Publisher blurb: Liling and her family have moved from their rural farm to an overwhelming urban city. Because of Chinese law, Liling can't go to school and spends her days with Mama or Baba at work. At the playground, the other children throw sand at her and tease her old red coat and dirty shoes. But after she shares a smile with a girl in a bright yellow jacket who lives in an apartment beneath hers, Liling has a big idea! She draws a picture and lowers it down to the girl - Qiqi - who returns it with a drawing of her own. When the new friends meet face to face, Liling takes Qiqi's hand, and they walk bravely into the park - together.
This is a perfect book to share with children when you talk about the concepts of Windows and Mirrors - or in this case just 'Windows'. I am sure the children in your Australian library group will have no idea that some children are not allowed to go to school. Reading about children who live very different lives to ours is a perfect way to build empathy. You could share this book with children aged 7+ as a way to talk about friendship and even bullying. With students from Grades 5 and 6 you could use this book to talk about the 'Rights of the Child'.
Sometimes I go to work but the can factory isn't a place for little girls either.
Liling cannot go to school because of the Chinese system called hukuo.
The children of farm workers (Chinese: 农民工; pinyin: nóngmín gōng) are not allowed to enroll in the city schools, and even now must live with their grandparents or other relatives to attend school in their hometowns. They are commonly referred to as the "stay-at-home" or "left-behind" children. There are around 130 million such left-behind children, living without their parents, as reported by Chinese researchers. (read more here) Watch this ABC video.
Alone like me was published in 2022 and is still available. I found a copy in a public library in Melbourne.
Rebecca Evans is a first-time children's book author who has illustrated several picture books written by others, including Two Is a Lot, Plants Fight Back, and If Animals Built Your House. She also illustrated Mark Weston's Finding the Speed of Light, which Kirkus called a "highlight" in a starred review. She lives in Maryland with her family.
No comments:
Post a Comment