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.
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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.
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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.
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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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Stage your own play!
Students can produce their own play with this Reader's Theater script from CYRM.
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Resource Guide
Teachers can use this resource guide from California Young Reader's Medal to help teach Revolution.
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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.
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Awards & Accolades
Praise for Revolution is Not a Dinner Party
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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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