November 2025: Maisie Chan
Maisie Chan is a children's author whose debut novel Danny Chung Does Not Do Maths won the Jhalak Prize and the Branford Boase Award in 2022. Her second novel Keep Dancing, Lizzie Chu was longlisted for the Diverse Book Awards 2023 and made the Best Middlegrade Books of 2023 list by Kirkus. Her latest novel Nate Yu's Blast From the Past is a Scottish Book Trust: Book of the Month, one of the 'Best Children's Chapter Books for the Summer' according to The Observer and The Week Junior: Book of the Week. She also writes the series Tiger Warrior. She has written early readers for Hachette and Big Cat Collins, and has a collection of myths and legends out with Scholastic. Maisie is one of the authors in best selling The Very Merry Murder Club anthology which is edited by Robin Stevens and Serena Patel. She runs the Bubble Tea Writers Network to support and encourage writers of East and Southeast Asian (ESEA) descent in the U.K. Maisie is a Chinese Brummie, but now lives in Glasgow with her family and dog.
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This November we're delighted to be featuring author Maisie Chan, with an excerpt from her novel Nate Yu's Blast From the Past.
Nate knows he looks Chinese on the outside - but what is he on the inside? He can't speak Chinese, and he doesn't know anything about Chinese customs. So what if a First World War shell casing engraved with a Chinese dragon turns up in a history exhibition at school - why should he be interested in it?
In the first chapter, which we include here, we meet Nate, his mums, and his beloved ants (including his favourite - Queen Betsy), just as he's about to start a new school after moving from the countryside to Liverpool. The novel goes on to explore the role of the Chinese Labour Corps during World War I, as Nate encounters a ghost who'd been a member of the Corps.
You can find out more about the book on Maisie's website, which includes a book trailer and clip of Maisie introducing the novel.
Nate Yu Riley is adopted, and knows how loved he is. As he's Chinese and his mums aren’t, they have tried to connect him with his heritage, but he’s just not interested - until the day he sees the ghost.
It happens while the class are studying aspects of World War I and seems connected to an engraved shell casing belonging to a local academic. Every time Nate touches it, he has a strange vision. An oddly dressed Chinese man, Jirou, appears and seems to need his help.
Jirou worked for the British during WWI so why is he materialising now? Why is Nate the only one who can see him? And what will it take to allow him to rest in peace?
Exploring questions of identity, belonging, and how history can be distorted depending on who does the telling, this is an engrossing, informative, and entertaining story of friendship and reconciliation.
From Booktrust.org.uk