About the Book
Lydia is dead. But they don’t know this yet . . .
So begins the story of this exquisite debut novel, about a Chinese American family living in 1970s small-town Ohio. Lydia is the favorite child of Marilyn and James Lee; their middle daughter, a girl who inherited her mother’s bright blue eyes and her father’s jet-black hair. Her parents are determined that Lydia will fulfill the dreams they were unable to pursue—in Marilyn’s case that her daughter become a doctor rather than a homemaker, in James’s case that Lydia be popular at school, a girl with a busy social life and the center of every party.
When Lydia’s body is found in the local lake, the delicate balancing act that has been keeping the Lee family together is destroyed, tumbling them into chaos. James, consumed by guilt, sets out on a reckless path that may destroy his marriage. Marilyn, devastated and vengeful, is determined to find a responsible party, no matter what the cost. Lydia’s older brother, Nathan, is certain that the neighborhood bad boy Jack is somehow involved. But it’s the youngest of the family—Hannah—who observes far more than anyone realizes and who may be the only one who knows the truth about what happened.
A profoundly moving story of family, history, and the meaning of home, Everything I Never Told You is both a gripping page-turner and a sensitive family portrait, exploring the divisions between cultures and the rifts within a family, and uncovering the ways in which mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, and husbands and wives struggle, all their lives, to understand one another.
From the publisher.
Activities and Events
Activity Tracker
Prizes will be awarded to students who participate in activities each semester. Each time you participate in an activity, record an entry in the activity tracker to receive an entry into our prize drawings. In order for your activity to count, you must provide a brief summary of what you learned or enjoyed during the activity.
Book Club
In Fall 2020, our campus community has the opportunity to participate in a book club for Everything I Never Told You. Book clubs will meet on different days/times to accommodate schedules. Can't attend a book club live? You can also join our asynchronous book club in Canvas.
Book clubs will read and discuss the book in sections, meeting four times. You do not need to read the entire book in advance of the first meeting, just the chapters that will be discussed at that meeting.
Meeting 1: Chapters 1-3
Meeting 2: Chapters 4-6
Meeting 3: Chapters 7-9
Meeting 4: Chapters 10-12
Sign up for a book club with the form below, indicating your meeting date and time preferences. You will be contacted once your book club is formed with meeting information. Each book club meeting counts as an activity in our prize drawing.
Content and Support for Our Programming
Please be advised that this year's title selection and the associated themes deal with death, suicide, mental health problems, bullying, and racism and other challenging topics. Programming may not be suitable for all audiences
If you would like to speak with a counselor after any programming or after reading the book and associated materials, please utilize the resources below.
- Penn State Harrisburg Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS)For currently enrolled Penn State Harrisburg students. Access counseling, crisis intervention, drug and alcohol counseling, and psychological services.
- Penn State University Employee Assistance Program (EAS)For Penn State employees, access free short-term counseling through Health Advocate as part of Penn State benefits. Counseling is available in person, by phone, or via email.
Contest
Public Service Announcement Contest
Everything I Never Told You deals with many important topics such as mental health, sexism, racism, and bullying. These are issues that college students deal with in their every day lives.
Let's raise awareness in our community about these issues and how we can prevent them, or get help if we are experiencing them ourselves.
How to participate
- Choose a theme from the book
- Create a poster (11x14 inches, PDF format) OR short video (30 seconds or less, MP4 format) to create public awareness on campus about your theme
- Highlight resources on campus that can help with this topic
- Fill out the form and upload your file
Important Dates
Submissions will be accepted from December 1, 2020 - February 1, 2021.
Voting, judging, and announcement of winners will take place in Spring 2021.
Discussion Questions
Use these question sets to reflect on your reading and prepare for book club.
Resources
Subject Resources
- National Alliance on Mental IllnessNAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, is the nation’s largest grassroots mental health organization dedicated to building better lives for the millions of Americans affected by mental illness. What started as a small group of families gathered around a kitchen table in 1979 has blossomed into the nation's leading voice on mental health. Today, we are an alliance of more than 600 local Affiliates and 48 State Organizations who work in your community to raise awareness and provide support and education that was not previously available to those in need.
Campus and University Resources
- Penn State Harrisburg Diversity and Educational Equity Committee (DEEC)The mission of the Penn State Harrisburg Diversity and Educational Equity Committee is to create and engage in activities cultivating a safe and supportive campus community that values diversity and fosters good citizenship.
Community Resources
- Greater Harrisburg YWCAThe YWCA Greater Harrisburg is dedicated to eliminating racism, empowering women and promoting peace, justice, freedom and dignity for all.
- Pennsylvania Diversity CoalitionThe Mission of the Coalition is to ensure resources are challenged equitably to positively impact historically and socially disadvantaged/ hard to place Minorities in efforts to become self sufficient through education, economic development, contracting, transportation, professional services and other business opportunities.
- Harrisburg Young Professionals of ColorThe YPOC was founded in 2016 to address the unique and specific needs facing professionals of color in Central Pennsylvania. Every decade more young professionals of color move out of than move to the Greater Harrisburg area. We empower professionals of color to identify the resources they need to thrive in the community, we create safe social spaces for professionals of color to relax and have fun! We stimulate growth and development for every member and the surrounding communities that they inhabit.
Further Reading
Fiction
Such a Fun Age by Call Number: PS3618.E5363S83 2019ISBN: 9780525541905Publication Date: 2019-12-31Alix Chamberlain is a woman who gets what she wants and has made a living, with her confidence-driven brand, showing other women how to do the same. So she is shocked when her babysitter, Emira Tucker, is confronted while watching the Chamberlains' toddler one night, walking the aisles of their local high-end supermarket. The store's security guard, seeing a young black woman out late with a white child, accuses Emira of kidnapping two-year-old Briar. A small crowd gathers, a bystander films everything, and Emira is furious and humiliated. Alix resolves to make things right. But Emira herself is aimless, broke, and wary of Alix's desire to help. At twenty-five, she is about to lose her health insurance and has no idea what to do with her life. When the video of Emira unearths someone from Alix's past, both women find themselves on a crash course that will upend everything they think they know about themselves, and each other.
Kira-Kira by Call Number: PZ7.K1166Ki 2004ISBN: 9780689856396Publication Date: 2004-02-01kira-kira (kee' ra kee' ra): glittering; shining Glittering. That's how Katie Takeshima's sister, Lynn, makes everything seem. The sky is kira-kira because its color is deep but see-through at the same time. The sea is kira-kira for the same reason. And so are people's eyes. When Katie and her family move from a Japanese community in Iowa to the Deep South of Georgia, it's Lynn who explains to her why people stop them on the street to stare. And it's Lynn who, with her special way of viewing the world, teaches Katie to look beyond tomorrow. But when Lynn becomes desperately ill, and the whole family begins to fall apart, it is up to Katie to find a way to remind them all that there is always something glittering -- kira-kira -- in the future.
It's Kind of a Funny Story by Call Number: Fiction V599iti 2006ISBN: 9780786851966Publication Date: 2006-04-01The author of Be More Chill takes a poignant look at teenage depression in this remarkably moving and authentic picture of the physicality, the despair, and even the hilarity of depression.
The Leavers by Call Number: PS3611.O135L43 2017ISBN: 9781616206888Publication Date: 2017-05-02One morning, Deming Guo's mother, Polly, an undocumented Chinese immigrant, goes to her job at a nail salon--and never comes home. No one can find any trace of her. With his mother gone, eleven-year-old Deming is left mystified and bereft. Eventually adopted by a pair of well-meaning white professors, Deming is moved from the Bronx to a small town upstate and renamed Daniel Wilkinson. But far from all he's ever known, Daniel struggles to reconcile his adoptive parents' desire that he assimilate with his memories of his mother and the community he left behind.
Non-Fiction
The Souls of Yellow Folk by Call Number: E184.A75Y38 2018ISBN: 9780393241747Publication Date: 2018-11-13The Souls of Yellow Folk does more than collect a decade's worth of cult-reputation essays--it corrals new American herds of pickup artists, school shooters, mandarin zombies, and immigrant strivers, and exposes them to scrutiny, empathy, and polemical force. In his celebrated and prescient essay "The Face of Seung-Hui Cho," Yang explores the deranged logic of the Virginia Tech shooter. In his National Magazine Award-winning "Paper Tigers," he explores the intersection of Asian values and the American dream, and the inner torment of the child exposed to "tiger mother" parenting. And in his close reading of New York Magazine's popular Sex Diaries, he was among the first critics to take seriously today's Internet-mediated dating lives.Yang catches these ugly trends early because he has felt at various times implicated in them, and he does not exempt himself from his radical honesty. His essays retain the thrill of discovery, the wary eye of the first explorer, and the rueful admission of the first exposed.
Articles
Recommended Podcasts
- Code SwitchWhat's CODE SWITCH? It's the fearless conversations about race that you've been waiting for! Hosted by journalists of color, our podcast tackles the subject of race head-on. We explore how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and everything in between. This podcast makes ALL OF US part of the conversation — because we're all part of the story.
- Asian EnoughFrom the Los Angeles Times, “Asian Enough” is a podcast about being Asian American -- the joys, the complications and everything else in between. In each episode, hosts Jen Yamato and Frank Shyong invite celebrity guests to share their personal stories and unpack identity on their own terms. They explore the vast diaspora across cultures, backgrounds and generations, share “Bad Asian Confessions,” and try to expand the ways in which being Asian American is defined. New episodes drop every Tuesday.
- Terrible, Thanks for AskingYou know how when someone asks "How are you?" you just say "Fine,” even if you’re totally dying inside, so everyone can go about their day? “Terrible, Thanks For Asking” is the opposite of that. Nora McInerny asks real people to share their complicated and honest feelings about how they really are. It’s sometimes sad, sometimes funny, and often both.
- Everything HappensLife isn’t always bright and shiny, as Kate Bowler knows. Kate is a young mother, writer and professor who, at age 35, was suddenly diagnosed with Stage IV cancer. In warm, insightful, often funny conversations, Kate talks with people about what they’ve learned in dark times.
Television and Film
Documentaries
- PBS: Asian AmericansAsian Americans is a five-hour film series that delivers a bold, fresh perspective on a history that matters today, more than ever. As America becomes more diverse, and more divided while facing unimaginable challenges, how do we move forward together? Told through intimate personal stories, the series will cast a new lens on U.S. history and the ongoing role that Asian Americans have played.
- America by the Numbers: Pass or Fail in CambodiatownAsian Americans are the best-educated and highest-income ethnic group in the United States. They are often referred to as the “model minority,” suggesting that all Asians are successful in school and in life. But Southeast Asian Americans have some of the lowest high school completion rates in the nation. We visit Long Beach, California - the city with America’s largest Cambodian community - to find out why this educational crisis is happening and what people are doing about it.
- The American Experience: The Chinese Exclusion Acthttps://video-alexanderstreet-com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/watch/the-chinese-exclusion-act/details?context=channel:pbs
- Breaking Big: Eddie HuangRestaurateur, author of “Fresh off the Boat,” and host of his own television series, Eddie Huang guides us through his unique path to the American dream. Through the eyes of a first-generation Asian American, the former t-shirt hustler turned business mogul tracks the influence of his family and the cultural significance of food that led to his ultimate success.
Television
- ABC: Fresh Off the BoatSet in the '90s, hip-hop loving teenager Eddie Huang (Hudson Yang) and his family have lived in Orlando for a few years now and are assimilating nicely into the suburban American lifestyle. Cultural differences still present everyday challenges, but close friends, neighbors and business partners are there to help them navigate the complexities of raising a family of future Millennials.
Film
- It's Kind of a Funny StoryAfter contemplating suicide by jumping off the Brooklyn Bridge, 16-year-old Craig Gilner decides to go to the hospital to seek help.
- The FarewellA bittersweet story about a Chinese-American woman named Billi caught between maintaining a shiny, happy deception and the painful process of saying goodbye to a loved one.