The Jade Dragon

I loved this book! Ginny is a 2nd grader born in America to parents that emigrated from China. She's excited when Stephanie comes to school because she looks Chinese. Ginny desperately wants to be friends with Stephanie, and Stephanie's mom wants the same! Ginny soon realizes that Stephanie was adopted from China by white parents. Both girls are uncomfortable with their Chinese heritage and try to shun it in favor of being white like everyone else. Stephanie draws pictures of princesses with long blonde hair and she won't eat a bite of Chinese food. At a sleepover, the girls exchange secrets. Stephanie says that she wished her parents had left her in China, and Ginny admits that sometimes she wished she weren't Chinese. The story revolves around a special Jade Dragon figurine that Ginny's dad had carved for her. Ginny tells Stephanie that they were both born in the year of the dragon. Stephanie then asks Ginny to trade for the dragon, which Ginny does and immediately feels remorseful. She wants the dragon back but worries it might end their friendship. The book is a wonderful tale of friendship, family and culture. I think it would be an excellent book for children that are either immigrants themselves, or first generation Americans. I know I related to it very much, although I'm not Chinese, I immigrated to the United States with my parents when I was 5 years old and I really related to the way Ginny felt. Children with different cultural backgrounds dance on a tight rope - they feel connected to their parents and their culture, but of course they want to fit in with their "American" friends and thus feel the need to shun their heritage. It's a very difficult spot to be in. I could also relate to Ginny's mom, her character rang very true - if you're from another country, you want to hold on to your culture and traditions, sometimes a little too much and Ginny's mom fell into that. Unlike some of the other reviewers, I didn't think the authors disparaged adoption. Children of adoption, especially foreign adoption, face their own sets of cultural issues and the book reflects that. I was touched by how deftly the authors presented both girls - Ginny wants to be like Stephanie, and it turns out that Stephanie wants to be like Ginny, in the end they realize that they each have something special. It's told more through Ginny's perspective, she realizes that what makes her different, also makes her special. I think that's the lesson we all try to teach our children.

This book is fantastic because it deals with real struggles and the ups and downs that come with childhood. It's obvious that the author works with children and has an excellent memory of what childhood was like. I think the story would help an adopted child feel validated. As an adopted child from a different culture people never know how to label the child. They expect the child to be one culture, yet they are really just as "american" as everyone else. I loved the contrast of two chinese children who have drastically different home lives. They both have reason to see the grass as greener on the other side. The plot is riveting. They should make it into a movie!

This is a story of two Chinese girls -- Stephanie, born in China and adopted by a white American couple, and Ginny, born in the US of Chinese parents who adhere to customs of their homeland. Each is struggling to find her place in a society where she might fit in, where each is so different from classmates and neighbors. American-born Ginny is deeply immersed in the Chinese traditions of her family. She is thrilled to see another girl at school who has the same Asian look as she does. She feels they have a common link which will lead to friendship. Stephanie is cherished by her adoptive family. While she is being raised as an all-American girl, her mother also wants Stephanie to embrace her heritage. Stephanie resists with everything she's got. She resents her Chinese looks. She wants the blond hair and blue eyes of the girls she admires at school. This story is a sensitive look at the question of assimilation, friendship, and acceptance.

I've been reading a lot of children's books this year that have the feel of A Stranger Comes To Town. Or, in the world of kid literature, A New Kid Comes To School. There have been stories where the new child is overweight, where the new kid has been horribly burned, and where the new kid is sexually abused. Imagine my relief, then, when I pick up something like, "The Jade Dragon". In this book, the new kid is just a small girl of Chinese descent. Judging from its slim size (only 160 some pages), I didn't expect much from this book. Imagine my surprise then when I found it to be a surprisingly multifaceted story tucked inside a seemingly simple package. Author Carolyn Marsden has teamed with school teacher Virginia Shin-Mui Loh to tell a tale of second grade morality and what it truly means to be a friend. When Ginny sees that the new girl in her class, Stephanie, is Chinese-American just like her, she's thrilled beyond words. Finally! The daughter of Chinese immigrants, Ginny has been dying for a kid "just like herself" for a long long time, and here she is! The only problem is that Stephanie doesn't seem to realize that she's the answer to Ginny's prayers. She doesn't seem to like Chinese food or associate with Ginny's culture whatsoever. Then the truth comes out. Stephanie was adopted from China when she was just a baby. Her parents are WASPs and she couldn't care less about her Chinese roots. Tentatively the two begin a friendship, but it isn't until Ginny lends Stephanie her prized jade dragon heirloom that the two begin to become close. Now she has a friend, but also a horrible choice. Ask for the dragon back and lose the one person she wants to stay close to forever and ever, or lose something that's truly a part of her. What this story does beautifully is set up your average child reader's personal prejudices and then knock them flat, one by one. On the one hand, kids reading this book might get mad at Stephanie for not being interested in Chinese culture. On the other hand, they'll have a hard time denying that Stephanie's room (a kind of fantasy bedroom for sparkle-inclined little girls) is just the kind that they themselves would love to have. The authors are also careful to put in the subtlest of racist insults as well. At one point Ginny is wearing a red cheongsam against her will. She wanted to wear the fluffy Barbie-like dress her father bought her, but her mom insisted she wear a cheongsam instead. When Stephanie's mother sees Ginny, she's charmed. "I wish Stephanie would wear something like that. You look like a little China doll". Later at a sleepover, Stephanie confesses to Ginny that sometimes she wishes she could be white and blond and "American". Ginny knows what she means. Hopefully the book will make it clear to kids that such wishes, innocent though they may be, aren't so hot. The book is a period piece of sorts, taking place in the year 1983. I suspect that perhaps some details in this

A new girl has arrived in Ginny's class. Stephanie looks just like her: Chinese. Ginny is excited that she won't be the only Chinese girl anymore, and she hopes that Stephanie will be her best friend. Friendship with Stephanie doesn't turn out the way Ginny expects. Stephanie has white parents, and she won't touch Chinese food or clothes. So when Stephanie wants to borrow a hand-carved jade dragon, Ginny doesn't want to say "no." Besides, MaMá probably won't notice if it's gone a few days. Then Ginny learns that getting it back will be harder than she thinks, and that friendship with Stephanie is complicated. Won't anything go the way Ginny expects? Set in the early 1980s, this is a sweet story that hinges on the tremendous force of cultural collision. What does it mean to carry on one's cultural identity in another country? Immigrant children face even greater questions when thrust into the position of not-quite old country, and not entirely American. Marsden and Loh approach these weighty issues by offering a sensitive, gentle story from a little girl's point of view. While Ginny's story was set two decades ago, it is highly relevant to children affected by today's immigrant population explosion. Suburban and urban classrooms are more diverse than ever before, and it's important for children to be sensitive to classmates who must face cultural differences. Ginny is a character that these children can relate to, as well as someone who can teach "native" kids to look beyond exotic faces and clothing. This book is a great pick for individual or classroom reading. Reviewed by Christina Wantz Fixemer 01/31/2007