Three Years and Eight Months by Icy Smith, illustrated by Jennifer Kindert

Living in Hong Kong, 10 year old Choi is told to go home when he arrives at school on the morning of December 8, 1941.  The Japanese are bombing Hong Kong amd on the way home, he sees soldiers breaking into shops and homes and taking people away.  Afraid, Choi makes his way home just in time to see his mother being led away by a soldier.  Already fatherless, Choi is left alone with just his Uncle Kim.

Hong Kong was a British colony and on Christmas Day 1941, British and Canadian forces surrender it to the Japanese and leave.  Within months, more people have disappeared, food is scarce and people are starving, whole villages are set on fire.

To survive, Choi and Uncle Kim head out to the mountains to collect firewood to sell to the Japanese along with Uncle Kim's friend Aaron and his son Taylor.  Taylor's mom, who is American, was in the states when the invasion of Hong Kong happened.  The two boys take their firewood and sell it to a soldier, Watanabe-san.

Watanabe-san is kind to the boys and teaches them Japanese.  Within a year, he gets them jobs as "slave boys" at the Japanese military station.  Uncle Kim promises to visit him every week, but also asks Choi to listen carefully to what the Japanese soldiers say in his presence.  He might hear something important.

Taylor is asked to deliver a package across town and when he returns, he tells Choi he has seen his mother scrubbing clothing by hand.  Choi asks if he can make the next delivery and he, too, sees his mother and even has a brief conversation with her.  He continues to make deliveries in order to see her.

One day, Uncle Kim comes to visit and tells Choi about the shortage of medical supplies to help wounded Chinese people.  Choi knows where the Japanese keep these supplies and tells his uncle he will get them to help his people.

And so Choi and Taylor begin resistance work along with Uncle Kim.  But can they get away with it for long under the watch of Japanese soldiers?  The answer may surprise you.

The story is told in the first person by Choi.  The language is simple and clear, giving enough detail of events without being overly graphic.  Although this is a picture book, it is for older readers, not young children.  And, in fact, since many kids begin to learn about WWII in 4th or 5th grade, it is an ideal choice for use in the classroom.

Based in part on the stories her father and grandmother told her about their experiences living under Japanese occupation in WWII, Icy Smith has given us a rare look at what life was like for the people of Hong Kong at that time through Choi, a character that seems to be modeled on her dad.  Do read her dedication to them to fully appreciate the story in this book.  The title, Three Years and Eight Months, is exactly the amount of time that Hong Kong was occupied.

Choi's story is complimented and enhanced by the beautifully detailed watercolor illustrations of Jennifer Kindert.  As you study each thoughtful illustration, you will notice subtle touches that broaden the story and tell you more about what life was like then.   Choi was only 10 when the Japanese arrived, but was 13 1/2 when the war ended and Kindert has successfully depicted that maturation.

At the end of the book, there are five pages of back matter, called Remembering History, that gives more detailed information about life and conditions in Hong Kong, including black and white photos and a map of countries in the Pacific that were occupied by the Japanese.

This is a valuable contribution to documenting the history of China in WWII and should not be missed.

This book is recommended for readers age 10+
This book was borrowed from a friend.

In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson by Bette Bao Lord, illustrated by Marc Simont

It is the Year of the Dog (1946), the war is over and China is no longer an occupied country.  In Chungking (now Chonqing), members of the House of Wong are preparing to celebrate Chinese New Year when a letter arrives from Brooklyn, NY that will change the life of Sixth Cousin AKA Bandit and her mother forever.

And so as the Year of the Dog became the Year of the Boar (1947), Sixth Cousin Bandit beomes Shirley Temple Wong and soon she and her mother were sailing off to their new life.  Arriving in Brooklyn, Shirley finds herself living in a small third floor apartment.  And it wasn't long before she is enrolled in P.S. 8, regretting that she hadn't bothered to learn any English from the records her father had sent from America as her mother had done.

Confused and anxious, Shirley is put into Mrs. Rappaport's 5th grade class.   She begins be feel very lonely and isolated because she doesn't know English or American games and no one really wants to play with her once they discover that.  When her father buys her roller skates, roller skating proves harder to do than she had expected and she gives it up.  When Shirley proves to be a poor stickball or stoopball player, she is left out of the game.  One day, she gets into a fight with Mabel, the tallest, toughest girl in class, but Shirley stands her ground despite two black eyes.

Seeing her eyes, her parents insist on reporting it to the police, but on the way, Shirley notices Mabel is following them and she determines to say nothing about the fight.  Impressed by Shirley's silence, Mabel takes her under her wing and teaches her how to roller skate, and play ball.  And she introduces Shirley to the thrill of the Brooklyn Dodgers and Jackie Robinson, the first African American baseball player to play in the major leagues.

Though no without its trials and tribulations, Shirley life has definitely taken a turn for the better.  But there is a big surprise in store for her before the Year of the Boar comes to an end.

Though this novel may feel a little dated, it remains a wonderful story for any young reader who may also be an immigrant to the US.  It is, after all, a tale of coming to terms with two cultures - that of your own and that of your adopted country.  And to her credit, Bette Bao Lord has really captured some of the difficulties involved in adjusting to a new life in a new country, showing us that it isn't always easy.  Perhaps she was drawing on her own experience of coming to the US as an 8 year old.

Lord does include a nice, though subtle tip of the hat to Shirley's two cultures - because this novel starts at the beginning of the Chinese New Year, the chapters are divided into months of the year 1947, with both the English word and the Chinese character given for each month.

I loved her depictions of Brooklyn and the fact that Shirley goes to a public school, where she has the opportunity to meet all kinds of different kids - Latino, African American, Jewish among others.  This kind of diversity was how it was when I was in school in Brooklyn and why I sent my Kiddo to public school.  And the Brooklyn Dodgers - well, people were still taking about them when I was a kid even though they had long ago moved to LA.

So in respect of New York, Lord did indeed get it right, but I had a little problem with what felt like a romanticized picture of China and the House of Wong.  The war hit China pretty hard and Chungking (Chonqing) was very badly bombed.  I seriously doubt there were family compounds like the House of Wong left.   Perhaps it was done to show the difference between the two cultures that are so much a part of Shirley's life and who she is.

The colorful cover and the black and white illustrations at the beginning of each chapter were whimsically illustrated by the late Marc Simont.

Regardless, this is still a wonderful post war novel for young readers.

This book is recommended for readers age 7+
This book was purchased for my personal library

Leaving China: An Artist Paints His World War II Childhood written and illustrated by James McMullan

When James McMullan's grandparents, James and Lily McMullan arrived in China in 1888, it was with the intention of doing missionary work among the Chinese people in Cheefoo in the Shantung Peninsula (now called Yantai, in Shandong province).  But it didn't take long for that to change.  When they discovered that poor, destitute and hungry families would leave their baby girls to die rather than feeding them, they began saving them and raising them, soon building an orphanage and school for the growing girls.  The girls learned to speak English and how to do cutwork embroidery and before long, the McMullans had quite a busy commercial enterprise going.

Into this were born their own four children, who were raised in China, but sent abroad for further education.  The youngest son, James, studied music in Vancouver, Canada and married a Canadian girl named Rose.  James returned to China with Rose and in 1934, James McMullan Jr. was born.

Life was pretty good for the family, until one day the tortured dead body of a Chinese man washes up on the beach and young James begins to understand the fear and dread that has been underlying life in China since 1931.  Then, in 1937, the Japanese Army arrived in Cheefoo and life changed.  Road blocks were set up and anyone without papers suddenly faced an uncertain future.  And worse still, anyone without proof of having been inoculated against Cholera, was injected on the spot with the same needle used for everyone else.

By 1941, it is decided James and his mother would leave China, though his father is not allowed to go and instead enlists in the British Army.  Leaving China begins a round the world journey that will take James from Cheefoo (Yantai) to Shanghai to Western Canada, New York, Bombay (now Mumbai), Srinigar, Darjeeling, Calcutta (now Kolkata), Chungking (now Chonqing) , Shanghai and back to Western Canada, all while still a child.

James only saw his father once during the war, in Darjeeling, India when he was about to be enrolled in St. Paul's School there  It wasn't a good visit and sadly, James Sr. was later killed in a air crash.

Leaving China is certainly a different kind of memoir.  It is really a series of 54 one page memories with a corresponding illustration of the facing page.  The memories are simple and personal, yet they tell a story not only about James McMullan's life but they also give a picture of what life was like in China during the 1930s and early 1940s.

Like the memories, the full page painted illustrations are simple, yet have a quality that goes much deeper than the actual picture.  I wasn't surprised to recognize the artwork since I have been looking at Jame McMullan's wonderful Lincoln Center theater posters for years now.  McMullan wrote that for Leaving China, he wanted to catch the dream-like quality his memories held for him and in that respect, he has certainly succeeded.

As a memoir with a difference, this is certainly one that many readers will appreciate.  Don't be fooled into thinking that because there are so many illustrations, this is a children's picture book.  It is definitely  a book for older readers, and a wonderful supplement for anyone interested in Chinese history and/or World War II.

This book is recommended for readers age 12+
This book was an E-ARC received from NetGalley

This is book 15 of my 2013 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge hosted by Historical Tapestry

The House Baba Built: An Artist's Childhood in China by Ed Young and Libby Koponen

 About a year ago, I reviewed Allen Say's autobiographical work Drawing from Memory and the effect World War II had on his life growing up in Yokohama, Japan.  Ed Young's The House Baba Built is also an autobiographical work and describes his life in Shanghai, China during the war.

Ed Young's father was an engineer and realizing that war was coming to China, he decided he needed a safe place for himself, his wife and five children to live in.  The safest place would be around the foreign embassies in Shanghai, known as the International Settlement.  But land there was expensive and so Baba (an affectionate term for father) made a deal with a landowner - Baba would built a house on his land with the proviso that his family could live in it for 20 years.  The family moved into the house in 1935 and for the first few years that they lived in Baba's house, life was good.  There was a lovely swimming pool, where friends and family would gather in summer, there was lots of pretend playing, lovely gardens and even a roof that made a great roller skating area.  Life wasn't rich in goods, but it was rich in so many other ways.

But when the Japanese invaded Nanking in 1937, Baba had to build an apartment where the kids roller skated because relatives from there had escaped to Shanghai to live.  After that, the effects of the war began to be felt more and more.  And in 1940 a family who had escaped Hitler's Germany, the Luedeckes, also moved into Baba's house.

The three families living in Baba's house were very fortunate.  Even after things changed with the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the loss of British and American protection, the house that Baba built was able to withstand the war, and even when bombs were being dropped directly on Shanghai, they missed the house completely.

When the 20 years were up, the Young family honored their contract and turned the house over to the landowner.  By then, most of the children had grown, married and gone their own way.

It was during the war, living in Baba's house, that Young discovered his talent as an artist.  Given crayons and paper to use while recovering from a cold, his first attempt at drawing was a cowboy that didn't quite match what was in his mind.  But he sought guidance and the rest is history.  For The House Baba Built, he used a mixed media, which gives it depth and texture.  Young's family is shown in an interesting combination of old photographs and drawings, there are all kinds of collages (my favorite art form), and some of the pages fold out to reveal even more of the life of the Young family in Baba's house.

Most of the book consists of vignettes that are put together to resemble the collages, rather than a linear history of Young's early life.  However, there is a timeline at the end which can help orient the reader if needed.  And there is an extended section at the end of the book of later photographs, including Baba's house, as well as a diagram of the house and some facts regarding how the house was built to bombproof it.

All in all, The House Baba Built is an interesting book for all kinds of readers, but especially a reader who likes to explore each and every page of an illustrated book.  This is a work that proves itself to be an insightful look at some of the early influences on a beloved author/illustrator.

This book is recommended for readers age 8+
This book was borrowed from the Webster Branch of the NYPL


Facts First! Nonfiction Monday is hosted this week by ProseandKahn

Chinese Cinderella and the Secret Dragon Society by Adeline Yen Mah

In Chinese Cinderella: the True Story of an Unwanted Chinese Daughter, Adeline Yen Mah told the story of her life growing up in Shanghai, China during the 1940s as the daughter of a prosperous father and a cruel stepmother. In Chinese Cinderella and the Secret Dragon Society, she has taken the same story and turned it into an exciting fantasy novel.

Ye Xian, nicknamed Chinese Cinderella or CC, is 12 when her father throws her out of the house for being disrespectful to her stepmother. She befriends three boys who live with their kung fu teacher, Grandma Wu, at the Martial Arts Academy. David is half American, half Chinese and a Christian; Sam is half German, half Chinese and Jewish; Marat is half Russian, Japanese and Muslim; Grandma Wu is Chinese and a Buddhist. The boys are orphans, very proficient in kung fu, and belong to The Dragon Society, a branch of the Shaolin Association of Wandering Knights, dedicated to helping the oppressed and downtrodden.

Pretty soon, CC has also joined them and becomes quite skillful at kung fu and wishes to join the society. China has been occupied by the Japanese since 1937 and it is now 1942. One night, Grandma Wu and her son, Master Wu, gather the children together and explain a secret plan to help American flyers who are planning to bomb Japan. They soon travel to southeast China, but the plan goes awry and the group end up rescuing 5 Americans who crash land on the Chinese island of Nan Tian. Now, they must get the badly injured Americans to mainland China where they can get medical help, but the sea around the island are patrolled by Japanese soldiers.

They finally do manage to board a sail boat called a Junk, but soon they are pursued by a Japanese gunboat. It looks like they will all be caught when the breeze dies down and the Junk comes to a standstill. But they are saved by Ling Ling, a dolphin that had been befriended and trained by David and her dolphin cousin Bumby.

Back in Shanghai, CC, whose family thinks she has been living with her beloved Big Aunt, is advised to move back home because her stepmother is threatening to accuse her aunt of kidnapping. But living at home doesn’t last long. When CC receives a package from Big Aunt, who has been temporarily living on Nan Tian Island, which incriminates both of them in the rescue of the Americans, her stepmother implies she is going to permanently end CC relationship with her aunt.

CC runs away to Grandma Wu, but they receive very bad news about a violent Japanese attack in Nan Tian, including the death of Big Aunt. CC naturally suspects her stepmother of having a hand in this unusually cruel behavior. At the same time, she comes up with a plan to rescue other Americans being held prisoner by the Japanese at Bridge House in Shanghai, the same prison Marat’s older brother is a prisoner.  Can yet another exciting escape succeed?

I thought this was a very interesting tense story, full of adventure, though sometimes the writing was a little too pedantic. Nevertheless, Yen Mah writes compassionately about these children who are considered to be outcasts by society. The tone of the whole story is one of hope and resourcefulness even in the face of brutality, oppression and vindictiveness – by the Japanese occupiers and for CC, also by her stepmother.  In the face of all that, friendship, overcoming, and even acceptance become important themes throughout the story.

Through CC’s initiation into The Dragon Society, Yen Mah is able to weave extensive explanations about important Chinese culture and beliefs into the story. At the heart of The Secret Dragon Society is the philosophy of Taoism, including the life force Qi (pronounced Chee), the Yi Jing (or I Ching), the concepts of yin yang, the principles of strength, power and control embedded in kung fu and the Chinese Zodiac. Sometimes this gets complicated. For instance, when CC is told to consult the Yi Jing by casting the yarrow sticks before joining the society, I was totally lost. I found the writing confusing here, though it did peak my interest in the Yi Jing and I will probably get more information on it. I am afraid younger readers might just skip over these parts, but hopefully not be discouraged from finishing CCs story.

The central story, the rescue of the Americans, is based on a true event. In April 1942, Jimmy Doolittle actually did lead a bombing raid on Japan, but the outcome was very different than the one in Chinese Cinderella and the Secret Dragon Society.

This book is a historical novel and so there is a Historical Note at the end of the book, which I would recommend reading first. It gives a brief history of the author’s family and the Japanese occupation of China and the true events surrounding the bombing of Japan and its cruel aftermath unleashed by the Japanese against the Chinese. In that way, the reader knows what is factual and what has been fabricated by the author.

Despite some of the problems with this novel, I would still highly recommend it. Personally, I think it would be more beneficial for this novel to be read under the guidance of a teacher, given some of the content. There is an extensive teaching guide available on Adeline Yen Mah’s website that would be very useful for that. And it might be interesting to read this fantasy novel in tandem with its biographical counterpart, Chinese Cinderella: the True Story of an Unwanted Daughter.

This book is recommended for readers age 10-14.

This book was purchased for my personal library.

This is book 2 of my East and SouthEast Asia Challenge hosted by Violet Crush

From the Archives #11: Sons of the Dragon by Phyllis Ayer Sowers

Like Pearl S. Buck, Phyllis Ayer Sowers spent much of her life living in China and other Asian countries and has written several books for children set in these countries. Sons of the Dragon was written in 1942. It is basically about how the Second Sino-Japanese War, began in 1937, affected lives of two families, but actual story begins in a few years earlier.

The novel follows two mains characters who come from similar backgrounds, but who experience the Second Sino-Japanese War in different but intertwined ways. Moonflower, 14, lives in the walled ancestral home of the Ching family and Wu Liang, 18, who is the son of the family Wu, the rival of the Ching’s in Chun-ko, in central China. Liang no longer lives at home after joining the Chinese army of General Chiang Kai-shek.

Though the book begins with a happy occasion, the marriage of Moonflower’s older sister Lotus, talk of war has already filtered into the isolated lives of the Ching family, yet they choose to ignore it and continue their quiet lives behind the walls of their estate.

After Lotus leaves to live with her husband and his family, as custom dictates, word comes that Eddie Ching, Moonflower’s older brother, will be returning home from his studies in Shanghai for a visit. Eddie, now quite Westernized, is also full of talk of war and criticism of General Chiang’s pre-1937 policy of co-operation with the Japanese.

Three more quiet years pass in Chun-ko, and Lotus comes to visit, to tell the family that she is moving to Nanking because of her husband’s high position in the Central Government of Chiang Kai-Shek there. Soon after, Moonflower travels to Shanghai with her family to meet a possible husband. They stay in the International Quarter of Shanghai, but the trip is cut short when the Battle of Shanghai begins in August 1937. The Ching family return to Chun-ko, only to discover that there has also been bombing there. By now, Eddie Ching has left school and joined the Chinese Army. He eventually is shot by a Japanese soldier and dies. His family doesn't receive this devasting news until much later.
Wu Liang is also in the Chinese army and, like Eddie Ching, he is angry and impatient with General Chiang’s attitude towards the Japanese, but becomes even angrier when he learns that Peiping (now Beijing) is being bombed by them. In the army, he is engaged in committing act of sabotage against the advancing Japanese whenever possible. While carrying secret documents by plane to the government in Nanking, Liang finds himself near home when the plane crashes. He discoveres that the Wu ancestral home has been burned to the ground by the Japanese, with no survivors. He runs into Moonflower and there is an instant attraction, but he must leave to deliver the documents he is carrying to Chiang Kai-Shek in Nanking.

As the war progresses, more bad news arrives from Lotus, who writes that she and her family are being evacuated to Hankow, since the Japanese have threatened to destroy Nanking after taking it over and in December 1937, this threat does result in the massacre of Nanking.

As the fortunes of the Ching family begin to diminish and the Japanese move closer, they are forced to flee Chun-ko in a small boat with the help of Liang. They end up living outside the walls of a city with Moonflower’s selfish, sneaky sister in law, Silver Breeze, who appears to be working for the Japanese (yes, I know, who is Silver Breeze?  She apparently was married to an older Ching brother who died before the novel began.)

This can be a complicated novel, particularly for those of us not as familiar with the Second Sino-Japanese War as we probably should be. It certainly isn’t quite as interesting as Lisa See’s more recent Shanghai Girls, in which much of the action also occurs in 1930s China.  I found the timeline in the beginning of Sons of the Dragon somewhat confusing and the flowery, often metaphorical language seemed unnatural. At one point, for example, Liang is asked the time, looks at his western-style watch and replies “Nearly the Hour of the Rat. That train is as slow as a lame donkey” (pg 39) I thought the language was a stereotypical portrayal of the way Chinese people spoke based on Western expectations. 

Prior to World War II, China was a very patrilineal society and the names of the characters indicate this. Grown male characters names were simply Romanized versions of their Chinese name, like Wu Lliang or Ching Li, Moonflower’s father. The female character names and any young boys were direct translations of the character with no Romanization, so you names like Moonflower, Lotus, Small Perfection (the son of Lotus), or Little Worthless. One would never call an adult male Big Perfection.

The novel is illustrated throughout with both black and white pen and ink drawings and a few color illustrations.  They were done by the author's sister Margaret Ayer, a writer and illustrator in her own right. 
This is from the inside cover of Sons of the Dragon.

For today’s reader, historically, it is an interesting look at this part of China’s past. Culturally, however, I am afraid there may be many inaccuracies in the portrayal of Chinese society.

See Chiang Kai-Shek for more information on his life.
See Second Sino-Japanese War 1937 for a more historical perspective on this war, including a very helpful map.

This book is recommended for readers 13 and up.
This book was purchased for my personal library.

This is book 1 of my East and SouthEast Asia Challenge hosted by Violet Crush
This is book 8 of my Forgotten Treasures Challenge hosted by Retroreduxs Reviews