You Had Me at Hello World

A Chinese American teen leaves her small town to enter a high-stakes coding competition across the country, where she grapples with enterprising teens, first love, and the dark side of the seemingly glamorous tech world. Sixteen-year-old Char is tired of dealing with her physically and emotionally abusive stepfather and racist community members in Chinook Shore, Ore. When she’s selected to compete in a prestigious summer hackathon at MIT, Char eagerly accepts the opportunity, which promises $100,000 and consideration for early admission to MIT for select attendees. But a messy meet-cute with epileptic fellow participant Khoi, who is Vietnamese American, and encounters with a host of other high-achieving contemporaries make Char feel out of her depth. Tasked with completing an innovative technological project, Char teams up with Khoi, and romance blossoms between the pair, even as interpersonal drama seems to haunt every other corner of her life both at the competition and beyond. Debut author Wang’s blunt yet relatable rendering of Char’s small-town life makes for an easy-to-root-for protagonist. Throughout the teen’s varied conflicts, frank language attentively outlines IRL issues faced by aspiring tech professionals—particularly by people of color, women, and immigrants—as they struggle to enter the contemporary workforce. Ages 12–up. Agent: Penny Moore, Aevitas Creative Management. (Nov.)