Laurence Yep is an extremely prolific and talented children’s/young adult author.

The first time I read something he wrote, was at ALA’s annual meeting in 2002. He’d just published Spring Pearl, part of an international girls series by the same company that does the American Girl books, dolls, and other goodies. As should be no surprise, they had a big display at ALA, and gave away books to be signed by the authors. Because I was working at the conference, I wasn’t able to go back for all of the books, but I happened to make it to Yep’s signing.

Amah is the story of a 12 year old girl, Amy, whose mother is a widow raising four children on her own. In trying to make ends meet, she takes a position as an Amah, or a Chinese nanny/governess. Her charge is Stephanie, another 12 year old girl, whose father is raising her alone. They’ve just moved to the US from Hong Kong, and he wants Stephanie to have the same kind of care he had under an Amah when he was a boy. Amy is the oldest and has to take over many of the responsibilities of looking after her younger siblings.

Amy is also a talented dancer, but her lessons suffer when she has to take care of her sibs during class and rehersal time. At the same time, Stephanie is busily bribing the good wishes of Amy’s mother and siblings with gifts.Of course the tension mounts, but the girls wind up learning from one another, and so do their parents.

It’s a sweet story, and Yep does a nice job of conveying how hard it is to be a 12 year old girl.