Narrated by Nancy Wu. Here's a story for teens about a tiger mother with her claws out! Frances' single mother works all day and sacrifices so that someday Frances will get into UC Berkeley, become a doctor, and take care of Mommy. Frances is content enough with the plan until she is assigned a speech class by mistake and finds there are other options in life, thanks to her dynamic young teacher. If you've been raised by strict Asian parents you will cringe as Frances' lies and cover-ups mount, and then tense up when Frances' mother finds her out. Narrator Wu is the stern, ambitious mother we all fear and obey; her Chinese accent is spot on. **SPOILER** The only flaw for me was when Frances walks out on her mother at the end; other than the Chinese New Year card, did they not communicate at all? That loose end left me dangling. ( )

If you think your parents have high expectations---meet Fei Ting and her "mom."

Francis's mother, a divorced Chinese immigrant, has insisted that Francis get top grades in school so she can get into Berkeley and become a doctor. When she is accidently put into a speech class in her last year of high school, Francis discovers that she has a knack for public speaking and does not tell her mother that she is taking speech instead of calculus. She must hide her speech competitions from her mother since she is forbidden from taking part in extracurricular activies, having a job or dating since these will distract from her studies. ( )

I love the careful selection of names in this novel. Bitter Melon features an excellent beginning that sets the stage for all of the action to come, starting with the explanation of Fei Ting, the name given by Mommy. Her name has dual meanings of stop and flying. Since Mommy does have her moment of literally stopping Fei Ting from flying, it works exceptionally well--especially considering Mommy chose the mostly unused, Francis, which means free, for her American name. Fei Ting is trying to live up to her mother's expectations. She is trying to get straight As and get into Berkeley. Her mother has been dumped by her husband and has divorced every mention of her former husband from her mind, except as a goal for eventually being able to thumb her nose at him with Fei Ting's expected entry into the world of medicine as a doctor. Mommy sacrifices everything for her daughter, including her health. She is also abusive and so single-minded about her own interests that she is suffocating her daughter. She constantly compares Fei Ting with Theresa, another Chinese girl who is also driven to succeed (but who has a mother, Nelly, who actually likes her and vice versa). Fei Ting is forced to decide whether she wants to be free/Frances. The cultural aspect of this story—the emphasis on family success being synonymous with individual success—is also well done. Fei Ting's confusion over Derek Collins name is a nice touch. This book has stronger strengths than weaknesses and is a fine addition to high school libraries. I look forward to future work from Cara Chow.