Jiang Ji-li as she is introduced in the book is in sixth grade when the cultural revolution in China begins to impact her family. She accepts the revolution and the teachings of Chairman Mao. She is a revolutionist. She wears her red scarf proudly and voices the communist philosophy.

One day at school she is chosen to audition for a dance training class. Ji-li is very confident. She has always been an excellent student. She feels that she has a very good chance of being accepted into the troop. However, when she goes home her father is very negative. He tells her that her family’s class status is bad because his grandfather was a landlord. He says that she will never be accepted into the Liberation Army Performing Troup.

As her life unfolds, her family’s class status begins to impact everything. She had been a class leader and a good student but is now a target of classmates comments and attacks. Her home is searched and her family is under suspicion. She tries to overcome her class status and succeed but she keeps meeting all sorts of obstacles.

I liked this book very much. I really empathized with Ji-li. I felt terrible for her and her family. I kept wanting to yell at her to wake up to the fact that the Communist party was unfair and flawed. The book gives you a sense of living under that kind of government. I also liked that it was a true story and that Ji-li tells you in the afterward what happened to her and to her family. This is a very interesting bit of history told from a personal perspective and the story will make you appreciate the freedoms that we enjoy in this country.

Posted by: Fran W.

After long last, we’re finally back with another non-fiction book review! This time we’re talking about Saving the Baghdad Zoo by Kelly Milner Halls

It’s only right that this book is oversized. Everything about Bass Reeves was larger than life starting with the fact that he was a head taller than most men of his time. So, how does a large, black man in 19th century “Indian Territory” (today’s Oklahoma) manage to arrest and bring in more than 3.000 outlaws—one of who was his own son– in his 27 year career? Do the math, he was a very busy man. But, like I said, he was a big man in every way. Bass was a former slave, father, rancher and marshal. He was as smart, hard working and honest as he was tall. Deputy Reeves was also a master of disguise. To add to his already remarkable accomplishments, of the 3,000 or so criminals he captured he was forced to kill only 14. Bass was a quick draw and had deadly aim but he had no place for violence in his life.

All of his attributes would do credit to any folk hero or character from a tall tale but there was nothing fictional about Reeves. He was the genuine article; a man who could be—literally and figuratively—looked up to.

Ms. Nelson’s folksy storytelling gives the book just the right tone while R. Gregory Christie’s powerful, dark-toned, somewhat naïf illustrations carry the book from cover to cover. With the addition of a timeline, a photo of Reeves and additional recommended reading it’s no wonder that Bad News for Outlaws won the 2009 Coretta Scott King Award for peace and non-violent social change. Actually, that sums up Bass Reeves himself pretty darned well.

Posted by: Eileen