does heal the schism between Peter and his father that was growing even before the tragedy.

I want to say I love this book but the truth is I only loved the last half of it or so. I'm tired of books where there is a death in the family. It's worse that the mother sinking into such a deep depression as a consequence didn't feel authentic to me. Perhaps it would feel authentic if there had been previous signs of mental health issues, but there weren't. As a parent I can't imagine ignoring my living children no matter the disaster.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was recommended to me because I was looking for books about sports to add to my classroom library. Purely by coincidence I began to read this on the Asian Lunar New Year. It was fitting.

It took me a little while to realize that what I was reading about was a family in trauma and a child trying to heal the family. It also took me a little while to realize that the father was also trying to heal the family. It's about trying to reconnect after a connection has been severed.

I really want to recommend this book to next year's class. I wonder if my reluctant readers will be willing to read this.

[Casey Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

The dad felt a little one-note traditional at times, but I'm not in a position to judge the accuracy of that, or whether the accuracy matters. And microaggressions are woven in well. All in all, an enjoyable read.

The surprise-the-player-is-a-girl moment is a little simplistic, though historically, it's not wrong. And do I really appreciate that the mom didn't magically come around.

Also, what's with the run of books I've been reading about dead siblings? There sure do seem to be a lot of them out there.

[Dohyun · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book “The Way Home Looks Now” by Wendy Wan-Long Shang, is a book about Peter’s life with a strict dad and paralysed mum. He joins a baseball team that the dad is the coach of and his relationship with his dad completely changes. I would recommend this book to people that like baseball and want to read a fictional book about it. But overall this book is not the best book because this book is way too obvious. There are no shifts, nor big events.

Edited by Nicolas

[Tompkins County Public Library Youth Services]

Powerful and moving story of how four Taiwanese-American family members deal with the loss of a child/sibling in the late 1960’s. I’m still thinking about these characters with deep empathy and compassion! Check out the great backyard baseball games section at the back of the book full of fun ideas for neighborhood games.

[Jaidyn Schoonmaker · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was an amazing book one of my all time favorites,by one of my
Favorite authors.I did find some parts kind of sad so I would bet recommend it to people that don’t like sad books. But other than that it is an amazing book and I love how he talks about Nelson so much even tho he isn’t around. So I give it over all 5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[Tiffany · Rating 4 out of 5]

This 2018 Sequoyah nomination is a great book but so SAD. It really has so much baseball I'd love to give it to some of my baseball lovers but then the whole rest of the story isn't one I'd normally recommend to those same readers. I'm just not sure there is a large audience for this book.

[Tiff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Moving story about a family and their love of baseball. Even through tragedy, baseball uplifts them through it all. Peter, 12 years old, learns to see his father in a different light. What a touching and heartwarming story. Highly recommended to all ages!