As a 9th grade social studies teacher, I have made one supremely valuable observation about young teenagers: they have a very finely tuned sense of justice and injustice. Young teens will constantly jump to express outrage at situations that the perceive as unfair, whether it is that the seniors have more freedom at school than the freshmen, or that someone somewhere in some distant corner of the globe is being denied their rights as a human being. All issues, whether great or small, are assimilated within the mind of a young teenager into categories of fairness and injustice. It is when they view something as unjust that a young teenager becomes enraged, vocal, or opinionated.

In an effort to engage my students in reading through tapping into that well of interest in unjust situations, I buy a lot of books about young people whose lives are not fair at all. Chinese Cinderella is one of the better books of the bunch.

Written by Adeline Yen Mah, Chinese Cinderella: The true story of an unwanted daughter chronicles Adeline's childhood in China and Hong Kong. After Adeline's mother dies giving birth to her, Adeline's siblings blame her for their mother's death. Worse yet, Adeline's father remarries a year later. His new wife smothers her own children with affection while pushing the children from her husband's first marriage as far away as possible. Adeline, her sister, and her brothers are treated as second-class citizens within their home by both of their parents.

After Adeline speaks up against her stepmother when she witnesses the woman beating her young half-sister, Adeline's stepmother carries a deep grudge against the young girl. Adeline is treated severely, given no pocket money, and is not allowed to play with her friends after school. No one comes to school to witness Adeline accept her multitude of academic awards. When Adeline becomes lost in the city streets one night, nobody notices that she is gone.

Gradually, the neglect becomes worse, and Adeline is subjected to her stepmother's hatred more and more often. Her pet duck is used as a target for the family dog, she is beaten when her friends unexpectedly come to the house to throw her a surprise party after she is elected to lead their class at school, and she is sent away to a foreign-run religious boarding school as communist forces are advancing toward that city.

In the years that follow, Adeline bounces from school to school, always brilliant academically, but always fearing that her stepmother will marry her off to an older man before she can even finish her schooling, as she did Adeline's older sister. Despite the anxiety and the constant neglect and hatred that are forced onto her, Adeline remains strong and courageous enough to survive her situation after realizing for herself that she is worth far more than her family recognizes.

Chinese Cinderella is a beautifully written book. Adeline Yen Mah writes directly and simply, using a style that will appeal to her target audience of young adult readers. She writes of human emotions with subtlety and nuance even as she describes her own thoughts and feelings with incredible candor and perceptiveness. She is not self-pitying, nor is she self-centered. This is a well-grounded, honest autobiography that leaves the reader with the sense that the author is, above all else, a fairly normal person who has had to overcome many obstacles in order to become so healthy and positive.

The setting of Chinese Cinderella, China at the time of the Communist Revolution, makes an interesting background for the universally appealing story of a child overcoming neglect to become a gifted author and physician. While this is not specifically a history book, young people with an interest in the history of Asia will find much to appreciate within its pages. In particular, the book offers an interesting portrait of how the Communist Revolution in China influenced a family of prominent capitalists.

My students have reacted positively to this book; it is usually one of the first to be chosen at silent reading time. The girls in the class are especially fond of it, and seem to be extremely sensitive to the injustice of Adeline's situation. It has starred in quite a few worthwhile book reports since I purchased it for my classroom.

I heartily recommend Chinese Cinderella for young adult readers who like to be outraged at injustice, and for teachers who like to make their students a little outraged from time to time.

Recommended: Yes