John Cho has lit up the small and big screen for almost 30 years in hit films like Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, Searching, and Star Trek and TV series Cowboy Bebop and Selfie, among many others. The Korean American actor recently added “author” to his impressive resume with his debut novel, Troublemaker (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2022), which follows the 1992 Los Angeles riots and events surrounding it through the eyes of a 12-year-old Korean American boy living in LA.
Written for young adults, Troublemaker celebrates and provides an intimate look at Korean American family life, while also exploring socio-economic issues like racism and classicism that plagued Los Angeles and the U.S. in the 1990s. It’s a must-read book for both kids and adults alike.
Cho visited with I Love Libraries last June at the American Library Association’s 2022 Annual Conference in Washington, D.C., to share his thoughts on the importance of libraries and of representation in books for kids. Watch below:
Photo: John Cho at the American Library Association's 2022 Annual Conference. By EPNAC.
