Rating: **** (4 stars)
Age group: 11+
Type: Historical fiction
Ailin lives in China and her family expects her to have her feet bound. Feet binding is when a woman's feet are wrapped in cloths to make them small and dainty. Unfortunately this process is uncomfortable, and Ailin doesn't want to do it. Her father is okay with that, but her mother, uncle, and grandmother do not like her reaction. Eventually they let her have it her way. Plus her family decides to send her to public school! She likes school a lot, and does well. But then her grandmother dies, and her father soon follows. Now Ailin's uncle is in charge. Her uncle thinks differently from her father. He first takes Ailin out of public school, but thankfully Ailin's English teacher agrees to tutor her at her house. Ailin plans to be a teacher, but her uncle has different ideas--she's either to be a farmer's wife or be a concubine to an older man. (A concubine is a woman who is married but treated badly and just helps her husband get a son.) Ailin doesn't want to do either. Can she get out of it and do what she wants?
This book is a pretty good book. It's very realistic and even though it does have history, it's also written in such a way that it could be modern (if people bound feet nowadays). It's not exactly a pick-it-up-and-never-put-it-down kind of book, but it's still really good. Ailin is a very brave, determined, likable character, and the antagonists are like real life people so in a way they're more antagonistic than ones that are super-modern gadgety people. This actually happened, which also makes them antagonistic.
PARENTAL SECTION
Sexual parts: not really
Violence: not really.
Fighting: yes
Kissing/romance: sort of, not especially
Pregnancy: not really
Stealing: no
Vandalizing: no
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