Shortlisted for the Glasgow YA-ldi 2023
Shortlisted for Juniper Book Awards 2023
Longlisted for Diverse Book Awards 2023
Longlisted for Phoenix Book Award
On the Empathy Lab 'Read for Empathy' Collection 2023 and was Scottish Book Trust's Bookzilla BOOK OF THE MONTH
Twelve-year-old Lizzie Chu lives in Glasgow with her grandad Wai Gong, and he's been acting a little strange lately. He is becoming forgetful, and spends a lot of time talking to his statue of Guan Yin - the Chinese goddess of compassion, kindness and mercy.
Lizzie is worried about Wai Gong, but doesn't really know what to do to help him. She's already got a lot on her plate with caring for him, doing the shopping and everything else on top of schoolwork and the usual trials of being twelve!
Then Lizzie comes up with a madcap plan. She's going to take Wai Gong on the trip of a lifetime, to Blackpool - to the Tower Ballroom, where he always longed to go, to dance with his late wife Grandma Kam. To rekindle that love for dancing and to see if Wai Gong can find his mojo again. The only problem is - just how on earth is she going to get him there?
With a little help from her friends Chi and Tyler, some ingenious costumes and an older brother with a beat-up Mini, Lizzie might just make it - and maybe she will be able to help Wai Gong get better after all?
Recommended for ages 9 - 12
Keep Dancing Lizzie Chu by Maisie Chan
Maisie Chan is children's author whose debut novel DANNY CHUNG DOES NOT DO MATHS won the Jhalak Prize and the Branford Boase Award in 2022. Her latest novel KEEP DANCING, LIZZIE CHU is out now with Piccadilly Press and is longlisted for the Diverse Book Awards 2023. 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. She runs the Bubble Tea Writers Network to support and encourage writers of East and Southeast Asian (ESEA) descent in the U.K. She has a dog called Miko who has big eyes. She lives in Glasgow with her family.