Chasing Pacquiao
by Rod A. Pulido
High School    Viking    272 pp.
5/23    9780593526736    $18.99
e-book ed.  9780593526767    $10.99

When Bobby Agbayani is forcibly outed as gay to his entire school, an onslaught of bullying ensues. Despite his tight-knit social support, Bobby wasn’t fully ready to be out publicly, given the conservative Catholic values of some in his Filipino American community. After bullies beat him up and steal his late father’s bicycle, Bobby decides to learn to defend himself (“self preservation” is his personal motto). He finds a job cleaning a grimy boxing gym, where he learns about the sport and about legend Manny Pacquiao…but then (real-life) homophobic comments from his idol are painful to reconcile. This ode to the queer Filipino American experience touches on the history of significant Filipino Americans and how they have influenced future generations. Pulido’s seamless use of Tagalog, coupled with Bobby’s occasional tanaga (traditional Indigenous Filipino poetry), adds another dimension to the book’s examination of what it means to be Filipino ­American. Through Bobby’s journey of naming his identity, the book explores what it means to grow up in as diverse a place as Los Angeles and still feel isolated, and grapples with heroes who reveal their flaws and complexity.

Pubissue-From the May/June 2023 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.