If I like the book I read fast, but if I don’t like the book I read slow. When I got the book called Chinese Cinderella by Adeline Yen Mah and read it, it was fantastic and brilliant.

The book is all about a girl named Adeline Yen Mah and her family said that she is the bad luck for the family because when her mum gave birth to her, her mum died. She has three brothers, one sister and a mean stepmother.

When she is five years old, she had to go to school, and then her sister didn’t wait to her so she just walked home. When she grew up they went to Shanghai to live and then she decided to run for class president and she won because her friend helped her. When she walked home her classmate followed her secretly and her stepmother got angry to her because her classmate surprised Adeline. Her stepmother decided to put Adeline in Tianjin, her place of birth, and she stayed in a boarding school in five or seven months.

I liked the book because it’s a true story and you can learn a lot. I learned to work hard and don’t listen to anyone who lets you down and just believe in yourself, that you can cope with all of the trials that you have. I recommend this book to all of you, as any age can read this book… It is a fantastic book that everyone can read. By Saidel, Year 8

—————————————————————————————

The book, Chinese Cinderella by Adeline Yen Mah, caught my attention with the first sentence. This true story of an unwanted daughter was one of only a few books that got me excited to read on. I’m not the biggest book reader so finding a book as great as this made me very eager to read. Chinese Cinderella gave me an insight on how people can be so evil and mean to such innocent children. The human behaviour that I witnessed in this book is something I have never come across before.

This book is great for the young teenage girls, such as myself, because we can really relate to the storyline and the emotional sadness of the little girl. This book is extremely sad but also inspiring at the same time. Adeline Yen Mah inspired me the most, as she spent her whole childhood trying to bring great honour to her broken family and prove that she is not bad luck. The catastrophe of her life was when her mother died giving birth to her and now her three brothers and sister blame her for being the cause of their own neglect.

I believe this book would suite teenage girls from the ages of 13-16 years. Chinese Cinderella is full of heartbreak and dramatic tension and will sure make you read on, no matter what page you’re up to. This book will most certainly inspire you in life and fill your heart with happiness.

Sophie, Year 8

————————————————————–

Chinese Cinderella by Adeline Yen Mah

 Chinese Cinderella is a unique book that no one else has made other than Adeline Yen Mah. She has written from true experience as a little girl. This book, Chinese Cinderella, is a heart and mind book but also a sad but true book about a little girl who is made to feel unwanted all her life. One day Adeline Yen Mah was left alone after school waiting for someone to come and pick her up but no one came so she was left to live and surive on her own because her family thinks Adeline is bad luck.

Chinese Cinderella is a sad but true story about a family that doesn’t care about one little girl named Adeline Yen Mah because when her mother dies from giving birth to Adeline, her Nai Nai has died from old age and her dad and stepmother run away Adeline is not the happiest little girl in the world. Adeline’s family has made her to feel unwanted all her life. Chinese Cinderella is a true story about a girl who struggles for acceptance all her life and overcomes the odds to prove her worth. Adeline tells us about how hard her life has been since she was born to the age of fourteen. It’s a unforgettable story. This is a secret story of a unwanted daughter. Every word in Chinese Cinderella is a different picture in your mind and has to be memorised separately. True but sad how does she do it amazing isn’t it.

I really liked Chinese Cinderella because she really tells us how she feels and explains how life can’t always be the happiest times, that people aren’t always lucky. They don’t have all the things like we do: family, TV, food/water etc. I would recommend this book to a teenager that has it all and a person that loves sad but true books. I would not recommend this book to a person that gets sad but maybe I would give it to a another person that is homeless and feels the same it will make them realise that it’s not just them that are suffering.

Olivia, Year 8

__________________________________

5/5 stars
Chinese Cinderella, it’s not a name that makes you quickly want to pick up the book and read it.  That it’s an autobiography also makes it sound boring. The natural reaction to this book would be something like ‘I don’t want to read that, it’s going to be like any other Cinderella book, but the cover and the sentence underneath the title makes you think twice. ‘The secret story of an unwanted daughter’ is what it says under the title. The cover shows a little girl with an innocent face yearning for acceptance. This is what caught my attention.

This book focuses on Adeline’s childhood. The story is set in China at the time of the Second World War but the locations change throughout the book. Adeline was born into a rich and wealthy family but that didn’t change the fact that her life was miserable from the moment she was born. Her mother died after giving birth to her and this phenomenon automatically titled her as a jinx (bad luck) and this made her feel guilty and horrible thinking that it is actually her fault. Her family only makes this feeling worse by ignoring her or blaming her. She had three older brothers and an older sister before her father remarried. Her father had two kids by her stepmother, her fourth brother and a little sister. The third brother, he grandfather and her aunty were the only people who were somewhat kind to her.

Adeline proves to be a brilliant child from the starting sentence. She was the kind of girl who loved school and was eager to learn unlike most kids. Unfortunately her family doesn’t notice or care about her. I think this is what made her such a big achiever. She wanted to prove her worth to her father, wanted people to appreciate her and wanted to be treated as a person. The Japanese were after her father so her father, her stepmother and fourth brother fled to Shanghai, another location in China leaving the rest of her family members there. She achieved more and more in academics and was praised by Aunt Baba (aunty),YeYe (grandfather), third brother and all of her classmates.

After a couple of years she meets her father again and he takes all of the remaining member of the family to Shanghai as well except for Aunt Baba who wanted to stay there for a little longer. Her new home was huge but she was restricted to only the third floor of the house. Her stepmother who she called Niang hated her especially because of her courage to step up and oppose against her. All of the kids except for her own kids (fourth brother and little sister) were restricted to do most things. Fourth brother and little sister could do anything they wanted because they were Niang’s own children. Niang always abused the kids. There were times when Adeline got abused just for using her talents.

Her school life was something any kid would wish for. She moved to a convent in Hong Kong where she was safe but alone. Her Stepmother’s sister was the one who finally remembered her and brought her back to her parents. After that, it was boarding school for her where nobody ever came to visit. She always stood out because of her cleverness and skill but there were always people who despised her. She skipped two or three grades at boarding school and her father finally sees the light and agrees to let her go to London to study medicine just like her older brothers.

Chinese Cinderella really captures the thoughts and feelings and turns them into words to create magic. It is one of the best stories I have ever read. It also snapshots some history in it and shows some of the Chinese customs. A good book has a mixture of ingredients and Chinese Cinderella has the perfect mixture. I recommend it to anyone from the age of 11 who’s into reading. It is one of those book that you just can’t put down and don’t want to finish. This book is a memory that I’ll always cherish forever. Terina, Grade 8

———————————————————————————–

The story ‘Chinese Cinderella’, by Adeline Yen Mah, it is a true story the author wrote about herself. It is a sad but vey interesting book. The story is set in a few different places around the Eastern end of China and the main characters are Adeline, Aunt Baba, her brothers, her father and stepmother and Ye Ye. Adeline is the youngest and least liked of her family. When she was born her Mother passed away two weeks later and her brothers have blamed Adeline for her death ever since. All she has wanted is to know what her real mother looked like, but her father ordered all of her pictures destroyed. Her closest relationship is with her Aunt Baba who looks after her and cares for her all the time. Not long after her mother’s death, her father remarried to Niang and had two more kids. Niang treats her very poorly and she does not like her very much. When Adeline starts school she is very happy and tops her class each week. She loves that life and doesn’t want to get away from it. She is continuingly making her Dad proud, but he is still not convinced she will succeed in life. She wants to prove him wrong. All Adeline wants is to feel accepted in her family, but that is going to be hard to do. Adeline moves schools a lot and has a hard early life but manages to cope. I would rate this book a 4 out of 5 and recommend it to young teenage girls. ‘Chinese Cinderella’ is a great book and you should definitely read it.

Melissa, Year 8