The Basics: This
short, but intriguing novel follows the story of Adeline Yen during her
childhood in Tianjin, China. I read the book last month so many of the smaller
details have escaped me (which irks me, but the busiest time of the year has
commenced-the beginning of a new school year). Adeline considers herself the
“Cinderella” of her family because her mom died after giving birth to her and
her father and siblings (specifically her older sister) seem to harbor some
resentment towards her. Her father, a rich business man, remarried quickly
after their mother died and treated her five stepchildren like… stepchildren
(eek!). Adeline chronicles her story of a father who didn’t care what happened
to her, being placed in a boarding school with little to no visits from her
family, being separated from her aunt and grandfather which are the only two
family members who cared for her well-being, and struggling to not follow the
same fate as her older sister who was married off.
My Thoughts: I
thoroughly enjoyed this book. At first, it seemed like something I would never
read. This novel was part of the summer reading list for the eighth graders at
my school. I read the book to become familiar with the novel so I could grade
my students’ papers accordingly. I ended up enjoying this book more than I
thought which lets me know that I need to expand my genre interests.
I will say this, in the beginning I thought Adeline was
being a little too self-defeating. It seemed as though her stepmother disliked
all of her stepchildren, not just Adeline. As I continued to read, it became
painstakingly obvious that Adeline’s father could care less about Adeline. He
didn’t even know her birthday. He was Ok with the decisions made by his new
wife in dealing with her stepchildren. She treated her two children
exponentially better than her stepchildren. I would like to know what happened
to Adeline’s aunt, her brothers, and even her older sister after Adeline went
away to college.
Remember, teachers read fun stuff too!
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