In this sequel to Homesick, Jean tells of her return to China, 55 years after leaving. Feeling as if she had truly come home, she visits her old house, church and school, speaks Chinese again, and introduces her husband, Michael, to the country she had loved as a child. She also finds she needs to adjust to the changes that decades of communist rule brought to her beloved China. In spite of the changes in her hometown of Wuhan, Jean is given a precious gift when she is made an honorary citizen of her childhood hometown.
Reading level: age 8-12 years
Jean Fritz draws readers into the stories of her childhood in China in the chaotic 1920s. She tells stories of the bond with her nurse Nai-Nai , her mother’s grief, and her longing for a homeland in the USA that she hasn’t actually ever seen. This recounting of 2 years of her childhood may not seem enough so there is also a sequel too– China homecoming. And though this is written as junior fiction, it will appeal to adults too.
Reading level: age 8-12 years
Kathy is in her first year at boarding school in northern China when Japanese soldiers arrive to take the children and teachers to a prisoner of war camp, where they were to remain for several years. Kathy and her older brother face hardships, disease and discouragement, but their teachers remind them that “The soldiers cannot take God out of this camp” and encourage them to find joy in small things. During her imprisonment, Kathy befriends a Japanese guard, and they celebrate together when the war ends. Although it is not expressly stated, the girl in the story is almost certainly an MK. Her experience as a prisoner of war, of course, is not especially typical, and her friendship with the guard is not given much attention. The focus of the book is on Kathy’s courage in the midst of frightening circumstances. Questions at the end of the book can initiate discussions with elementary aged children about dealing with fear, how to live peaceably with others, and why countries have wars.
Reading level: age 8-11 years
Loosely a sequel to Chinese Children Next Door, this story is a little bit longer and focuses more on the experience of the American child than on teaching about Chinese culture. In this book Mother surprises her children with a Chinese meal, complete with chopsticks. As they eat she tells them a story about when, as a little girl, she found a white stone that she thought might be
magic and her subsequent adventure with two Chinese children and their water buffalo. Also out of print for a long time (published in the 1943), this book is hard to find.
Reading level: age 7-10 years
At bedtime one night four young children learn that their American mother lived in China when she was a little girl. After they beg her to tell them about that faraway place, she agrees to tell one story – the story of the neighbor children and their family. After three daughters the family begins hoping for a son, but their babies continue to be girls until finally, after six lovely daughters, they have a boy. The storyteller explains a lot about the customs and culture of the Chinese family in the process of telling the story. Although this book is small in size, the story is fairly long and better suited to middle elementary kids. The book is hard to locate since it has
been out of print for a long time.
Reading level: age 7-10 years
