Jack Cheng

Jack Cheng writes middle-grade fiction about curiosity, belonging, and the work of understanding other people. The Many Masks of Andy Zhou follows a sixth grader balancing family expectations, shifting friendships, art, anime, and the arrival of grandparents from Shanghai. Dial Books issued the story in 2023 for readers in the middle grades, with family, friendship, and Asian American experience among its central subjects. Cheng was born in Shanghai, grew up in Michigan, spent a decade in Brooklyn, and later settled in Detroit. His earlier children’s novel, See You in the Cosmos, established his interest in young characters using creativity to find their place in a complicated world. The Many Masks of Andy Zhou develops that interest through Andy’s Chinese American family life and his friendship with Jameel, whose Chaldean background adds another layer to the book’s picture of community.