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A review by allysonbogie
Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok
5.0
by Jean Kwok
AR Level 5.7
I should start by saying I just read this book in about 32 hours--I couldn't put it down! The story was so interesting and compelling, and I just really wanted to know what would happen to Kimberly. Kimberly and her mom immigrate to Brooklyn, NY from Hong Kong when Kimberly is in 5th grade. She and her mom are so poor that they live in an apartment in a condemned building--for 7 years! No one is supposed to be living there. Their apartment has no heat, and many broken panes of glass in the windows. They are freezing, and they face roaches, mice, and rats every day.
Kim's mom works at a clothing factory in Chinatown, earning 1 or 2 cents for every skirt that she finishes. Kim also works there after school, even though sweatshops are illegal in the United States, and she is also too young to work. Kim has to hide her poverty and work in the sweatshop from all of her friends and teachers.
Kim reads English pretty well but has trouble understanding spoken English. However, she excels at math and science and is awarded a full scholarship to an exclusive private school for her work. Her English steadily improves. She, and the reader, know that her only chance of helping her mother and making a change in her life is to be successful in school. She goes to lengths that many of us couldn't even dream of to help her mother earn money and also succeed in school. Read the book to find out what her future holds--and whether she ever gets away from the freezing apartment and the cockroaches.
This book was very good, and I highly recommend it. The story is excellent, as is the writing. It does a great job of communicating cultural differences through language and translation. I am not an immigrant so I don't know what the experience is. However, there are some parts of the book that seem so extreme that they are unrealistic. Overall, it's wonderful!
AR Level 5.7
I should start by saying I just read this book in about 32 hours--I couldn't put it down! The story was so interesting and compelling, and I just really wanted to know what would happen to Kimberly. Kimberly and her mom immigrate to Brooklyn, NY from Hong Kong when Kimberly is in 5th grade. She and her mom are so poor that they live in an apartment in a condemned building--for 7 years! No one is supposed to be living there. Their apartment has no heat, and many broken panes of glass in the windows. They are freezing, and they face roaches, mice, and rats every day.
Kim's mom works at a clothing factory in Chinatown, earning 1 or 2 cents for every skirt that she finishes. Kim also works there after school, even though sweatshops are illegal in the United States, and she is also too young to work. Kim has to hide her poverty and work in the sweatshop from all of her friends and teachers.
Kim reads English pretty well but has trouble understanding spoken English. However, she excels at math and science and is awarded a full scholarship to an exclusive private school for her work. Her English steadily improves. She, and the reader, know that her only chance of helping her mother and making a change in her life is to be successful in school. She goes to lengths that many of us couldn't even dream of to help her mother earn money and also succeed in school. Read the book to find out what her future holds--and whether she ever gets away from the freezing apartment and the cockroaches.
This book was very good, and I highly recommend it. The story is excellent, as is the writing. It does a great job of communicating cultural differences through language and translation. I am not an immigrant so I don't know what the experience is. However, there are some parts of the book that seem so extreme that they are unrealistic. Overall, it's wonderful!