Starred Review This historical novel, which spans 1960s and '70s China, is compelling from its opening pages. A young, poor boy named Ming is orphaned after his mother, like countless others, starves to death during the Great Leap Forward. During his teen years, Ming works in the fields with fellow villagers and befriends a group of city boys who have been relocated as part of a government reeducation program. Ming becomes particularly close to Li, a member of the Red Guard, a student movement under the direction of Mao Zedong. The story unfolds through the perspectives of both Ming and Li, and readers get to know both characters intimately. Ming is hardworking, humble, and keeps his head down, staying out of trouble. Li, on the other hand, is patriotic, charming, and ambitious. Ming teaches Li how to swim, and the two form a bond over swimming and discussions about life and dreams. Over time, life under the Communist Party becomes increasingly difficult, both physically and ideologically, during the Cultural Revolution era. The author seamlessly weaves in a strand involving a love interest as Ming and Li try for a life of freedom. Combining both somber and inspiring tones, this gripping novel is even more poignant as Ming and Li's story is based on the author's father's lived experience. An important and memorable read.

A young man lives out his father's dream and learns the meaning of freedom.Opening in coastal southeastern China during the 1960s and continuing until the 1970s, this gripping story introduces 11-year-old orphan Ming Hong, who is mourning his mother, who recently starved to death, like countless others during the Great Leap Forward. Ming's fateful encounter with Lam Feiyen, a girl who was running away from her abusive home, gives him hope and evolves into a sustaining plot strand as the tale dives into the Cultural Revolution era. Sweeping social experiments, such as sending city youths to the countryside to learn through engaging in labor, bring Li to Ming's village, where the teen boys' paths cross. Using spare prose and straightforward language, dual narrators Ming and Li relate their perspectives as acquaintances struggling for a sense of purpose while enduring cruelty and suffering imposed by politics that pitted peasants against city dwellers, friends against one another, and children against their own parents. As Ming processes his long-deceased father's failed bid for freedom and ponders his own ambition to swim to the British colony of Hong Kong, Li persuades Ming they should attempt this escape together. Their breathtaking journey and subsequent events feel plausible and poignant, not only because they are based on the lived experience of the author's father, but also thanks to Chim's gift for storytelling.A compelling historical story that highlights timeless themes. (note about phonetics, map) (Historical fiction. 12-18)

A young man lives out his father's dream and learns the meaning of freedom.Opening in coastal southeastern China during the 1960s and continuing until the 1970s, this gripping story introduces 11-year-old orphan Ming Hong, who is mourning his mother, who recently starved to death, like countless others during the Great Leap Forward. Ming's fateful encounter with Lam Feiyen, a girl who was running away from her abusive home, gives him hope and evolves into a sustaining plot strand as the tale dives into the Cultural Revolution era. Sweeping social experiments, such as sending city youths to the countryside to learn through engaging in labor, bring Li to Ming's village, where the teen boys' paths cross. Using spare prose and straightforward language, dual narrators Ming and Li relate their perspectives as acquaintances struggling for a sense of purpose while enduring cruelty and suffering imposed by politics that pitted peasants against city dwellers, friends against one another, and children against their own parents. As Ming processes his long-deceased father's failed bid for freedom and ponders his own ambition to swim to the British colony of Hong Kong, Li persuades Ming they should attempt this escape together. Their breathtaking journey and subsequent events feel plausible and poignant, not only because they are based on the lived experience of the author's father, but also thanks to Chim's gift for storytelling.A compelling historical story that highlights timeless themes. (note about phonetics, map) (Historical fiction. 12-18)