Danny Chung Does Not Do Maths is the heartwarming and funny story of family, friends and finding your own voice. It stars young Danny, who wishes to be an artist despite his family’s preference that he buckle down at mathematics – a much more sensible subject! Here is an extract, where Danny’s dad lays down the law.

Extract taken from Danny Chung Does Not Do Maths
By Maisie Chan
Published by Bonnier Books

‘Ba, wait! Don’t throw those away.’ My heart beat faster in my chest. I couldn’t remember what was in those books, but I knew they deserved a better fate than the recycling bin. He shook the dust off the top of one, then flicked through it, tutting. That wasn’t a good sign. He stopped at one page entitled DANNY CHUNG DOES NOT DO MATHS.

‘DANNY CHUNG DOES NOT DO MATHS . . .? What does that mean? We all do maths – everybody does maths.’ I’d forgotten I had started that particular comic strip. I’d been bored in class while Mr Heathfield was talking about long division and I’d begun to draw all the things I could be doing instead of maths. It included balancing on a beach ball while playing a trumpet, blowing paper darts through a straw and flying on a giant kite in the shape of a stingray that had turbo jets underneath.

‘Oh, that was just for fun. A joke to make Ravi laugh.’ This was not the time to bring up how I had a hate–hate relationship with maths. Often I would try to get Ravi to help me or I would just give an excuse to Mr Heathfield if I couldn’t do something. He thought I had a dog who ate a lot of my homework. ‘If you tell yourself you cannot do something then you will not succeed at it. You need the right mindset. This . . . drawing stuff. It has no purpose.’ He put all of my old sketch books into the black bag. I felt like my hard work had been truly trashed.

‘But I like it,’ I mumbled, hugging the book I was now working in. Ba obviously hadn’t heard about famous painters like Van Gogh (all right, he was poor during his time and had a terrible incident with his ear, but now his paintings were worth millions). I tried to think of a less tragic artist that was famous. I slid my drawings under my pillow. ‘But why, Ba? Why can’t I be like Picasso?’

‘Why do you want to be like Pika— wossit . . .the yellow squeaky mouse thing from the telly?’

He shook his head, his brows deeply furrowed with confusion. ‘That’s not a career, Danny.’ I wondered if he was imagining, as I was, a grownup me dressed in a Pikachu onesie, holding a briefcase and going to an office. I stifled a laugh.

‘No, Ba, Picasso was a Spanish artist. He said, “Every child is an artist” – he was very famous. He’s not a Pokémon.’ He sat down on the side of the bed, shuffled next to me, then put his arm around me and gave me a squeeze. ‘Son, it’s for your own good that you do more constructive things in your spare time. You can draw in art class at school, but after you come home, you need to focus on getting good grades. We don’t want you to work in the takeaway like us. Maths, science, English, these are the subjects you have to work on.’

MAISIE CHAN is a British-born Chinese author. She has written early reader books for Hachette and a collection of fairy tales, myths and legends in Stories From Around the World for Scholastic, as well as many stories for The Big Think: a well-being curriculum based around stories for primary school children. She also started the group Bubble Tea Writers to support and encourage new British East Asian writers in the UK. Originally from Birmingham, Maisie now lives with her family in Glasgow.

Danny Chung Does Not Do Maths by Maisie Chan is published by Bonnier Books, June 2021, priced £6.99.

The Scottish BAME Writers Network (SBWN) provides advocacy, literary events and professional development opportunities for BAME writers based in or from Scotland. SBWN aims to connect Scottish BAME writers with the wider literary sector in Scotland. The network seeks to partner with literary organisations to facilitate necessary conversations around inclusive programming in an effort to address and overcome systemic barriers. SBWN prioritises BAME-led opportunities and is keen to bring focus to diverse literary voices while remaining as accessible as possible to marginalised groups.

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