An epic new fantasy series inspired by Chinese mythology that #1 New York Times bestselling author Kwame Mbalia calls "a hilarious tussle between homework, family, and heroism." When a girl awakens the stuff of legends from an old family recipe, she must embrace her extraordinary heritage to save the world. Winnie Zeng has two goals: survive her first year of middle school and outdo her stuck-up archnemesis, David Zuo. It won’t be easy, since, according to her older sister, middle school is the pits. Luckily, Winnie studied middle school survival tactics in comic books and anime, and nothing will stop her from being the very best student.   But none of Winnie’s research has prepared her to face the mother of all hurdles: evil spirits. When she makes mooncakes for a class bake sale, she awakens the stuff of legends from her grandmother’s old cookbook, spilling otherworldly chaos into her sleepy town.   Suddenly Winnie finds herself in a race against time, vanquishing demons instead of group projects. Armed with a magic cookbook and a talking white rabbit, she must embrace her new powers and legacy of her ancestors. Because if she doesn’t, her town—and rest of the world—may fall to chaos forever. “A hilarious tussle between homework, family, and heroism, everyone will be rooting for Winnie Zeng .” —Kwame Mbalia, #1 New York Times bestselling author " Funny, fast-paced, and deliciously fun. Readers beware: this book will make you hungry for more words—and definitely some mooncakes!” —Graci Kim, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Fallen Star “ A hilarious adventure, and a heartfelt journey about learning to love who you are.” —Remy Lai, author-illustrator of Pie in the Sky "Katie Zhao whips up a delightful contemporary fantasy about appreciating your culture and standing up for yourself . . . young readers will gobble up this hilarious and charming story!” —E.L. Shen, author of The Comeback "Realistic and relatable. A fun, fast-paced fantasy with heart. ” — Booklist "Readers will likely eagerly anticipate the next outing to see how Winnie, sardonic and brave, continues to evolve into the hero the world needs." — The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books Katie Zhao is a graduate of the University of Michigan, where she earned a BA in English and political science in 2017 and an MA in accounting in 2018. She is the author of the Dragon Warrior series, How We Fall Apart, Last Gamer Standing, and the Winnie Zeng series. She's a passionate advocate for diverse representation in literature and media. Chapter One Middle school. Is there a scarier place on the planet? In books and movies, everything bad happens in middle school. Kids get bullied. Kids go through puberty. Teachers might turn into monsters or, worse, give out real homework. Middle school has been ruining young lives for so long, there’s an ancient Chinese proverb that goes, “Middle school is the worst three years of a person’s life.” Okay, I may have made that one up, but if you ask me, it should be a proverb. Maybe middle school wasn’t so bad in ancient China. Anyway, I planned to be as well equipped as possible to face down the beast known as middle school. I tried to buy a sword on eBay, but my parents stopped me and yelled about “buying dangerous weapons online,” even after I explained that the only danger was in me attending middle school without proper equipment. That didn’t go over very well, either. As a result, I was forced to be resourceful. All summer before starting sixth grade at Groton Middle School, I studied movies, comic books, and anime to learn how to survive the upcoming school year. I practiced my roundhouse kicks in case an eighth-­grade bully tried to shove me into a locker (something that was likely to happen daily, according to movies). Another common middle school occurrence, based on my reading of comic books and anime: kids discovering their hidden magic or superpowers and saving the world from evil adults. So I bought a pink cape and sparkly pink tights and memorized the Sailor Moon theme song. The chances were pretty slim, but just in case the Sailor Scouts came knocking on my door, asking me to join them in fighting evil by moonlight, I had to be prepared. Then there was my real-­life research on middle school, which came from my fourteen-­year-­old sister, Lisa. She’d just graduated from Groton Middle School and moved on to the only place more frightening than middle school: high school. Observing Lisa for the past three years had taught me exactly what not to do. Still, all of my middle school readiness wasn’t enough to prepare me for the scream that woke me up on the first day of school: “WINNIE, GET OUT OF BED AND HELP ME MAKE BREAKFAST!” My mother’s shouting jerked me out of sleep. Groaning and rubbing my eyes, I rolled over to check my clock. It was only seven in the morning. Every other eleven-­year-­old on the planet was still fast asleep. Thanks to the nightmar