Girl Under a Red Moon: Growing Up During China's Cultural Revolution

Chen (China's Son) casts his steadfast oldest sister, Sisi, as the heroine of this middle grade memoir, which depicts the tense atmosphere at the dawn of China's Cultural Revolution. When Chairman Mao comes to power in 1949, Communist policies forcefully disrupt Chinese society, and Sisi, an exemplary 13-year-old student, is expelled from school because of her grandfather's former wealth. When Mama sends her to another town, eight-year-old Da, the family's youngest child, insists on walking Sisi partway there; after they're assaulted by school bullies, Sisi decides to take Da with her. Though the two quickly adjust to life in Bridge Town, they face additional trials as political tensions mount. Drawn directly from Da's life, the anecdotal chapters don't have the drama and resolution of a novel's arc. Weighty topics, including politically motivated brutality, which are perhaps best suited to older middle grade readers, are relayed in stark, sometimes graphic prose: "their gooey brains splashed all over the walls of their ancestral home." Still, Chen balances the scenes of violence with deftly painted landscapes, finding lyricism in the mundane in this illuminating young person's view of the Cultural Revolution. Ages 8-12. Agent: Alex Glass, Glass Literary. (Sept.)

Gr 4-6-During China's Cultural Revolution, being a landowner (or a former landowner, or someone related to one) was a dangerous role with far-reaching consequences. Chen's memoir details many of those consequences through his experiences with his older sister Sisi. After endless torment in school for her heritage, Sisi attempted to end her life by jumping off a cliff. When a neighbor interceded, Sisi was given an opportunity to run away to a farming school in another village even more rural than her own—and brought Da along in the hope of bettering his life, too. What the siblings found at their new school in Bridge Town was hard labor during the day, education in the evening, and protection in Principal Jin, a resistor of Chairman Mao who hoped the remoteness of the village would keep him and his students safe. But the Cultural Revolution came for Bridge Town, too, and with it came tragedy. Chen's memoir brings the Cultural Revolution to life, though readers will have to pay close attention, as some details important to the story are addressed only briefly. VERDICT This memoir of Maoist China will find a deserving place in classrooms alongside Ji-lin Jiang's Red Scarf Girl as a teaching tool of Chinese history.-Katherine Barr, Cameron Village Regional Library, Raleigh, NC