Kat Zhang#The Hybrid Chronicles
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2022}}
{{short description|American novelist}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Kat Zhang
| image = Kat Zhang 2019 Texas Book Festival.jpg
| caption = Zhang at the 2019 Texas Book Festival
| alma_mater = Vanderbilt University
| genre = Young Adult, Middle Grade
| notableworks = Hybrid Chronicles, The Emperor's Riddle
| awards = Freeman Award Honorable Mention
| website = {{URL|katzhang.com}}
| birth_name =
| nationality = American
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1991|4|1|mf=y}}
}}
Kat Zhang (born 1 April 1991){{cite web|url=http://viaf.org/viaf/266960464/|title= Library of Congress Authority File|publisher=}}{{cite web|url=https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?177562|title= Summary Bibliography: Kat Zhang|publisher=}} is an American award-winning author of young adult and middle grade literature. She has also written two picture books, Amy Wu and the Perfect Bao and Amy Wu and the Patchwork Dragon.{{Cite news|url=http://katzhangwriter.com/index.php/books/|title=Books|date=September 1, 2015|work=Kat Zhang|access-date=2018-09-04|language=en-US}} Her first trilogy, The Hybrid Chronicles, was published by HarperCollins in the United States. According to WorldCat, the series is held in 2,545 libraries,{{cite web|url=http://www.worldcat.org/wcidentities/lccn-no2012121285|title=Zhang, Kat 1991– [WorldCat.org]|website=www.worldcat.org}} and has been translated into Chinese, German, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Polish and Italian. The first volume, What's Left of Me, was published in 2012; the second volume, Once We Were, was published in 2013; and the third and final volume, Echoes of Us, was published in 2014.
Personal life
Zhang was born in Texas to immigrants from China. Her father was from Wuhan, and her mother from Fuzhou.{{cite web|last=Kang Kai (康慨)|url=http://www.chinawriter.com.cn/2012/2012-09-24/142193.html|title=华裔美国女生张亦雪昨日出版反乌托邦小说处女作|website=chinawriter.com.cn|language=Chinese|date=September 24, 2012|access-date=November 15, 2016|archive-date=November 15, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161115132458/http://www.chinawriter.com.cn/2012/2012-09-24/142193.html|url-status=dead}}
Zhang graduated from Vanderbilt University.{{cite web|url=https://news.vanderbilt.edu/2013/04/16/sci-fi-author-kat-zhang/|title=Vanderbilt Sci-Fi Author Kat Zhang|date=April 16, 2013|website=Vanderbilt University}}
Writings
= ''Young Adult novels'' =
== ''Hybrid Chronicles'' ''trilogy'' ==
- What's Left of Me (2012)
- Once We Were (2013)
- Echoes of Us (2014)
=''Middle Grade novels''=
- The Emperor's Riddle (2017){{cite web|title=The Emperor's Riddle|url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27508527-the-emperor-s-riddle|website=GoodReads|accessdate=August 12, 2016}}{{cite web|title=Rights report week of November 2 2015|url=http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-book-news/article/68559-rights-report-week-of-november-2-2015.html|website=Publishers Weekly|accessdate=July 3, 2016}}
- The Memory of Forgotten Things (2018){{cite web|title=The Memory of Forgotten Things by Kat Zhang|url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36139881-the-memory-of-forgotten-things}}
= ''Picture Books'' =
- Amy Wu and the Perfect Bao (2019){{Cite web|url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35964863-amy-wu-and-the-perfect-bao|title=Amy Wu and the Perfect Bao|website=www.goodreads.com|access-date=2018-03-06}}
- Amy Wu and the Patchwork Dragon (2020)
- Amy Wu and the Warm Welcome (2022)
- Amy Wu and the Ribbon Dance (2023)
''The Hybrid Chronicles''
Hybrid Chronicles series is set in an alternate universe society in which every body possesses two 'souls' or human identities at birth. One of these identities, termed the "recessive soul," is supposed to fade away with age. Those who retain both souls are labelled 'hybrids' and are ostracized from normal society. The series' protagonists are Addie and Eva, the dominant and recessive souls respectively, who inhabit the same body. The girls hide the presence of Eva, who has lost control of their shared body but never completely faded, for fear of what might happen if they were ever discovered. Over the course of the trilogy, the girls are at first institutionalized for their hybrid nature, then join a resistance force for hybrid rights.
The Hybrid Chronicles Trilogy includes What's Left of Me (2012), Once We Were (2013), and Echoes of Us (2014).
Middle grade novels
The Emperor's Riddle, Zhang's first Middle Grade novel, is set in Fuzhou, China. It describes the adventures of a Chinese-American girl as she searches for an ancient, Ming dynasty treasure. The book details the legends involving the assassination of Chinese emperor Zhu Yunwen, the second emperor of the Ming dynasty, and touches on the events of the Chinese cultural revolution.{{cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/960031085|title=The emperor's riddle|first=Kat|last=Zhang|date=September 8, 2018|publisher=|oclc=960031085|via=Open WorldCat}}{{cite web|url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32333232-the-emperor-s-riddle|title=The Emperor's Riddle|website=www.goodreads.com}}
Zhang's second middle grade novel, The Memory of Forgotten Things, is a return to science fiction. The twelve-year-old protagonist, Sophia Wallace, has memories of her deceased mother that don't make sense, memories that take place after her mother's death. She believes that an upcoming solar eclipse will allow her to cross over into a parallel world where her mother never died.
Reception
The Hybrid Chronicles has received generally positive reception from several websites.{{cite web | url=http://thebooksmugglers.com/2013/09/book-review-once-we-were-by-kat-zhang.html | title=Book Review: Once We Were by Kat Zhang | publisher=The Book Smugglers | date=September 13, 2013 | accessdate=June 8, 2016 | author=James, Thea}}{{cite web | url=https://bookpage.com/reviews/15488-kat-zhang-once-we-were#.V1iT2ZMrJsY | title=Kat Zhang – Once We Were – Book Review | publisher=BookPage | date=September 17, 2013 | accessdate=June 8, 2016 | author=Barisich, Justin}} The first in the trilogy, What's Left of Me, was chosen as a 2012 BEA Buzz book{{cite web|title=BEA 2012: The YA and Middle-Grade Fiction Buzz|url=http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/bea/article/52240-bea-2012-the-ya-and-middle-grade-fiction-buzz.html|website=Publishers Weekly|accessdate=July 3, 2016}} and given a starred review on Publishers Weekly.{{cite web|title=What's Left of Me|url=http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-06-211487-7|website=Publishers Weekly|accessdate=July 3, 2016}} It was positively reviewed in The New York Times.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/11/books/review/beta-and-whats-left-of-me.html|title='Beta' and 'What's Left of Me'|last=Condie|first=Ally|date=November 9, 2012|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-10-02|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}
In 2017, The Emperor's Riddle won an honorable mention for the NCTA's Freeman Award.{{Cite news|url=http://nctasia.org/the-emperors-riddle/|title=The Emperor's Riddle – NCTA|work=NCTA|access-date=2018-03-06|language=en-US}} It also won a Parent's Choice Award.{{Cite web|url=http://www.parents-choice.org/product.cfm?product_id=35134&StepNum=1&award=aw|title=The Emperor's Riddle|website=Parents' Choice Foundation|access-date=2018-03-06}}
The Memory of Forgotten Things was selected as a Bank Street Best Children's Book of the Year.{{Cite web|url=https://s3.amazonaws.com/bankstreet-wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/2019-12-to-14-list-for-the-web.pdf|title=Bank Street Best Children's Books of the Year|last=|first=|date=|website=|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=}}
The first Amy Wu picture book, Amy Wu and the Perfect Bao, received a starred review from Kirkus,{{Cite book|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/kat-zhang/amy-wu-and-the-perfect-bao/|title=AMY WU AND THE PERFECT BAO by Kat Zhang , Charlene Chua {{!}} Kirkus Reviews|language=en}} and was a Kirkus Best Picture Book of 2019.{{Cite web|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-lists/best-picture-books-of-2019-that-celebrate-family/#amy-wu-and-the-perfect-bao|title=Best Picture Books of 2019 That Celebrate Family (pg. 2)|website=Kirkus Reviews|language=en|access-date=2021-06-19}} It was also chosen as a First and Best 2019 book by the Toronto Public Library.{{Cite web|url=https://kids.tpl.ca/ready-for-reading/books/booklist/first-and-best|title=First and Best 2019 : Award Winners : Books & More : Ready for Reading|website=kids.tpl.ca|access-date=2019-12-24}}
References
{{Portal|Children and Young Adult Literature}}
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Category:American writers of young adult literature
Category:American writers of Chinese descent
Category:21st-century American novelists