“You’re not allowed to have a girlfriend until college,” my mother warned. “And you’d better get into an Ivy League school!”

David Tung is a Chinese American high-school student who works in his family’s restaurant, competes for top rank at his upscale, Asian-majority, suburban New Jersey high school, and hangs with his “real” friends at weekend Chinese school in NYC’s working-class Chinatown. When popular girl Christina Tau asks David to the high school Dame’s Dance, David’s tightly regimented life gets thrown into a tailspin. He soon realizes that he actually has feelings for Betty, the smartest girl at Chinese school. But, as his mother reminds him, he’s not allowed to have a girlfriend! Should he defy his mother and go to the dance, or defy Cristina’s wishes and spend Saturday night studying for the MCATs? Ed Lin’s YA-debut explores coming-of-age in the Asian diaspora while navigating relationships through race, class, young love, and the confusing expectations of immigrant parental pressure.

Praise for David Tung Can’t Have A Girlfriend Until He Gets Into An Ivy League College

“David Tung is a nerd-hero readers will cheer on to the end.”
— MARIE MYUNG-OK LEE, author of Finding My Voice

"You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll get straight A's."
— CHRIS L. TERRY, author of Black Card and Zero Fade

"You’ll fall hard for David Tung, a high-achieving teen with a heart of gold. Lin writes
with a keen sense of character; even the most minor characters spring alive off the page."
— SHEBA KARIM, author of That Thing Called a Heart and Mariam Sharma Hits the Road

"With tender and hilarious insight, Ed Lin offers an irresistible tale of first love,
complete with swooning crushes, tongue-tied blunders, overbearing-but-well-meaning parents, and an outrageous cast of supporting characters only New York and New Jersey can produce."
— JJ STRONG, author of Us Kids Know

“A beautifully observed, hilariously truthful, uplifting coming-of-age story that
captures the heart and humanity of a Chinese American male teenager. I am impressed and inspired by Ed Lin’s achievement and wish I could’ve read this book when I was in high school."
— DAVID HENRY HWANG, playwright of FOB and M. Butterfly

"I cringed, I cheered, I wished this book had been there for me as a teen."
— JUNG KIM, Teacher-educator and Associate Professor of Literacy at Lewis University