They might not have experienced emotional abuse from a loved one. Maybe they won’t understand Kiko’s social anxiety, or what it means to feel too Asian or too white but also never enough of either.

I know there will be people who might not understand this story. Maybe they’ll understand what it means to have someone know your truth.

Maybe the people who read Starfish-the people who need this book the most-will know exactly what it means to have a mirror. I’ll never be able to find the right words to explain what that felt like, but maybe I won’t have to. And maybe when you share experiences-when you see a mirror reflecting your story-you recognize the place it must come from.Īnd I guess even though I wrote this book to help readers feel seen, it allowed some people to see a part of me, too. I stared at those words for a long time, wondering how they could possibly know something about me without knowing my own story.īut then I understood: I didn’t have to tell them. And I hope they feel like they’re not so alone in the world, and that there’s someone else out there who “gets it” too.Ī reader once wrote to tell me how Starfish helped them to heal, and that they hoped writing it had helped me to heal, too. I hope they feel more understood-more hopeful. My hope is that people will read Kiko’s story and feel like someone knows what they’re going through-what they’ve been through. And I know what it feels like to be worried that after finding the courage to open up to people, there’s still the risk that they might not believe you. I know how lonely it can be to be surrounded by people who see you, but don’t really see you. I know what it feels like to be afraid to tell your story, and what it feels like to keep your fears bottled up in your heart.

But it’s also a story about how necessary the truth can be. Starfish is a book about family, and identity, and finding hope in a world that often makes it difficult. People often ask me why I chose to write this book, and usually I tell them it's because this is the story I needed most as a teen.

Starfish book bowman