Author and Harding High School graduate Kao Kalia Yang will debut and read from her new book Tuesday at Battle Creek Middle School.

The student- and staff-inclusive 9 a.m. event at 2121 North Park Drive will be the official launch of Yang’s book, “The Diamond Explorer,” according to a St. Paul Public Schools press release. A second reading at 5:30 p.m. is open to the public.

(Courtesy of Dutton Books for Young Readers)

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The book is her first for middle-school students. It tells the story of Malcolm, a Hmong-American boy, and his challenges finding a place for himself in the United States and in his Hmong family and community, according to the press release. Yang, born in a refugee camp in Thailand, focuses on the story on her culture, from funeral feasts to times when her people lived in the mountains of Laos.

A Minnesota resident, Yang is the author of adult memoirs “The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir,” “The Song Poet,” and “Somewhere in the Unknown World.” Yang is also the author of the children’s books “A Map Into the World,” “The Shared Room,” “The Most Beautiful Thing,” and “Yang Warriors” as well as children’s books.

Her writing has been recognized by the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Book Critics Circle Award and with four Minnesota Book Awards.

She teaches and speaks across the country and lives with her family in Minnesota.

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