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This book takes place in China during the cultural revolution.  The author takes us back to her childhood through her memories.  Times are tough for Ji-Li and her family as the country changes under the leadership of Mao Ze-dong.  Because of her family's history,  she is forced to make some tough decisions.  Will she remain loyal to her family or be persuaded to leave them to join the other children and join the Red Guard? This book was sad at times,  but it was still very good to read.

Spring 2002

Jaing Ji-Li lives in China during the Cultural Revolution.  She is smart and succeeds in almost everything she does.  She thinks her family is perfect until they are humiliated because they are a black family, which means they have things from the old times and this is against the law in China.  Ji-Li accomplishes many things that she is not allowed to do because she has a black family.  This is a true story is about Ji- Li and her family and their struggles.

I really love this story about the author.  It is very sad and scary to read about everything she goes through. It is also a very exciting book because a lot of things happen that you don't expect.

Spring 2002

The Red Scarf Girl is an intriguing story based on the author's childhood. Jiang Ji-li (Ji-li Jiang in most of the book because in China only very close friends and family refer to a person by saying their first name first) lives in China in 1966 during the Cultural Revolution. The Cultural Revolution is when Mao Ze-dong, leader of the Communist Party and head of China from 1949 to 1976, turns the people of China into Communists.  Communism is an order of government where things such as territory and resources are owned by an entire community and used to support all of the community's members.  Although this system may sound very fair and equal, it is not at all.

Imagine being very wealthy, assuming that the money is earned with good, hard work, and having a nice home. Then imagine Communism taking over your town , taking your house and well-earned money,  leaving you and your family about one-fourth as prosperous as you were before Communism.   Communism also turns family members and friends against each other and even causes many individuals to be brutally beaten or killed.

You may think no one dies from a government system, but things like accusations of being "Four Olds" (having to do with or having possession of remnants from the old, socialist, non-Communist society) can be used as a Red Guard's excuse to harass or even kill people and destroy possessions.  The Red Guards are young Communist followers who patrol like police, trying to keep Four Olds out of a town or other area. 

Ji-li's childhood is not easy and her family's past does not make things any better.  This is a wonderful page-turner about Ji-li's struggle to fit in and be a good Communist girl in a terrible Communist China.         

I thoroughly enjoyed reading The Red Scarf Girl because it gave me a vivid idea of what struggle really is.  I normally don't like books based on historical events,  especially books that have to do with violence,  but this book is quite an exception. The in-depth detail made me feel exactly what the characters were feeling. The author has an incredible past of sadness, confusion, and victimization and I admire the fact that she can write about it so well.   Having such specific memories of her upbringing in Shanghai  gives the reader an extraordinarily clear vision of some of the most interesting, yet miserable, times in the world's history,  the changing of the political positions of countries.

Spring 2002

I'm sure all the people who read Red Scarf Girl  will agree that it is a very sad book.  It is about Ji-Li Jiang and her family's life during the Cultural Revolution.  Throughout the book Ji Li Jiang is not allowed to do things because her grandfather is a landlord and there are other family problems.  She goes through life with her family being beaten for everything.  She doesn't know when or if this torture will ever end.  To find out more,  read this great book.

Spring 2002

Jiang Ji Li lives in China with her mother, father, grandmother, brother and sister.  Chairman Mao has started communism, so everything is changing in China.  They are in a revolutionary war.

People are losing their jobs and  they are not allowed to own things other people are allowed to have.   With Communism everyone and everything is supposed to be equal.   Sometimes Red Guards  come to people's houses to see if they have belongings that are "four olds."    Jaing Ji Li's house was searched twice,  both times taking almost all of their beloved possessions.  A lot of people that Jaing Ji Li has known for a long time are being arrested for owning "four olds."       

Jaing Ji Li  is  worried because she has a bad family background.  Her grandfather is a landlord and her father is arrested for something he didn't do.  So Jiang Ji Li's life is miserable.

This book can get confusing at parts, so I wouldn't recommend it to anyone under ten years old. To find out what happens to Jiang Ji Li,  you have to read The Red Scarf Girl.

Spring 2002