The Dirty Thirties: The United States from 1929-1941 Book

Little Green: Growing Up During the Chinese Cultural Revolution
by Chun Yu
Non-Fiction, Memoir
128 Pages

Little Green is a girl born during the cultural revolution. Her father is sent to an academy where he is to be "reeducated", and her mother and grandparents work in the fields all day. Since the beginning of her school years, she is taught that Chairman Mao is a good person and that intellectuals and landlords are evil. Little Green is confused and asks her grandparents why the landlords were so evil. Her grandmother responds by saying that some landlords were good and treated peasants well(hinting that their family may have once been intellectuals or landlords). When she is in about middle school, their family is relocated to the city, where she is made fun of as a farmland girl. It is there where she sees people who were considered "intellectuals" executed. Her parents are worried about the revolution and fear they might be accused of not being good citizens because of their backgrounds. But they survive. The book ends with Mao's death and the end of the revolution.

I think this was a book that made me think about how lucky I am to live in America. In the epilogue it says that the author/Little Green made it to America, but others may not have been so lucky. This book is good because it is told in a poem/memoir format, showing snapshots of what happened during that time and gives you a chance to feel the life of a child born during the revolution. The book is kind of mysterious too because Little green is only half aware of what is happening around her, so the reader gets to feel the suspense of what is happening. Overall, I would rate this book a 4 out of 5.