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Xiran Jay Zhao's Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor is a fast, funny fantasy for 9 year olds about a boy with an ancient emperor stuck inside his gaming headset.
Zack is the only Asian kid at his school in Maine. He secretly bins the lunches his mum cooks for him because his friends pull faces at the smell. (He feels awful about it, which tells you a lot about Zack.)
Then a voice starts talking in his head. Gruff, bossy and very rude about his friends.
A new boy called Simon keeps going on about the First Emperor of China. Zack doesn't know who that is and doesn't much want to. But when the captain of his gaming team turns on them both, Zack reads the link Simon sent him and something takes over his body. Rain whirls up into a storm. Water pours out of nowhere. And Zack realises, to his horror, that he's not the one in control.
The First Emperor wants to use Zack as his host. Instead he gets stuck inside Zack's augmented reality headset, nagging away in his ear like the world's grumpiest sat nav. That same night, demons come for Zack's mum. To get her back, he'll have to go all the way to China.
Zack is super easy to root for. He worries about everything, he hates being the odd one out and he loves his mum more than he lets on. The emperor is hilarious, vain and totally convinced he's the best ruler who ever lived. Their squabbling is a big part of the fun.
It also slips in loads of Chinese history and myth, with pop-up info tags like a game. If your reader has ever felt like they don't quite fit, Zack's feelings about school will ring very true.
It reads older than this shelf, with a middle-schooler at its heart. The fights are frightening, with a friend nearly drowned and Zack grabbed by the neck. His mum's spirit is taken early on and her body is left lying empty. We also learn that his dad was executed in China when Zack was a baby (this is backstory, not something that happens in the book). A more confident reader who loves quests and gaming will race through it.
If they're after another Chinese American kid starting middle school, try Winnie Zeng Unleashes a Legend. Winnie has spent the whole summer getting ready in case she discovers hidden superpowers, and her mum's cooking is a big deal in her house too.
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