The House of Sixty Fathers

I read this book as a child and, in turn, read it to my children. It has a permanent place in our hearts. It is the well written story of a young Chinese boy and his beloved pig, "Glory of the Republic", who get separated from his family and caught behind Japanese lines when Japan invaded China in the late 1930's. It has some very scary moments. It also has tragedy. I think your child should be about 5th or 6th grade to be able to fully appreciate it. But the book will open your eyes as to what it might be like as a child to be caught in a war. The boy does get reunited with his family, but have your kleenex handy. As a parent you will definitely need it at the end.

I read this book aloud to my sixth grade reading class. They loved it, and always wanted to hear more. Its also a great way to introduce students to some of the history of China, Japan and US involvement in the war there.

Boys can be picky readers, so I always take notes if they actually love a book. My 8 year old carried this book everywhere and told be about it every night for a week. Besides Redwall or Harry Potter, this is the first book he has raved about.

My teacher read this book to our class when I was about 8 and I remember it was the only book where the whole class was silent and listened to every word! I have been trying to track this book down for the last few years as I could not remember the exact title (I thought it was 50 fathers!). Now I have found it at last I will look forward to reading it to my own children. Thanks to Mrs Mason, my class teacher at Christchurch Infants' School, Christchurch, Dorset for introducing it to me. It is a wonderful book, the story of which has stuck in my mind for many years since!

My sixth grade teacher read this to our class twenty-five years ago. It's a story about a Chinese boy adopted by sixty American pilots in China during World War II. Tien Pao and his pet pig, Glory of the Republic, are separated from his parents when their sampan drifts back toward Japanese lines. I'll leave the rest of the story to you.