ARC Review: Dream, Annie, Dream by Waka T. Brown

As the daughter of immigrants who came to America for a better life, Annie Inoue was raised to dream big. And at the start of seventh grade, she’s channeling that irrepressible hope into becoming the lead in her school play.

So when Annie lands an impressive role in the production of The King and I, she’s thrilled . . . until she starts to hear grumbles from her mostly white classmates that she only got the part because it’s an Asian play with Asian characters. Is this all people see when they see her? Is this the only kind of success they’ll let her have–one that they can tear down or use race to belittle?

Disheartened but determined, Annie channels her hurt into a new dream: showing everyone what she’s made of.

Waka T. Brown, author of While I Was Away, delivers an uplifting coming-of-age story about a Japanese American girl’s fight to make space for herself in a world that claims to celebrate everyone’s differences but doesn’t always follow through. 

• Title: Dream, Annie, Dream
• Author:  Waka T. Brown
• Publisher: Quill Tree Books
• Publication Date: January 25, 2022
• Genre: Coming-of-Age  
• Source: Print ARC gifted by author in exchange for an honest review
• Targeted Age Range: Middle Grade
• Content Warnings: Racism, hate-speech
• Rating: ★★★★★

One of my 2022 goals is to read more middle grade, as I’m really trying to diversify my library. Having loved Waka T. Brown’s debut middle grade memoir, While I Was Away, I was really anticipating Dream, Annie, Dream. As a musical theatre enthusiast, and someone who got into their fair share of theatre discourse back in the day, I knew this would be a book that really spoke to me. 

Set in the 1980s, Dream, Annie, Dream follows Aoi “Annie” Inoue, a twelve-year-old Japanese American girl living in Kansas, with big dreams. But Dream, Annie, Dream is also a lot more than just a coming of age story about a girl with dreams. It’s a story about the model minority myth, representation, fitting in, friendship, whiteness, and what it means to be a child of immigrants in the United States. While it packs a lot of themes into one story, each one is interwoven beautifully, and depicted with great depth. 

I’ve been in my fair share of theatre spaces, and vividly remember having countless conversations with people about how white the world of theatre is. Just like everything else, theatre is founded on classism and racism, among other systems of oppression ( We See You W.A.T. is a great account to follow), and I just really appreciate how Brown discusses it in Dream, Annie, Dream. Part of Dream, Annie, Dream talks about The King and I, a musical that I have very mixed feelings about. In all honesty, I have many mixed feelings about most well-known musicals with Asian leads (especially Miss Saigon, but that’s another story for another day), especially since so many of them rely on heavy stereotypes, and are actually very harmful. It wasn’t until 2015, that there was a musical on Broadway about Asian American history, written by Asian Americans — Allegiance. And while Broadway isn’t the holy grail of musical theatre, and there are wonderful productions in community theatre, touring, off-Broadway, on the West End, and internationally, as an Asian American who loves theatre, it’s something that still stings. 

Dream, Annie, Dream resonated so deeply with me. While I’ve never lived in a small town, I know what it’s like to be a child of immigrants, and to love theatre so deeply, even though you’re rarely represented on stage. Although there’s more diversity on stage now than there was in 1980, it doesn’t necessarily mean things are better. My heart dropped when I read about how Annie’s peers treated her; it dropped again when I read about how her white peers used yellowface in The King and I. The story of Dream, Annie, Dream may be fictional, but they’re very much real things that happened then, and still happen now. 

The theatre aspect aside, I also just felt so much for Aoi. I mean, the countless microaggressions she faced (because of course, all Asians are related), having to grow up faster than her White peers and come to realizations that kids her age shouldn’t have to? It all just felt a little too close to home. I also really appreciated that eurocentric beauty standards were discussed, as well as having to change — or adjust — every aspect of yourself to fit into White America. 

A small, spoilery moment in Dream, Annie Dream, is that there’s a scene where Aoi and her friend, Jessica, overhear a classmate’s speech, which is rampant with anti-Japanese hate speech. Jessica doesn’t notice, and thinks nothing of it, while Aoi is very much hurt and unsettled. It was just another reminder that white people have the luxury to not view the world critically, or to think about their own privilege, and that people of color very much do not have that same luxury. 

A lot of my friends who love theatre, and want to pursue a career in theatre, have also struggled with having their parents understand the importance of the arts. There are thousands of thinkpieces, and tweets on why representation is important, and Dream, Annie, Dream is another example of that. Dream, Annie, Dream is a story that will stay with me for a long time, and one that I would recommend to anyone. 

Links for Dream, Annie, Dream: Goodreads | TheStorygraph | Bookshop | IndieBound