Duey, Kathleen and Bale, Karen Earthquake: San Francisco 1906 154
pgs
Aladdin, 1998 (reprint with new cover 2014). $16.99 Content: Language: G (0
swears); Mature Content: PG13 Violence: PG
Brendan is doing all right for himself, an orphan; he makes his
living delivering baked goods and sleeping in a warehouse. In another part of
the city, Chinatown, a young girl, Li Dai Yue is upset she is being forced to
marry an older man, and wishes her life was different. When the big earthquake
strikes, Brendan is ready to help out anyone who needs assistance, but Li Dai
Yue must overcome her fears to accept help and together they try to survive.
Whoa! Hold up here. I have had this series at my book fairs and
have read quite a few myself, but this one is not going on my School library
shelves. What a shame! Unlike the others I have reviewed or read, this one contains
content I am not quite ready to have parents screaming at me about: child to
adult marriage, prostitution, alcoholism, racism, and executions. What
happened? This isn’t appropriate for a school library…especially in mine where
this series is the most popular with 3rd grade boys. Of course, we
have other, well written books in the library that lightly touch on alcoholism,
racism, ect, but I found the level of
difficult topics included in this short fast paced story to be well out
my acceptable levels. I have had this
series at my bookfairs, I hate to think I have to preview every single one with
a fine tooth comb! L
EL –NO Reviewer: Stephanie Elementary School Librarian
& Author.
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1 comment:
Sometimes there are unpleasant surprises! There are plenty of other books on this topic, I agree wholeheartedly about not having time to deal with parents who pick up these things and want to complain!
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