The Dragon of Lonely Island

I have to disagree about this book, as I thought the chapter on Mei Lan in Ancient China is really inappropriate. Mei Lan is described as a "worthless girl" repeatedly in this chapter. This book was read by a fourth grade teacher in front of my daughter (who was adopted from China as an infant)

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and it was very harmful for her to hear. Even the happy ending 20 pages later did not balance hearing about a girl who looked like her being described as worthless. No child is worthless. Should this book be read in school? Even in the Chinese culture, which has a harsh attitude toward female children to this day, the birth of a girl is called a "small happiness" and the birth of a boy is a "big happiness." The first few lines of this book describe Mei Lan as "knowing that she was only a worthless girl." I find this chapter disturbing and inappropriate, especially to be read by a teacher in the classroom who doesn't negate this attitude STRONGLY. By the way, my daughter was bullied the rest of the year by someone in her classroom after this book was read. I don't know if there is cause and effect here, but this book and teacher set the tone for a really awful school year.

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