Danny Chung Does Not Do Maths

Maisie Chan’s debut novel is a warm-hearted and utterly convincing slice of family life and, what’s more, stars the kind of family too rarely seen in UK children’s literature. Danny Chung’s passion is drawing, and there’s nothing he loves more than creating cartoons with his best friend, Ravi. His parents would prefer he spent his time on schoolwork – it’s ‘the Chinese Way’ according to Ba (his father) – and they are particularly keen that he do well in a forthcoming city-wide maths competition. It doesn’t help that Amelia, daughter of family friends Auntie and Uncle Yee, is a seeming paragon of virtue and is tipped to win the competition (by her mother at least). You’d expect the arrival of Danny’s Chinese granny to add to the pressures on Danny – she’s sharing his room for a start, nabs the top bunk bed, and embarrasses him in front of all his friends at school, but Nai Nai turns out to be a real ally, and even though they don’t have a language in common, she understands Danny better than anyone. Indeed, Nai Nai it is who finds a way to combine her grandson’s love of drawing with maths, in fact she’s no mean mathematician herself, and she reminds her son that his father was an artist too. The family dynamics are perfectly presented and this is a particularly good representation of inter-generational relationships, while the book also touches lightly on racism and effectively counters widespread stereotypes of Chinese people.