Keep Dancing, Lizzie Chu
'So charming' Elle McNicoll, author of A Kind of Spark
'A wonderful, warm and witty tale of family loss, responsibility and the stories and dreams that unite generations' Alex Cotter, author of The House on the Edge
A heart-warming novel from the Blue Peter Book Award shortlisted author of DANNY CHUNG DOES NOT DO MATHS
Twelve-year-old Lizzie Chu lives in Glasgow with her grandad Wai Gong, and he's been acting a little strange lately. He is becoming forgetful, and spends a lot of time talking to his statue of Guan Yin - the Chinese goddess of compassion, kindness and mercy.
Lizzie is worried about Wai Gong, but doesn't really know what to do to help him. She's already got a lot on her plate with caring for him, doing the shopping and everything else on top of schoolwork and the usual trials of being twelve!
Then Lizzie comes up with a madcap plan. She's going to take Wai Gong on the trip of a lifetime, to Blackpool - to the Tower Ballroom, where he always longed to go, to dance with his late wife Grandma Kam. To rekindle that love for dancing and to see if Wai Gong can find his mojo again. The only problem is - just how on earth is she going to get him there?
With a little help from her friends Chi and Tyler, some ingenious costumes and an older brother with a beat-up Mini, Lizzie might just make it - and maybe she will be able to help Wai Gong get better after all?
A moving, humorous, and uplifting intergenerational story for fans of Frank Cottrell Boyce and Benjamin Dean.
Maisie Chan is a British-born Chinese author. Her debut novel Danny Chung Does Not Do Maths won the Branford Boase Award and the Jhalak Book Prize, and was also shortlisted for the Blue Peter Book Awards and the Diverse Book Awards. Maisie also writes the young fiction series Tiger Warrior and is one of the authors in the bestselling The Very Merry Murder Club anthology. She runs the Bubble Tea Writers Network that supports and encourages writers of East and Southeast Asian heritage in the UK. Originally from Birmingham, Maisie now lives with her family in Glasgow.
Instagram and Threads: @maisiechanwrites Blue Sky: @maisiechanwrites X @maisiewrites