Tiger Babies Strike Back

How I Was Raised by a Tiger Mom but Could Not Be Turned to the Dark Side

Description

An answer to Amy Chua’s Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, author Kim Wong Keltner’s Tiger Babies Strike Back takes the control-freak beast by the tail with a humorous and honest look at the issues facing women today—Chinese-American and otherwise.

Keltner, the author of the novels Buddha Baby and I Want Candy, mines her own past in an attempt to dispel the myth that all Chinese women are Tiger Mothers. Keltner strikes back at Chua’s argument through topics, including “East Meets West in the Board Room and the Bedroom,” and “I Was Raised by a Tiger Mom and All I Got Was this Lousy T-Shirt: A Rebuttal to Chua.”

Through personal anecdotes and tough-love advice, Keltner’s witty and forthright opinions evoke an Asian-American Sex and the City, while showing how our families shape our personal worlds.


What happens when the daughter of a Tiger Mom grows up and decides to talk back?


  • The Chinese American Experience: Keltner mines her own hilarious and sometimes heartbreaking past to push back against the myth of the model minority and the control-freak Tiger Mom.
  • Cultural Identity: A witty, unflinching look at navigating life between two cultures, evoking an Asian-American Sex and the City for a new generation.
  • Generational Differences: Through tough-love advice and sharp personal anecdotes, this memoir explores the gap between immigrant parents and their American-born children.
  • A Witty Rebuttal: The perfect answer for anyone who read Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother and thought, "That’s not the whole story."

About the author(s)

The only thing that keeps Kim Wong Keltner from writing is when she’s trapped under an avalanche of her daughter’s stuffed animals. Keltner is the author of The Dim Sum of All Things, Buddha Baby, and I Want Candy. Tiger Babies Strike Back is her first work of nonfiction.

Reviews

It’s awesome to find such deep truth that makes you laugh this hard. - Beth Lisick, author of Everybody Into the Pool

“Full of feisty humor. . . . Smart and sassy.” - USA Today

“A sort of Asian American Sex in the City...like meeting someone who voices thoughts or experiences that you presumed were wholly yours...cynically humorous and genuinely touching...Keltner’s wry sens of humor leaps off every page.” - generationrice

“A soul-searching journey into what it was like being raised by a Tiger Mom. This Tiger Baby could never quite measure up; as a mother now, she is determined not to make the same mistakes with her own daughter. Kim Wong Keltner’s witty, honest, warm voice takes the reader straight into the heart of a generation of Chinese immigrants. Look for emotional surprises as she discovers how deep her roots are planted even as she fights to make how own way through the motherhood maze.” - Maryann Bucknum Brinley, author of The 16 Secrets of Happy Parenting

“An inspiring take on mothering -- and daughtering. The book is smart, creative, and thought-provoking.” - Linda Small, author of Wimpy Parents: How Not to Raise a Brat

“The author writes with compassion, humor, love and anger about her mother’s combination of tough love and high expectations…A quirky reflection on the modern immigrant experience and hyphenated ethnicity in America.” - Kirkus Reviews

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