![]() The work of tracing ancestors from their countries of origin can be daunting, but Leavitt gives some help in this area as well and explores the role geography can play in family stories. This is followed up with strategies for using online resources, including warnings on how to stay safe on social media. It gives solid directions for setting up interviews with family members and how to reach out to those who are far away. ![]() It introduces young readers to the important documents that can assist in gathering family facts and describes the information they provide. It moves on to give practical tips on getting started and how to map a family tree. The volume begins with clear definitions about genealogy and why it is important to study. Young readers won’t miss much by skipping this book and going straight to Chen’s adult memoir when it’s time.Īuthor Leavitt presents all the components of doing research into family history with easy-to-follow directions for a successful project. Lacking deeper contextual insights, the events of this book are merely disturbing. Terms likely to be unfamiliar to the audience, such as “Marxism,” “bourgeois,” and “feudalism,” are used frequently with little explanation. While this period in China’s history is heartbreaking and important, the brief explanation of the Cultural Revolution in the prologue may not be enough to allow this age group to fully comprehend the nuances of either the plot or its implications. Chen’s memoir for adults Colors of the Mountain (1999) was adapted for young adults in 2001 as China’s Son, but this book aims for an even younger audience. The situation reaches a graphically violent head when Sisi is brought to testify against their kind principal, who’s been accused of rape, and she must choose between truth and her own safety. Da and Sisi’s new school is a respite until a Communist political commissar arrives to oversee the political climate. Da’s father is in a labor camp, his family is destitute, and their safety is threatened. The Chens, a landowning family, have been brought low by the social reversal of Mao’s Cultural Revolution. ![]() This first-person autobiographical account is told in Da’s voice, but the titular girl is his 13-year-old sister, Sisi. When 8-year-old Da’s sister is targeted during the Chinese Cultural Revolution, the two siblings flee their hometown for uneasy sanctuary at a remote agricultural school.
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