"One morning, Deming Guo's mother, an undocumented Chinese immigrant named Polly, goes to her job at the nail salon and never comes home. With his mother gone, eleven-year-old Deming is left with no one to care for him. He is eventually adopted by two white college professors who move him from the Bronx to a small town upstate. Set in New York and China, the Leavers is the story of how one boy comes into his own when everything he's loved has been...

The Leavers: A Novel by Lisa Ko: Conversation Starters Eleven-year-old Deming and his mother Polly are reunited after Deming arrives from China where Polly sent him when he was a baby to be cared for by his grandfather. Polly promises Deming they won't be separated again, but one morning, Polly leaves for the nail salon where she works and never comes home. Ten years pass and Deming is now named Daniel Wilkinson. Feeling the pain of abandonment all...