It was the tinder that ignited the blaze that had been smoldering in Los Angeles for years: four policemen acquitted of the brutal beating of Black motorist Rodney King on April 29, 1992. Within hours of the verdict, Los Angeles – already at a breaking point of racial division – would be torn asunder. Looters and rioters set the city on fire. Adding gasoline to the inferno was a shooting that took place the same month as King’s assault: Latasha Harlins, a 15-year-old Black girl, was fatally shot by Soon Ja Du, a Korean store owner in South L.A., after she erroneously accused Harlins of trying to steal orange juice.

It’s at this inflection point that Korean American actor John Cho has set his first novel, Troublemaker, a galvanizing middle-grade offering that follows the L.A. riots through the eyes of 12-year-old Korean American Jordan Park, whose parents own a liquor store. When Jordan’s father leaves to check on the store amid mounting unrest, Jordan and his friends set out on a perilous journey to help his dad, and Jordan is forced to face the racism plaguing his own community.

Excerpt from Troublemaker, by John Cho

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