Ying Chang Compestine
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  • Home
  • About
    • Spokesperson
    • Media Appearances
    • Ying's Articles
  • Bookcase
    • Novels
    • Children's Books
    • Cookbooks
  • School Visits
    • Preparing for a School Visit
    • Classroom Activities
    • Writer in Residence
    • Testimonials
  • Public Speaking
    • Popular Lecture Topics
    • Spokesperson
    • Testimonials
  • Calendar
  • Contact
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YOUR CART

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A Conversation with Ying

This book is based on your childhood in Wuhan, China, during the 1960s and 70s. Is Ling in many ways a fair representation of you growing up? What are some of the similarities and differences?

Ling’s childhood experiences are similar to my own. I was about Ling’s age when my family got caught up in the events of the Cultural Revolution. Ling’s personality is a lot like mine. Many of her emotions and reactions to events draw on my own experiences during the Cultural Revolution, and her way of thinking reflects the way I saw the world as a child. For this reason, developing Ling’s character was the easiest part of writing this book. I was a little spoiled, but I also had a fighting spirit. And like Ling, I yearned for freedom and dreamed about going to America.

Click here to read more.

Why I Wrote Revolution

Originally published in Knowledge Quest.
Growing up during China’s Cultural Revolution, I constantly hungered for two things: food — because everything was rationed, and books — because they were burned.

​Click here to read more.

Discussion Guide

Readers can use the discussion guide to help start a conversation.
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revolution.pdf
File Size: 545 kb
File Type: pdf
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Find more classroom resources at TeachingBooks.net.

Stage your own play!

Students can produce their own play with this Reader's Theater script from CYRM.
revolution_readers_theater.pdf
File Size: 336 kb
File Type: pdf
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Resource Guide

Teachers can use this resource guide from California Young Reader's Medal to help teach Revolution.
pdfresizer.com-pdf-resize__1_.pdf
File Size: 425 kb
File Type: pdf
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Teacher Notes from Amnesty International

Teachers can use this guide from Amnesty International UK to help classrooms learns about human rights.
Revolution Amnesty International
File Size: 576 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

Find more classroom resources at TeachingBooks.net.

Awards & Accolades

Praise for Revolution is Not a Dinner Party


A “gripping account of life during China’s Cultural Revolution”
— Publisher’s Weekly Starred Review

“[The] clipped, lyrical first person narrative sets a naïve child’s struggle to survive in the political panorama of spies and slogans.”
—  Booklist

“The Chinese Revolution is up close and personal in this touching historical novel”
— Book Sense Picks for Autumn 2007

"Lyrical yet gripping"
— Kirkus Reviews

“An excellent addition to historical fiction about this period in China’s history.”
— School Library Journal

“A vivid account of one of the sad follies of history, made rich with details that only an impressionable young witness could supply"
— The Christian Science Monitor

“In her spare, lyrical style, [she] vividly portrays a world turned upside down”
— San Francisco Chronicle

“Beautifully descriptive phrases allow this autobiographical fiction to come alive… Violence is highlighted in vivid detail
— Voya

“Like her cookbooks and children’s books, food plays an important role in her novel…”
— Lamorinda Sun

“…a great book – there’s no other way to put it.”
— Virginia Pilot

"Gut wrenching. Riveting… significant"
— Richie Partington

"A vantage point rarely seen in books about this era… An inspiring story"
— Shelf Awareness

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