Chinese Cinderella or Red Scarf Girl?

[swimmermom3]

I am working on our modern history plans for the end of the year. The History Odyssey plan, which I am using part of, calls for reading Chinese Cinderella by Adeline Yen Mah. Later, the student is supposed to write an essay on courage in that book and To Kill a Mockingbird. I don't know if we will do that essay topic, but we are going to read To Kill a Mockingbird. I have not read Chinese Cinderella, but years ago, both dh and I read Mah's earlier book, Fallen Leaves. I don't remember all of the details, but I know at the end we both felt the author was a bit suspect, like she had a serious agenda. I am thinking of replacing the book with Red Scarf Girl, which is not that demanding reading-level-wise, but is a great book for the time frame. Any thoughts? Is my memory of Mah's book accurate?

Edited September 2, 2011 by swimmermom3

[Matryoshka]

I am working on our modern history plans for the end of the year. The History Odyssey plans, which I am using part of, calls for reading Chinese Cinderella by Adeline Yen Mah. Later, the student is supposed to write an essay on courage in that book and To Kill a Mockingbird. I don't know if we will do that essay topic, but we are going to read To Kill a Mockingbird. I have not read Chinese Cinderella, but years ago, both dh and I read Mah's earlier book, Fallen Leaves. I don't remember all of the details, but I know at the end we both felt the author was a bit suspect, like she had a serious agenda. I am thinking of replacing the book with Red Scarf Girl, which is not that demanding reading-level-wise, but is a great book for the time frame. Any thoughts? Is my memory of Mah's book accurate?

 

I've never read Chinese Cinderella or any other book by Adeline Yen Mah, but I did just read Red Scarf Girl. I think it gave a good depiction of the Cultural Revolution for young people (I've added it to my girls' book club list this year). I've read other books on the topic, the best one I think being Wild Swans by Jung Chang, which is much longer and more sweeping in scope (covering three generations of the author's family, from her foot-bound grandmother to her communist official parents, to herself and her own childhood during the Cultural Revolution (which had a lot of common threads with Ji-Li Jiang's in Red Scarf Girl), and has much more detail about the political situation and why and how it developed over time.

[swimmermom3]

I've never read Chinese Cinderella or any other book by Adeline Yen Mah, but I did just read Red Scarf Girl. I think it gave a good depiction of the Cultural Revolution for young people (I've added it to my girls' book club list this year). I've read other books on the topic, the best one I think being Wild Swans by Jung Chang, which is much longer and more sweeping in scope (covering three generations of the author's family, from her foot-bound grandmother to her communist official parents, to herself and her own childhood during the Cultural Revolution (which had a lot of common threads with Ji-Li Jiang's in Red Scarf Girl), and has much more detail about the political situation and why and how it developed over time.

 

Thanks, Matroyshka. I think I am going to go ahead and substitute with Red Scarf Girl, but now, I will need to read Jung Chang's book for myself.

 

ETA: Wow! The reviews look great for Chang's book. I am going to see what I can get of hers from the library...for my spare time.:tongue_smilie:

Edited September 2, 2011 by swimmermom3
Downright slaughtered a kitten

[Sebastian (a lady)]

I'll second Red Scarf Girl. It is YA length and easy to comprehend but hard hitting.

[Aquinas Academy]

I think DD 15 has read pretty much every YA book about the Cultural Revolution and she said Red Scarf Girl was her favourite. I know she also enjoyed Chinese Cinderella, I'll have to ask her if she noticed Mah's agenda.

[Farrar]

Well, the two books are not the same period at all in Chinese history. IIRC, Chinese Cinderella is WWII era and I know Red Scarf Girl is all CR. Of course, they're both modern China. Now there's even more of them, but if you'd asked me a decade ago, I had probably read every single Cultural Revolution memoir out there. Ah, Chinese history major.

 

If you wanted something in the vein of Red Scarf Girl, but at a slightly higher reading level, I would consider doing Life and Death in Shanghai. Both are Cultural Revolution memoirs, and both hit on your desired theme of courage. There's another one, which is actually a 1950's Great Leap Forward memoir (not many of those around), which I really liked called The Dragon's Village.

 

Wild Swans, is, of course, a great book and worth doing all on its own. It's a very compelling read and covers a huge swath of history. However, be aware going into it that courage isn't exactly the theme. I mean absolutely no offense to Jung Chang, but the theme in that book are more like how oppression pushes people to adapt to the mob instead of standing up against it.

 

Chinese Cinderella is fine too. I didn't love it, but I also didn't feel like there was a pushy political message or anything. All the books named above (and Chinese Cinderella) are written with various agendas, particularly in regards to looking at oppression and modern China, so I'm not totally sure what you mean.

[swimmermom3]

Well, the two books are not the same period at all in Chinese history. IIRC, Chinese Cinderella is WWII era and I know Red Scarf Girl is all CR. Of course, they're both modern China. Now there's even more of them, but if you'd asked me a decade ago, I had probably read every single Cultural Revolution memoir out there. Ah, Chinese history major.

 

If you wanted something in the vein of Red Scarf Girl, but at a slightly higher reading level, I would consider doing Life and Death in Shanghai. Both are Cultural Revolution memoirs, and both hit on your desired theme of courage. There's another one, which is actually a 1950's Great Leap Forward memoir (not many of those around), which I really liked called The Dragon's Village.

 

Wild Swans, is, of course, a great book and worth doing all on its own. It's a very compelling read and covers a huge swath of history. However, be aware going into it that courage isn't exactly the theme. I mean absolutely no offense to Jung Chang, but the theme in that book are more like how oppression pushes people to adapt to the mob instead of standing up against it.

 

Chinese Cinderella is fine too. I didn't love it, but I also didn't feel like there was a pushy political message or anything. All the books named above (and Chinese Cinderella) are written with various agendas, particularly in regards to looking at oppression and modern China, so I'm not totally sure what you mean.

 

I would buy you a coffee or a glass of wine right now if I wasn't on the opposite of the country. So:cheers2:. My son would have most likely caught that mistake too. So my original schedule called for reading Chinese Cinderella at the time we discuss the United Nations, Communist China and then into the Cold War. You don't do anything with the book until the Civil Rights movement where you read To Kill a Mockingbird and then write an essay comparing the two main characters who "stand up for what they believe in and prevail."

 

That would not be a topic of choice for me necessarily, but then again I was thinking it might be interesting and perhaps even more relevant to compare the main characters in Red Scarf Girl and To Kill a Mockingbird. I don't know. What I meant about agendas was that my dh and I were both left with the feeling that Mah had a serious "stick it to 'em" agenda towards her family. Yes, they weren't great, but her personal level of vitriol seemed to run fairly high. It felt like hearing one side of a teenage girls' fight. Does that make sense? I was left with a feeling of "yuck" and it wasn't necessarily towards her family.

 

Would The Dragon's Village be accessible for a 13 yo boy or should I perhaps stick with Red Scarf Girl, since I think he will be coming off reading Anne Frank's book, which will probably challenge him a bit? I think the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution will fascinate him.

[Emerald Stoker]

nm