Red Scarf Girl: A Memoir of the Cultural Revolution Hardcover - 1997

From the rear cover

Ji-li Jiang was twelve years old in 1966, the year that Chairman Mao launched the Cultural Revolution in China. An outstanding student and much-admired leader of her class, Ji-li seemed poised for a shining future. But all that changed with the advent of the Cultural Revolution, when intelligence became a crime and a wealthy family background invited persecution'or worse. For the next three years Ji-li and her family were humilated and reviled by their former friends, neighbors, and colleagues and lived in constant terror of attack. At last, with the detention of her father, Ji-li was faced with the most dreadful decision of her young life: denounce him and break with her family, or refuse to testify against him and sacrifice her future in her beloved Communist Party.

Told with simplicity, innocence, and grace, this unforgettable memoir gives a child's eye view of a terrifying time in twentieth-century history'and of one family's indomitable courage under fire.

Media reviews

Citations

• ALA Best Books Young Adults, 01/01/1998, Page 1211
• ALA Notable Children's Books, 01/01/1998, Page 1224
• Booklist, 09/15/1999, Page 254
• Booklist Ed Choice Youth, 01/01/1998, Page 733
• Hornbook Guide to Children, 07/01/1997, Page 180
• Kirkus Review - Children, 09/01/1997, Page 1391
• New York Times, 01/18/1998, Page 18
• Publishers Weekly, 07/28/1997, Page 75
• School Library Journal, 12/01/1997, Page 139