Status
Available
Call number
Publication
HarperCollins
Pages
320
Description
Publishers Weekly Best Book * ALA Best Book for Young Adults * ALA Notable Children's Book * ALA Booklist Editors' Choice Moving, honest, and deeply personal, Red Scarf Girl is the incredible true story of one girl's courage and determination during one of the most terrifying eras of the twentieth century. It's 1966, and twelve-year-old Ji-li Jiang has everything a girl could want: brains, popularity, and a bright future in Communist China. But it's also the year that China's leader, Mao Ze-dong, launches the Cultural Revolution-and Ji-li's world begins to fall apart. Over the next few years, people who were once her friends and neighbors turn on her and her family, forcing them to live in constant terror of arrest. And when Ji-li's father is finally imprisoned, she faces the most difficult dilemma of her life. Written in an accessible and engaging style, this page-turning autobiography will appeal to readers of all ages, and it includes a detailed glossary and a pronunciation guide.… (more)
Collection
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1997
Physical description
320 p.; 7.62 inches
ISBN
9780064462082
Similar in this library
Lexile
780L
User reviews
LibraryThing member cestovatela
Jiang Ji-li is just 12 years old when the Cultural Revolution sweeps through China. Once at the top of her class, she loses both her academic standing and the respect of her peers when her family's aristocratic history is revealed. Her home is ransacked, her parents interrogated and over and over
What separates this book from dozens of other Cultural Revolution memoirs is Jiang Ji-li's ability to convey a child's-eye perspective of the events she witnessed. I clearly saw the conflict she and so many other children faced: kids instinctively love and respect their parents, but at the same time, the school system preached "parents are dear, but Chairman Mao is dearer" from kindergarten on. This, coupled with a child's desire to help their country and win approval from authority figures, forced children into a tough dilemma -- protect your family or protect your country and your own future.
Although I found this book interesting and poignant, it is aimed at middle school students. The writing style and ideas the book deals with are correspondingly simple. 11- to 13-year-olds should be able to read this book and learn about world history without getting too upset. For adults who already know something about the Cultural Revolution, this would be a good choice to broaden your perspective. However, if it will be your first journey to China's recent political past, try an adult-level memoir first. Red Azalea by Anchee Min and Wild Swans by Jung Chang are both excellent.
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again, she is given a choice: break ties with her "black" parents or share their dismal fate. What separates this book from dozens of other Cultural Revolution memoirs is Jiang Ji-li's ability to convey a child's-eye perspective of the events she witnessed. I clearly saw the conflict she and so many other children faced: kids instinctively love and respect their parents, but at the same time, the school system preached "parents are dear, but Chairman Mao is dearer" from kindergarten on. This, coupled with a child's desire to help their country and win approval from authority figures, forced children into a tough dilemma -- protect your family or protect your country and your own future.
Although I found this book interesting and poignant, it is aimed at middle school students. The writing style and ideas the book deals with are correspondingly simple. 11- to 13-year-olds should be able to read this book and learn about world history without getting too upset. For adults who already know something about the Cultural Revolution, this would be a good choice to broaden your perspective. However, if it will be your first journey to China's recent political past, try an adult-level memoir first. Red Azalea by Anchee Min and Wild Swans by Jung Chang are both excellent.
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LibraryThing member MrsBond
Memoir of a young girl as she and her family live through the Cultural Revolution in China. Documents her struggle of who to trust - family or government. Text flows simply and beautifully. Includes: glossary.
LibraryThing member Niecierpek
Ji-li Jiang was twelve years old when Mao started his restructuring of the country that later became known as his Cultural Revolution. Her account was interesting, not revelatory for me, but had a quality in the narration that I really liked- even though it is a memoir, Jiang manages to narrate it
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in the voice of the brain washed twelve year old. Show Less
LibraryThing member heathersblue
Incredibly sad story of a child living through the cultural revolution. Well written and teeming with lessons about history and how dangerous leadership without a well determined legal system can become.
LibraryThing member librarymeg
Many Americans, myself included, have an opinion about China, Communism, or most likely both. What most of us have neglected to do is explore how valid our opinions are. Ji-Li Jiang's memoir was written for children, and because she is a teacher her book is very accessible for most elementary
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school-age kids. It's no less interesting or valuable for adults, though, simply because we are not her intended audience. Red Scarf Girl brings us with Ji-Li as she grows up in the height of China's cultural revolution, not long after the beginning of Communism in that country. It's an unclouded, child's-eye view of both what it's like to grow up in these conditions, as well as how political atrocities can take root in a community of normal, well-intentioned citizens. It also has strong themes of the importance of family, and of understanding your beliefs and the costs of holding them. This book was touching, frightening, hopeful, and infuriating by turns, and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to anyone, especially in light of the upcoming Beijing Olympics. Show Less
LibraryThing member jb03bps
Jiang lives through the Cultural Revolution. This book allows you to understand what it means to live through a revolution. So many people are hurt because of what their family status was before the Cultural Revolution.
LibraryThing member patrickpx2014
I am similar to Ji Li, the main character of the book. I live in Shanghai and am about the same age. Personally, I think Red Scarf Girl is a book suitable for kids of all age, who are interested in learning about The Cultural Revolution.
LibraryThing member ursula
A good children's-level book about the Cultural Revolution.
LibraryThing member moonbridge
Good children's story that shows how good people can be easily swayed by government censorship and media control.
LibraryThing member callmecayce
While geared for YA readers (and I highly recommend this biography), Jiang's book is a harsher book compared to some of the other's I've read. Jiang's family is considered a 'black' family (against the CCP) and she suffers the consequences, even though she's not directly responsible for anything.
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She doesn't pull back from the hard life she led, but nor does she shy away from talking about the good things (however few and far between they were). A good supplement to people interested in the Cultural Revolution and a great book for teens interested in China. Show Less
LibraryThing member prkcs
An interesting view of the Chinese cultural revolution from the perspective of a child who finds out that her family background is bad and that she will never be able to rise within the party. It is a very personal and disturbing insight into the communist takeover in China.
LibraryThing member HankIII
Last semester, I had my 9th graders read this book; a few enjoyed it and were interested in the Cultural Revolution. Ji-Li Jiang writes clearly and the book is moving; I've read better books about that time, but all in all, it gives a strong personal glimpse into that terrible time, and for that,
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and that alone, I would recommend it particularly for 9th to 12th graders. Show Less
LibraryThing member petrong
1998 Notable Children's Books (American Library Association)
1998 Best Books for Young Adults (American Library Association)
This is a great book to use in a Social Studies class as a support for 20th century Chinese History. Young Ji-Li is at first excited by the changes that Mao is instituting
1998 Best Books for Young Adults (American Library Association)
This is a great book to use in a Social Studies class as a support for 20th century Chinese History. Young Ji-Li is at first excited by the changes that Mao is instituting
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for the Cultural Revolution, yet soon learns that her family is of a bad class status. Show Less
LibraryThing member angela.vaughn
I have read several books about China's cultural revolution, and I wish I had found this book first. I loved that Jiang added a glossary at the back for words and phrases commonly used during that time. I felt she really wanted to bring understanding to the readers, and she did a wonderful heart
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felt job. You get a sense of that time, knowing that you could never fully understand unless you lived it too. I will be giving this book to my younger daughter to read soon, and hope it will be the starting point of a great love for all of the Asian culture-good and bad, and the strength of its people. Show Less
LibraryThing member matthew254
Red Scarf Girl was a dollar pickup at my local thrift store. I was intrigued at the context and historical value but was let down at the less-than-fairy-tale ending. In fact, it's really anti-climatic. What it amounts to is a huge sad buildup that never resolves. I can't honestly say that it's one
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of the best memoirs on the planet (as some would claim in some reviews) but it is historically relevant and appropriately aimed at young adults. Show Less
LibraryThing member NathanielLouisWood
This book depicts two years in the life of a girl who begins as a dedicated revolutionary, and not until the end of this story does she become disillusioned with the revolutionary fervor sweeping China during the Cultural Revolution. This book is full of those intimate details of life during a
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tumultuous period of history such as how she has to get to market not only early but she must get in the fastest lines, and have others saving her spot in others. all this just to get the vegetables for the day's cooking. Red Scarf Girl is an emotional book which will make the reader love this girl, Ji Li, and hate the Red Guard and its many incarnations over the two years we are with her. The Red Guard are shown to be bullies and little else. The logic used is also simplistic as is shown when the shops that Ji Li decide are Four Olds are all made to change their names and even one will change its name to the exact name they had made up as elementary school children that day. The writing is engaging, if not miserable at times. This book would be invaluable as an introduction to the Cultural Revolution for students from High School onward. Show Less
LibraryThing member laurenryates
I have never studied the Cultural Revolution of China, so this book was a huge surprise to me. The book starts with 12 year old Ji-li Jiang during the beginning of the revolution. She does well in school and is very popular, but when she is selected to audition for the Central Liberation Army Arts
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Academy, her parents forbid her, knowing their class will effect her acceptance. Her parents try and shield her from much of the goings on, but she is still ridiculed for her social class because her grandfather was a landlord. The rise of the Red Guards starts to make the book seem like it is telling the story of the Holocaust. The Red Guards come in and search her house. Her father is detained among false accusations. She soon finds that her mother is trying to expose the Red Guards in a letter she is writing. The Red Guards come and search the house again and find the letter. Her mother and grandmother are punished and she is forced to take on the responsibility of her family. In the end, her father is released and they eventually move to America where she realizes how truly terrible Communism is, although she still feels a connection to her old country. She later starts a business in the hopes to bridge the gap between the two countries. I really enjoyed this book as I did not know much about the cultural revolution. It was interesting to read that in the end she still felt loyalties to her country, even though they were treated so badly there. I think this would be an excellent book for any high school student to read as Ji-li is easy to relate to. Show Less
LibraryThing member dgrandits
A great book to use in conjunction with Global history and the Chinese cultural revolution. Set in 1966, it speaks of Chairman Mao as the one who is going to cleanse China of its "fourolds" (old ideas, customs, culture, and habits of mind). Even children are recruited to uphold the new idealogy.
Key points: class status, struggling with the demons of your past, following ideology blindly.
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They don their red scarves to show solidarity to the cause. But, Ji-Li can't really be a part because her family comes from a history of "landlords" and that is considered bourgeois. We see her struggle with her family heritage and desire to be something she's not. Yet, in the end, she remains true to herself even though her father is taken away and held captive. She moved to the US in 1984, became a science teacher and eventually an author.Key points: class status, struggling with the demons of your past, following ideology blindly.
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LibraryThing member econnick
This autobiographical non-fiction book is a Ji-li Jiangs's historical account of life during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Because she was a wealthy girl she was criticized by the Red Guard for her family’s history. Not only does this book allow the reader to glimpse the world of Mao’s
This book can be a great tool to expand students' knowledge of life in the east. This little girl experiences intense emotions and makes difficult decisions. Allowing my students to explore this decision making process and weigh the different things that are important to them can shed light on their place in the world. This book becomes more than just an autobiography. It encourages a reader to want to know more. I personally kept asking myself, "Why do I not know more about this?" A book that can spark an interest in a subject that I once was completely ignorant about can surely have a place on my bookshelf.
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brainwashing, but it also documents Ji-li Jiang's personal struggles as temptations to denounce her family mounted in order to claim loyalty to her country. This book can be a great tool to expand students' knowledge of life in the east. This little girl experiences intense emotions and makes difficult decisions. Allowing my students to explore this decision making process and weigh the different things that are important to them can shed light on their place in the world. This book becomes more than just an autobiography. It encourages a reader to want to know more. I personally kept asking myself, "Why do I not know more about this?" A book that can spark an interest in a subject that I once was completely ignorant about can surely have a place on my bookshelf.
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LibraryThing member lucybrown
Ji-Li Jiang's memoir of her young girl year during the Cultural Revolution is riveting, horrifying, deeply moving account. At the end of her elementary school days, Ji-Li was the girl most likely to succeed, star student, martial art performer, and student body leader. Before the school year is out
Written in a spare style, Jiang captures her emotional struggle to be loyal to her family while still trying to prove herself do be an "educable child" despite her family's "black" status in a way that will touch young readers. As a tender hearted child Ji-Li also struggles to balance her own revolutionary zeal with her horror of the persecution of her neighbors. A few years ago I had a 12 year old student who never read anything but Manga, rarely did her work, and had a litany of discipline issues. She was just too cool for school. I suppose I should add she happened to be one of my favorites despite all that. I spent half a year trying to keep out of trouble and the other half cheering her on as she began to pull herself up to star student status herself. That year Ji-Li came to our school to speak to the 7th graders. My student was so excited; she had a list of questions. At the end of Jiang's presentations she stood up, tears in her eyes, and called out, "I love you Ji-Li Jiang! Peace!" My girl seems to have read at least book before, and Jiang's book was that one. Little Miss Cool was so touched by the book she had actually read it several times. Now that I have read it myself I understand my student's response entirely. I too love Ji-Li. Still love that kid too even though she was a major pain for most of the year.
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Mao's Cultural Revolution takes hold upturning her world and home. Her star status as a student is held against her by young revolutionaries. Her family background as former landlords leads to the family's descent into a political hell. Written in a spare style, Jiang captures her emotional struggle to be loyal to her family while still trying to prove herself do be an "educable child" despite her family's "black" status in a way that will touch young readers. As a tender hearted child Ji-Li also struggles to balance her own revolutionary zeal with her horror of the persecution of her neighbors. A few years ago I had a 12 year old student who never read anything but Manga, rarely did her work, and had a litany of discipline issues. She was just too cool for school. I suppose I should add she happened to be one of my favorites despite all that. I spent half a year trying to keep out of trouble and the other half cheering her on as she began to pull herself up to star student status herself. That year Ji-Li came to our school to speak to the 7th graders. My student was so excited; she had a list of questions. At the end of Jiang's presentations she stood up, tears in her eyes, and called out, "I love you Ji-Li Jiang! Peace!" My girl seems to have read at least book before, and Jiang's book was that one. Little Miss Cool was so touched by the book she had actually read it several times. Now that I have read it myself I understand my student's response entirely. I too love Ji-Li. Still love that kid too even though she was a major pain for most of the year.
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LibraryThing member autumnesf
This is actually my daughters book - it was given to her by her 4th grade teacher while we were in our wait for referral. This is a good book. I read it in one day (although it is thick, it is written at about a Jr. High level). I hope Cierra reads it as it will give her quite an education on the
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cultural revolution. Highly recommend for your teens or even for adults. Show Less
LibraryThing member Yona
In a true account written 30 years after it took place Ms. Jiang did an outstanding job of creating her voice as a child. It was very simply written but very, very effective at conveying the confusion, stress and fear of a child trying to reconcile the beliefs with which she's been thoroughly
The ending caught me off guard but I can understand why she may have chose to end the story at that point and the epilogue answered some questions and briefly wrapped things up.
It was a very worthwhile read.
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indoctrinated by a government in complete control with what she's witnessing around her and what's happening to her family and herself.The ending caught me off guard but I can understand why she may have chose to end the story at that point and the epilogue answered some questions and briefly wrapped things up.
It was a very worthwhile read.
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LibraryThing member KatClark
I finished it in a day. It's a brilliant book. I love how the author shows just how much the people inside the system didn't understand it. The children are oblivious, blindly crossing each other to do what they think is right. They are told that the government is doing the right thing. Up until
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about halfway through the book, the main protagonist has no doubt that the government was doing what was right for everyone. Great read. Show Less
LibraryThing member Remy_Ferrell
I never read or did any study of China's 20th century history so when I picked up this book to read I did not know what to expect. The book is a memoir written about Jiang's life during the China's Cultural Revolution, in which Mao Zedong created. The story is anything but pleasant. I was sad and
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scared for Jiang and her family as I read the book. I really appreciated what what Jiang wrote because she did an amazing job of telling a part of China's history in an easy and understandable way, which most other history books have trouble doing. This book is a must read for those who are interested in or for those who don't know anything about China's history. Show Less
LibraryThing member xherculesx
Red Scarf Girl is the memoir of young a young girl living during the Cultural Revolution, her name is Ji-Li Jiang. At the start, Ji-Li was the top student in her class who encouraged anything having to do with the current revolution. As the story progresses, Ji-Li struggles with her class status
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because her grandfather was once a landlord. Because of her current 'black' class status, Ji-Li is forced to lose many opportunities in the community. As the Cultural Revolution progresses, Ji-Li and her family encounters many abuses towards them because of their class standing. Now Ji-Li finally has the chance to become socially accepted by becoming an educable child, but at the cost of abandoning her family for the rest of her life. This memoir of a 12 year old girl having to deal with her internal conflict in the Cultural Revolution is an amazing read for anyone curious about the conditions of communist China in the mid 1900s. 5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Would recommend to any World History student. Show Less
Subjects
Awards
Pennsylvania Young Reader's Choice Award (Nominee — Grades 6-8 — 2000)
Judy Lopez Memorial Award for Children's Literature (Medalist — 1998)
Best Fiction for Young Adults (Selection — 1998)
CCBC Choices (1997)
NCTE Adventuring with Books: A Booklist for Pre-K—Grade 6 (12th Edition: 1996-1998)
ALA Outstanding Books for the College Bound (Biography — 1999)
Notable Children's Book (1998)
Call number
J4D.Jia