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the_naptime_reader's review against another edition
4.0
This is another one of the books that I selected and read ahead of time to use this spring for literature circles that all have to do with immigration (the first was [b:Maggie's Door|288143|Maggie's Door|Patricia Reilly Giff|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1320548339s/288143.jpg|967161] which deals with a girl immigrating from Ireland). This is the story of a girl with many names: Sixth-Cousin, Bandit, Shirley Temple Wong, whose family immigrates from China to New York City in the 1940's. What I really like about the book is that it shows us both the before life in China, a little of the journey, and then a LOT of the adjustment to a new life in America(The other book that I read focused mostly on the journey). This is the part that I think gives students in my class a closer look into the experience of an "outsider" who wants to be on the "inside" at school, in the neighborhood, and as an American in general. The book is funny, sweet, but also doesn't shy away from showing some bullying and the sadder parts of being isolated in a new country. The book is heart-warming and touching. This is an older book, so there are some cultural elements that are perhaps a bit more outdated, but with some background building students can easily access the concepts. The writing itself is rich, fully of imagery and description.
kmdahlgran's review against another edition
3.0
This is another unlikely pick for us, but thanks to Sonlight, we found a new story to enjoy. The easy to read chapters chronicle a year in the life of Shirley Temple Wong as she learns to live in America.
pkadams's review against another edition
2.0
Included in 100 Best Books for Children I expected this award-winning story of a Chinese immigrant growing up in post-war America to be captivating and interesting. Instead we all found it to be plodding and meandering with arcane colloquialism that were awkward. Like many books written more than 10 years ago, the plot moves at a pace too slow for children. They aren't captivated and are often left asking the question,"So?"
backonthealex's review against another edition
4.0
It is the Year of the Dog (1946), the war is over and China is no longer an occupied country. In Chungking (now Chonqing), members of the House of Wong are preparing to celebrate Chinese New Year when a letter arrives from Brooklyn, NY that will change the life of Sixth Cousin AKA Bandit and her mother forever.
And so as the Year of the Dog became the Year of the Boar (1947), Sixth Cousin Bandit beomes Shirley Temple Wong and soon she and her mother were sailing off to their new life. Arriving in Brooklyn, Shirley finds herself living in a small third floor apartment. And it wasn't long before she is enrolled in P.S. 8, regretting that she hadn't bothered to learn any English from the records her father had sent from America as her mother had done.
Confused and anxious, Shirley is put into Mrs. Rappaport's 5th grade class. She begins be feel very lonely and isolated because she doesn't know English or American games and no one really wants to play with her once they discover that. When her father buys her roller skates, roller skating proves harder to do than she had expected and she gives it up. When Shirley proves to be a poor stickball or stoopball player, she is left out of the game. One day, she gets into a fight with Mabel, the tallest, toughest girl in class, but Shirley stands her ground despite two black eyes.
Seeing her eyes, her parents insist on reporting it to the police, but on the way, Shirley notices Mabel is following them and she determines to say nothing about the fight. Impressed by Shirley's silence, Mabel takes her under her wing and teaches her how to roller skate, and play ball. And she introduces Shirley to the thrill of the Brooklyn Dodgers and Jackie Robinson, the first African American baseball player to play in the major leagues.
Though no without its trials and tribulations, Shirley life has definitely taken a turn for the better. But there is a big surprise in store for her before the Year of the Boar comes to an end.
Though this novel may feel a little dated, it remains a wonderful story for any young reader who may also be an immigrant to the US. It is, after all, a tale of coming to terms with two cultures - that of your own and that of your adopted country. And to her credit, Bette Bao Lord has really captured some of the difficulties involved in adjusting to a new life in a new country, showing us that it isn't always easy. Perhaps she was drawing on her own experience of coming to the US as an 8 year old.
Lord does include a nice, though subtle tip of the hat to Shirley's two cultures - because this novel starts at the beginning of the Chinese New Year, the chapters are divided into months of the year 1947, with both the English word and the Chinese character given for each month.
I loved her depictions of Brooklyn and the fact that Shirley goes to a public school, where she has the opportunity to meet all kinds of different kids - Latino, African American, Jewish among others. This kind of diversity was how it was when I was in school in Brooklyn and why I sent my Kiddo to public school. And the Brooklyn Dodgers - well, people were still taking about them when I was a kid even though they had long ago moved to LA.
So in respect of New York, Lord did indeed get it right, but I had a little problem with what felt like a romanticized picture of China and the House of Wong. The war hit China pretty hard and Chungking (Chonqing) was very badly bombed. I seriously doubt there were family compounds like the House of Wong left. Perhaps it was done to show the difference between the two cultures that are so much a part of Shirley's life and who she is.
The colorful cover and the black and white illustrations at the beginning of each chapter were whimsically illustrated by the late Marc Simont.
Regardless, this is still a wonderful post war novel for young readers.
This book is recommended for readers age 7+
This book was purchased for my personal library
This review was originally posted on The Children's War
And so as the Year of the Dog became the Year of the Boar (1947), Sixth Cousin Bandit beomes Shirley Temple Wong and soon she and her mother were sailing off to their new life. Arriving in Brooklyn, Shirley finds herself living in a small third floor apartment. And it wasn't long before she is enrolled in P.S. 8, regretting that she hadn't bothered to learn any English from the records her father had sent from America as her mother had done.
Confused and anxious, Shirley is put into Mrs. Rappaport's 5th grade class. She begins be feel very lonely and isolated because she doesn't know English or American games and no one really wants to play with her once they discover that. When her father buys her roller skates, roller skating proves harder to do than she had expected and she gives it up. When Shirley proves to be a poor stickball or stoopball player, she is left out of the game. One day, she gets into a fight with Mabel, the tallest, toughest girl in class, but Shirley stands her ground despite two black eyes.
Seeing her eyes, her parents insist on reporting it to the police, but on the way, Shirley notices Mabel is following them and she determines to say nothing about the fight. Impressed by Shirley's silence, Mabel takes her under her wing and teaches her how to roller skate, and play ball. And she introduces Shirley to the thrill of the Brooklyn Dodgers and Jackie Robinson, the first African American baseball player to play in the major leagues.
Though no without its trials and tribulations, Shirley life has definitely taken a turn for the better. But there is a big surprise in store for her before the Year of the Boar comes to an end.
Though this novel may feel a little dated, it remains a wonderful story for any young reader who may also be an immigrant to the US. It is, after all, a tale of coming to terms with two cultures - that of your own and that of your adopted country. And to her credit, Bette Bao Lord has really captured some of the difficulties involved in adjusting to a new life in a new country, showing us that it isn't always easy. Perhaps she was drawing on her own experience of coming to the US as an 8 year old.
Lord does include a nice, though subtle tip of the hat to Shirley's two cultures - because this novel starts at the beginning of the Chinese New Year, the chapters are divided into months of the year 1947, with both the English word and the Chinese character given for each month.
I loved her depictions of Brooklyn and the fact that Shirley goes to a public school, where she has the opportunity to meet all kinds of different kids - Latino, African American, Jewish among others. This kind of diversity was how it was when I was in school in Brooklyn and why I sent my Kiddo to public school. And the Brooklyn Dodgers - well, people were still taking about them when I was a kid even though they had long ago moved to LA.
So in respect of New York, Lord did indeed get it right, but I had a little problem with what felt like a romanticized picture of China and the House of Wong. The war hit China pretty hard and Chungking (Chonqing) was very badly bombed. I seriously doubt there were family compounds like the House of Wong left. Perhaps it was done to show the difference between the two cultures that are so much a part of Shirley's life and who she is.
The colorful cover and the black and white illustrations at the beginning of each chapter were whimsically illustrated by the late Marc Simont.
Regardless, this is still a wonderful post war novel for young readers.
This book is recommended for readers age 7+
This book was purchased for my personal library
This review was originally posted on The Children's War
airteme's review against another edition
3.0
Listened to this book as part of my son's history. Listening to a book counts as reading doesn't it? Hehe.
afterglobe's review against another edition
4.0
4/5
I first read this book as a Russian immigrant to the United States. I was in fourth grade and this was required reading. I dreaded this book, because I knew little about reading in English and even less about baseball.
The first time I read this book, I was unimpressed. I was living my own experience of stumbling over foreign characters and words, of going up to children on playgrounds and being told to go away upon asking if I could play with them. I missed Russia fiercely - it was physically painful to think about birch trees dozing under sheets of winter snow, about the summer sun which hovered above the balmy waters of the Oka river and only dipped for an hour or two long after midnight... I missed singing old war songs with my grandmother and feeling like a princess with my hair up in bows.
I'm now twenty eight and am a dual citizen of these two amazing countries. I picked up this book out of nostalgia. This second reading struck me, because there were so many similarities in Shirley's experience and my own. I understood her longing for home on a visceral level. I understood the hollow craving for acceptance. I understood the hope for a new beginning - my own little brother was born in America. Shirley's experience was so intimately linked to my own, despite our different origins and even the difference in the places where we ended up.
Parts of this book did not age well (which is why the rating isn't higher) but overall the message is relevant even now. I recognized so many of Shirley's experiences within my own. The book is written in honest, simple, beautiful prose and reveals a world that is at once wholesome and challenging. It's an important story, one made all the more relevant by the simple fact that it continues to be repeated by immigrants over and over again.
I first read this book as a Russian immigrant to the United States. I was in fourth grade and this was required reading. I dreaded this book, because I knew little about reading in English and even less about baseball.
The first time I read this book, I was unimpressed. I was living my own experience of stumbling over foreign characters and words, of going up to children on playgrounds and being told to go away upon asking if I could play with them. I missed Russia fiercely - it was physically painful to think about birch trees dozing under sheets of winter snow, about the summer sun which hovered above the balmy waters of the Oka river and only dipped for an hour or two long after midnight... I missed singing old war songs with my grandmother and feeling like a princess with my hair up in bows.
I'm now twenty eight and am a dual citizen of these two amazing countries. I picked up this book out of nostalgia. This second reading struck me, because there were so many similarities in Shirley's experience and my own. I understood her longing for home on a visceral level. I understood the hollow craving for acceptance. I understood the hope for a new beginning - my own little brother was born in America. Shirley's experience was so intimately linked to my own, despite our different origins and even the difference in the places where we ended up.
Parts of this book did not age well (which is why the rating isn't higher) but overall the message is relevant even now. I recognized so many of Shirley's experiences within my own. The book is written in honest, simple, beautiful prose and reveals a world that is at once wholesome and challenging. It's an important story, one made all the more relevant by the simple fact that it continues to be repeated by immigrants over and over again.
farkle's review against another edition
5.0
Still a favorite after all these years. Hoping to use this to launch a project I've had in mind for a while. Stay tuned...
bookzealots's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
1.0
lots of eastern paganism and superstition
the main character gets punched in the face
the main character gets punched in the face
francium87's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0