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My Mom is a Fob: Earnest Advice in Broken English from Your Asian-American Mom

by Teresa Wu

A community portrait of Asian-American mothers and the family messages that define them

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Paperback New English

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AlbakiReads Editorial

A community portrait of Asian-American mothers and the family messages that define them

Adapted from the “My Mom Is a Fob” blog, this humor collection gathers texts, emails, phone calls, and other exchanges between Asian-American children and their mothers. Teresa Wu and Serena Wu reclaim “fob,” a term derived from “fresh off the boat,” to frame everyday moments of cultural adaptation, family habits, unsolicited advice, and persistent contact from home. The book’s comic material comes from recognizable domestic details—holiday food, protective routines, and misspelled messages—while also tracing the affection and concern expressed through them. Its many contributors make the book a shared record of intergenerational family life rather than a single household’s story.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Fans of humor rooted in family texts, emails, and everyday misunderstandings
  • Asian-American readers interested in shared experiences of immigrant-family life
  • Readers seeking a community-based collection about mothers and adult children

Themes

Asian-American identityImmigrant family lifeMother-child relationshipsCultural adaptationHumor in everyday communication

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

Fob (noun)-derived from the acronym F.O.B. ("fresh off the boat")

Does your mom still make Peking duck instead of turkey on Thanksgiving, own a giant cleaver, or take twenty-four more napkins than she needs at Chipotle?

Your mom may be a fob.

Through their hit blog "My Mom Is a Fob," Teresa and Serena Wu have seized ownership of this formerly derogatory term, applying it instead to the heartfelt, hilarious, and thoroughly unique ways that Asian mothers adapt to American culture, from the perspective of those who love them most: their children.

Through texts, emails, phone calls, and more, My Mom Is a Fob showcases the stories of a community of Asian-American kids who know exactly what it's like to be on the receiving end of that amazing, unconditional, and sometimes misspelled love. It's about those Asian mothers who refuse to get in the car without their sun-protective arm sheaths, the ones who send us passive-aggressive text messages "from the dog" in hopes that we'll call home, and email us unsolicited advice about everything from homosexuality to constipation. In these pages you'll find solace in the fact that thousands of moms out there are as painfully nosy, unintentionally hilarious, and endearingly fobby as yours is.
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