This is a very good book, but the style is very different. It sounds a bit like Yoda the whole time. The story is about a 13 year old boy who has to leave his home in the country and go to the city to be an apprentice with the copper and brass master, Tang.

This book won the 1933 Newbery Medal for best contribution to American children's literature. It is the story of five years in the life of a young Chinese boy, begining at age thirteen. He and his mother, following the death of his father, travel to the city of Chungking (now, Chongqing) where he is to be an apprentice to Tang the coppersmith. This book is a vivid and well-presented account of life in central China in the 1920s and young students can use the book as a starting point to the study of twentieth-century China. The author (1892-1958) lived in China for several years, holding a number of teaching posts. An interesting approach was used at a local school. After reading this book, the following school year (6th grade!), the students read Pearl Buck's "The Good Earth."

This book is the story of a thirteen year old boy from the farms of central China who, with his widowed mother, moves to the big city, Chungking (now spelled Chongqing). Because life on the farm is so uncertain, and, in fact, rather dangerous because of banditry, Fu will be apprenticed to Tang, a master coppersmith. The book portrays a turbulent time, after the fall of Imperial government, and before a new order could arise, a time of war and disunity.

I often read this book with my sixth grade class. The author is Western (she left America for a career as a teacher and missionary in Shanghai, Chungking, and Nanking) and sometimes this bias shows through, as does her distaste for rabble-rousing young revolutionaries (early communists?), though perhaps her sentiments would be shared by many modern Chinese.

Still, the book makes fascinating reading. It introduces the reader to a China that has passed into history (thank goodness - it was such a violent time), yet many authentic cultural ideas and customs that are presented in the book persist, such as payment of debts on New Years, crooked streets catching ghosts, etc. There are even a few Chinese expressions. Some are translated into English (like FangXin - let down your heart) and others are kept in Chinese, such as Tuchun (a military governor).

The book is well-written, though quite episodic. This episodic nature can be an advantage, though, since it may be possible to shorten the book when presenting it to a class by skipping some chapters.

Also, in the back of the book is an appendix, keyed to the chapters, that explains some differences between the China of today and the China of the 1920's.

The characters are well drawn. Although there is little character development outside the main character, Young Fu does have to deal with a lot of the issues confronting a young man growing up. His adventurous spirit and willingness to embrace new ideas are contrasted with the attitudes of others around him. This openness to change (and to Western ideas, such as Western medicine)usually lead to his successes.

Some of the main issues dealt with in this book are: superstitions, the value of education, the roles of foreigners in the China of that time, the value of education, the effect of war and politics on a large, though backwater, town, as well as friendship and family.

This book is probably appropriate for very high fifth grade through ninth grade. It makes excellent material for a sixth grade class, but they may some guidance or orientation, because the life depicted is so different from our own.

The illustrations help when explaining ideas such as "Wedding Chair" or "Load-pole."