Making Friends with Billy Wong

A powerful story set in small-town Arkansas in 1955 that illuminates the unrest surrounding the arrival of Chinese immigrants in the segregated south.

Azalea is not happy about being dropped off to care for Grandmother Clark. Paris Junction is nothing like her Texas hometown. And now she’s been thrown together with troubled Willis DeLoach, gossipy Melinda Bowman, and Billy Wong, a Chinese-American boy who has his own troubles. Billy’s parents own the Lucky Foods grocery store, where days are long, and folks aren’t always friendly.

Inspired by the true stories of Chinese immigrants who came to the American south during the civil rights era, this poignant story reminds us all that home is where our hearts reside, and that friends can come to us in the most unexpected ways.

Told from two points of view, this brilliantly nuanced novel delivers two unique perspectives: Billy Wong’s, rendered in clipped verse narratives, interspersed with Azalea’s emotionally expressive prose.