Red Butterfly [book review]

Red Butterfly by A. L. Sonnichsen

Buy here.

Appropriate for all ages.

My rating: five stars

Amazon Review:A young orphaned girl in modern-day China discovers the meaning of family in this inspiring story told in verse, in the tradition of Inside Out and Back Again and Sold.

Kara never met her birth mother.
Abandoned as an infant, she was taken in by an American woman living in China. Now eleven, Kara spends most of her time in their apartment, wondering why she and Mama cannot leave the city of Tianjin and go live with Daddy in Montana. Mama tells Kara to be content with what she has…but what if Kara secretly wants more?

Told in lyrical, moving verse, Red Butterfly is the story of a girl learning to trust her own voice, discovering that love and family are limitless, and finding the wings she needs to reach new heights.


My review:
Kara lives life to the fullest, and loves her life, her bicycle, her surroundings.

But sometimes she does dislike her mother's schedules and all the mystery centers around herself. Sometimes it makes her feel very guilty, because there are some things that can only be Kara's fault, it seems.

She knows that she is somehow both American and Chinese, but can't understand how this is, nor why they must hide in their apartment, far from every one.

Why can't they go to Bozeman and live with Daddy? Why did her father leave them alone in China?

And why is she so different from every one else, yet the same?

Kara learns more and more of her past from an older Chinese lady that lives in the same apartment as she and her American mother. And as she finds out more about herself and others, Kara's life starts to change drastically.

It is then that she realizes what she had before, and what she really lost, and she must decide what she really wants.

That is, if the choice is any longer hers.



Thoughts:
I loved this book!!!! And it is suppose to be inspired from multiple true stories.

It looks so thick in such a scary way, yet it took only a couple hours to read because of the prose and engaging writing style.

It is very sad, yet beautiful - something I say only about the "Great books".

Most books I've read concerning North Korean and Chinese children, I do not like, because it always seems that the main message is "Feel sorry for me, because my siblings are horrid [if have siblings] and my parents always fight. My father is so abusive. If only we lived in America! Then my mother could get a job and divorce my father, I could go to school and have real friends, and my siblings would be less in my life [again, that is if I have siblings] "

This book was not like that!!!! But actually showed a real-to-life story about a real little Chinese girl that just wanted a family.



Read This book!!!!!!!!!! And what is your average opinion on North Korean/Chinese novels?