After spending her early years in Wuhan, China, riding water buffalos and devouring stinky tofu, Laura immigrates to Texas where her hometown is as foreign as Mars — at least until 2020, when COVID-19 made Wuhan a household name.

In Messy Roots, Laura illustrates her coming-of-age as a girl who simply wants to make the basketball team, escape Chinese school, and figure out why girls make her heart flutter.

Toggling seamlessly between past and present, China and America, Gao’s debut is a tour de force of graphic storytelling.