From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. *Picture book and cookbook author Compestine (The Real Story of Stone Soup) turns to 1972 China as the setting for her first YA novel. Eight-year-old Ling, the spunky daughter of two doctors, lives in Wuhan, China; dreamy and idealistic, she often describes her world in metaphor (about her neighbor, Ling notes, Mrs. Wong was fragrant and warm like a red peony, which always welcomed visitors). But the lives of Ling and her family are disrupted when Comrade Li, an officer of the Communist Party, moves into their apartment. Difficulties mount as friends and neighbors disappear, Ling's father is arrested and she endures vicious tormenting at school because of her bourgeois background (At times I wished my family was poor and my parents worked on a vegetable farm... so I could have friends. But if my parents worked on a farm, who would treat their patients?). Although her father has been jailed, her family starved and their books burned, Ling fights to keep her long hair, a symbol of dignity and individualism to her, though her classmates see it as emblematic of Ling's privilege. Ling survives on wit, hope and courage until the death of Chairman Mao, after which she and her mother have a joyful reunion with Ling's father. Readers should remain rapt by Compestine's storytelling throughout this gripping account of life during China's Cultural Revolution. Ages 10-up.

Awards:

* 2008 ALA Notable Children's Books
* 2007 San Francisco Chronicle Best Children's Fiction Book List
* 2008 Chinese American Librarian Association Best Book
* 2007 New York Public Library 100 Best Titles for Reading and Sharing
* 2007 Fall Book Sense Children's Picks
* 2007 Parent's Choice Silver Honor
* 2007 Cybils Award Nomination for Young Adult Fiction
* 2008 Tayshas Reading List (Texas)
* 2007 Chicago Public Library Best of the Best
* 2007 Cleveland Public Library Celebrate With Books
* 2007 Cuyahoga County Public Library Great Books for Kids
* 2008 Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People — CBC and the National Council for Social Studies
* 2008 IRA Notable Books for a Global Society
* 2008 NCTE Award
* 2008 Capitol Choices — Best Books of the Year, Washington, D.C.
* 2008 New York Public Library's Teen Age List
* 2008 Cooperative Children's Book Center — Best of the Year
* 2008 Bank Street College of Education — Best Children's Book
* 2008 Notable Children's Book in the Language Arts
* 2008 Book of the Year Award — Northern California Independent Booksellers Association
* 2008 Women's National Book Association's Judy Lopez Memorial Awards Honor
* 2008-09 Maine Student Book Award

Reviews:

* A vivid account of one of the sad follies of history, made rich with details that only an impressionable young witness could supply — The Christian Science Monitor

* In her spare, lyrical style, [she] vividly portrays a world turned upside down — San Francisco Chronicle

* A "gripping account of life during China's Cultural Revolution" Publisher's Weekly Starred review

* "The Chinese Revolution is up close and personal in this touching historical novel" — Book Sense Picks for Autumn 2007

* Lyrical yet gripping — Kirkus Reviews

* "An excellent addition to historical fiction about this period in China's history." — School Library Journal

* "Beautifully descriptive phrases allow this autobiographical fiction to come alive…Violence is highlighted in vivid detail — Voya

* "Like her cookbooks and children's books, food plays an important role in her novel…" — Lamorinda Sun

* "…a great book – there's no other way to put it." — Virginia Pilot

* "[The] clipped, lyrical first person narrative sets a naïve child's struggle to survive in the political panorama of spies and slogans." — Booklist

Gut wrenching. Riveting... significant — Richie Partington

* A vantage point rarely seen in books about this era... An inspiring story — Shelf Awareness