Born Naughty
My Childhood in China
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Share in the joyful, adventure-filled shenanigans of a child growing up in a small mud hut in Inner Mongolia in this charming, illustrated memoir for young middle grade readers.
A KIRKUS REVIEWS BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR
Growing up in Inner Mongolia, Jin Wang was rambunctious and boisterous and did not always listen to her Ma. Jin and her family were poor, but like kids everywhere, she still found a way to have fun and get into lots of mischief climbing trees, digging for mushrooms, and even looking for wolves.
Paired with delightful, kid-friendly illustrations, this early middle grade memoir invites readers to join Jin and her family in the outskirts of Inner Mongolia to remind us that though we all have different customs and traditions, we are more alike than not, and that mischief lives within all of us.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
With Johnston (Ten Owies), debut author Wang recounts cheerful memories from her childhood in this captivating chapter book memoir.In 1982, mischievous eight-year-old Wang lives without electricity or running water in Nan Ba Zi, a rural Chinese village in Inner Mongolia that was "so little it was not even on a map." Living near a desert in "a mud hut so tiny we barely fit inside," Wang "felt the sting of its sand in the time of wind" and, because water was scarce, she "took baths once, maybe twice a year." Yet Wang finds joy in the everyday and even during routine outings with her parents, as when her father's excursion to a nearby town on a water trip yields new and exciting experiences. Though her adventures cause her mother anxiety—as when Wang justifies a worrisome tree-climbing endeavor by saying, "They held out their arms to me and said, ‘Climb.' How could I not do what the trees asked?"—things always end on an uplifting note for the endearing, pigtailed youth. Earthy, textured b&w pencil spot illustrations by Baigude (Odi's Library Day) depict Wang's antics. All characters cue as Chinese. Creators' notes conclude. Ages 7–10.
