Awards

• Nominated for Illinois Rebecca Caudill Young Readers Award 2002
• Short-listed for Rebecca Caudill Young Readers Book Award 2002
• Short-listed for South Carolina Childrens, Junior and Young Adult Book Award (Junior Book) 2001
• Winner of ALA Best Books for Young Adults 2000
• Winner of California Young Reader Medal (High School) 2004

Overview

Third Sister in the Tao family, Ailin has watched her two older sisters go through the painful process of having their feet bound. In China in 1911, all the women of good families follow this ancient tradition. But Ailin loves to run away from her governess and play games with her male cousins. Knowing she will never run again once her feet are bound, Ailin rebels and refuses to follow this torturous tradition. As a result, however, the family of her intended husband breaks their marriage agreement. And as she enters adolescence, Ailin finds that her family is no longer willing to support her. Chinese society leaves few options for a single woman of good family, but with a bold conviction and an indomitable spirit, Ailin is determined to forge her own destiny. Her story is a tribute to all those women whose courage created new options for the generations who came after them.

Full Product Details

9780440415992

Table of Contents

Reviews

&quot; Atmospheric and closely informed . . . this colorful novel has the force and intensity of a memoir.&quot; -- Publishers Weekly, Starred <br>&quot; Emotionally and historically illuminating.&quot; -- Booklist, Starred

Atmospheric and closely informed . . . this colorful novel has the force and intensity of a memoir. -- Publishers Weekly , Starred<br><br> Emotionally and historically illuminating. -- Booklist , Starred

Atmospheric and closely informed . . . this colorful novel has the force and intensity of a memoir. --Publishers Weekly, Starred Emotionally and historically illuminating. --Booklist, Starred Atmospheric and closely informed . . . this colorful novel has the force and intensity of a memoir. -- Publishers Weekly, Starred Emotionally and historically illuminating. -- Booklist, Starred

Namioka (Den of the White Fox, 1997, etc.) offers readers a glimpse of the ritual of foot-binding, and a surprising heroine whose life is determined by her rejection of that ritual. Ailin is spirited - her family thinks uncontrollable - even at age five, in her family's compound in China in 1911, she doesn't want to have her feet bound, especially after Second Sister shows Ailin her own bound feet and tells her how much it hurts. Ailin can see already how bound feet will restrict her movements, and prevent her from running and playing. Her father takes the revolutionary step of permitting her to leave her feet alone, even though the family of Ailin's betrothed then breaks off the engagement. Ailin goes to the missionary school and learns English; when her father dies and her uncle cuts off funds for tuition, she leaves her family to become a nanny for an American missionary couple's children. She learns all the daily household chores that were done by servants in her own home, and finds herself, painfully, cut off from her own culture and separate from the Americans. At 16, she decides to go with the missionaries when they return to San Francisco, where she meets and marries another Chinese immigrant who starts his own restaurant. The metaphor of things bound and unbound is a ribbon winding through this vivid narrative; the story moves swiftly, while Ailin is a brave and engaging heroine whose difficult choices reflect her time and her gender. (Kirkus Reviews)

Author Information

Lensey Namioka is the author of Yang the Youngest and His Terrible Ear and Yang the Third and Her Impossible Family.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available