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