One World

About the Book

On his first visit back to the Congo, Lumumba Schwinn sees what his life could have been like and wants to run away. He sees his biological parents and his little brother suffering and wants to get them out of there. The thing that hurts Lumumba the most is that he can’t communicate with his biological parents. Lumumba has now lived in two worlds on one world.

When Lumumba returns to his normal life as a teenager in Malibu, California he has a new mindset, and a mission. He starts learning French with the same passion that he plays football with and makes everyone proud. After Lumumba experiences the different cultures, he realizes that he is in control of his future and doesn’t want a destitute future. Lumumba shows the power of understanding the world—at both ends of the spectrum.

About the Author

Chumeng Li was born in Beijing, China and moved to the United States when he was five years old. He has gone back to visit China many times and feels that he is a better person because he has seen the cultural, economical, and social differences between the two countries. In 2006, he wrote his first novel as an eighth grader. Chumeng has bounced around in the US many times and now lives in Albany, California where he is a sophomore at a public high school.