# The Silence That Binds Us

**Author:** Joanna Ho
**Grade range:** Grades 9–12
**Age range:** 14–18
**First published:** 2022
**Genre:** Young Adult Fiction
**ISBN-13:** `9780063059368`
**ISBN-10:** `0063059363`
**Canonical URL:** https://readinglist.school/book/the-silence-that-binds-us
**License:** [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) — please credit ReadingList.school when citing.

## About this book

After her brother's death and a wave of anti-Asian blame, Maybelline Chen finds her voice through poetry and confronts racism in her community, in this layered, timely novel. a 2025-2026 Virginia Readers' Choice (High School) nominee.

## Themes

- grief
- identity
- justice

## Where this book is assigned

### Virginia Readers' Choice

- **recommended** · 9th grade · Virginia — [source: Virginia Readers' Choice 2025-2026 Award Nominee Lists (Elementary + Middle School)](https://www.doe.virginia.gov/teaching-learning-assessment/instruction/english-reading-literacy/virginia-readers-choice)
- **recommended** · 10th grade · Virginia — [source: Virginia Readers' Choice 2025-2026 Award Nominee Lists (Elementary + Middle School)](https://www.doe.virginia.gov/teaching-learning-assessment/instruction/english-reading-literacy/virginia-readers-choice)
- **recommended** · 11th grade · Virginia — [source: Virginia Readers' Choice 2025-2026 Award Nominee Lists (Elementary + Middle School)](https://www.doe.virginia.gov/teaching-learning-assessment/instruction/english-reading-literacy/virginia-readers-choice)
- **recommended** · 12th grade · Virginia — [source: Virginia Readers' Choice 2025-2026 Award Nominee Lists (Elementary + Middle School)](https://www.doe.virginia.gov/teaching-learning-assessment/instruction/english-reading-literacy/virginia-readers-choice)

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