Beyond the Moongate: True Stories of 1920s China

Gr 2–4—A sequel to Once Upon a Full Moon (Tundra, 2007), this collection of memories recalls the two years Quan's Chinese-Canadian family spent living with her grandmother in China. Each memory is told on a spread, with a few paragraphs of text and a full-page watercolor painting. These recollections are largely disjointed and incomplete. For instance, in "Chinese School," Quan mentions that she ranked almost last in her class. She states that "Papa could not have been proud of me. I so hoped that Buddha and Kwan Yin…would look down on me… with understanding and sympathy!" But the story ends there, so readers don't know how her father actually reacted. The flap copy and introduction are especially problematic, promising a "China forever gone" where "life hasn't changed for centuries." These nostalgic tales do little to address the great upheaval and change created by the political and economic realities of the time. When things such as bandits and pirates are mentioned, they are treated as a fun adventure instead of the terrorizing forces they were. While children such as Quan might not have realized the realities of the situation, or what was happening outside their compound, this lack of information greatly lessens the value of the book for modern readers.—Jennifer Rothschild, Arlington County Public Libraries, VA