Why Not? Because I Said So Book Reviews and Author Interviews. : The Paper Daughters of Chinatown: Adapted for Young Readers by Heather B. Moore and Allison Hong Merrill-Middle Grade Fiction Book Review

Sunday, May 7, 2023

The Paper Daughters of Chinatown: Adapted for Young Readers by Heather B. Moore and Allison Hong Merrill-Middle Grade Fiction Book Review

Book Summary

Based on the true story of two friends who unite to help rescue immigrant women and girls in San Francisco’s Chinatown in the late 1890s.

When Tai Choi leaves her home in the Zhejiang province of China, she believes it’s to visit her grandmother. But despite her mother’s opposition, her father has sold her to pay his gambling debts. Alone and afraid, Tai Choi is put on a ship headed for “Gold Mountain” (San Francisco). When she arrives, she’s forced to go by the name on her forged papers: Tien Fu Wu.

Her new life as a servant is hard. She is told to stay hidden, stay silent, and perform an endless list of chores, or she will be punished or sold again. If she is to survive, Tien Fu must persevere, and learn who to trust. Her life changes when she’s rescued by the women at the Occidental Mission Home for Girls.

When Dolly Cameron arrives in San Francisco to teach sewing at the mission home, she meets Tien Fu, who is willful, defiant, and unwilling to trust anyone. Dolly quickly learns that all the girls at the home were freed from servitude and maltreatment, and enthusiastically accepts a role in rescuing more.

Despite challenges, Dolly and Tien Fu forge a powerful friendship as they mentor and help those in the mission home and work to win the freedom of enslaved immigrant women and girls.

Product Details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Shadow Mountain (April 11, 2023)
Genre: Middle-Grade Fiction
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 240 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1639930949
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1639930944
Reading age ‏ : ‎ 10 - 13 years
Grade level ‏ : ‎ 4 - 6
****I received a complimentary book from publishers, publicists, NetGalley, book tours, and or authors. A review was not required and all opinions and ideas expressed are my own.****

My Review

I was thrilled to receive the chance to read The Paper Daughters of Chinatown: Adapted for Young Readers. I read the original best-selling novel The Paper Daughters of Chinatown by Heather Moore. This book really touched readers and became a big hit. I was excited to read the version adapted for young readers done by both Heather B. Moore and Allison Hong Merrill.

If you want to read my review of the original book go HERE.

I was very impressed by how the authors told this story for young people. The main ideas showed the sad facts of young girls being sold into slavery and prostitution without showing the more gritty and sordid side. The message of the love and empathy shown by Dolly and the other women who worked at The Occidental Mission Home for Girls is clearly shown in this new adaptation. My heart was again touched by the courage and fortitude of Dolly and her helpers. Tien Fu Wu's story is highlighted in this version as she struggles to learn and to trust again after being sold as a slave several times. Her story is one that will stay with you for quite some time. At the end of this novel, the main character focus of the original novel, Mei Lien was brought into the spotlight.

I truly enjoyed reading this adapted version of The Paper Daughters of Chinatown. Though the harshness from the original has been toned down, I'm glad there is a way to share the stories of the many girls whose lives were turned upside down but were given hope and redemption because of Dolly Cameron and The Occidental Mission Home for Girls.

****Meet The Authors****

Heather B. Moore

Heather B. Moore is a USA Today bestselling author of more than ninety publications. Heather writes primarily historical and #herstory fiction about the humanity and heroism of the everyday person. Publishing in a breadth of genres, Heather dives into the hearts and souls of her characters, meshing her love of research with her love of storytelling.

Her historicals and thrillers are written under pen name H.B. Moore. She writes women's fiction, romance and inspirational non-fiction under Heather B. Moore, and . . . speculative fiction under Jane Redd. This can all be confusing, so her kids just call her Mom. Heather attended Cairo American College in Egypt and the Anglican School of Jerusalem in Israel. Despite failing her high school AP English exam, Heather persevered and earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Brigham Young University in something other than English.

Please join Heather's email list at: HBMoore.com/contact/
Website: HBMoore.com
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And yes, the Blog still lives: MyWritersLair.blogspot.com

Literary honors: 2020 Goodreads Choice Award Semi-Finalist, Foreword 2020 INDIES Finalist, ALA Best New Books - September 2020, 6-time Best of State Recipient for Best in Literary Arts, 2019 Maggie Award Winner, 4-time Whitney Award Winner, and 2-time Golden Quill Award Winner.

Heather is represented by Dystel, Goderich, and Bourret.

Allison Hong Merrill

Allison was born and raised in Taiwan and arrived in the U.S. at age twenty-two as a university student. That's when she realized her school English wasn't much help when asking for directions on the street or opening a bank account. By recording each of the classes she took––including physical education––and reviewing the tape every night for a year, she eventually learned English well enough to earn an MFA in Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts. But please excuse her if she misuses the verb tenses or mixes up the genders in third-person pronouns when she speaks. It's no secret; English is a hard language to learn.

Allison writes in both Chinese and English, both fiction and creative nonfiction, which means she spends a lot of time looking up words on Dictionary.com. She's a Pushcart Prize nominee and her work has won both national and international writing contests: Grand Prize in 2010 Life Story Writing Contest in Taiwan, Grand Prize in the 2019 MAST People of Earth writing contest, the inaugural winner of Sandra Carpenter Prize for Creative Nonfiction, first-place winner of the 2019 Segullah Journal writing contest, first-place winner of 2020 Opossum flash contest, and many more.

Visit her at allisonhongmerrill.com, where you can sign up for her extremely short monthly email.