The Paper Daughters of Chinatown is a poignant, well-told narrative of the heavy story of young Chinese women, who were sold and trafficked as human slaves at the beginning of the 1900’s. The story is an adaptation of an adult novel and is told from the perspective of Tai Choi, a young girl sold into slavery by her father to pay a gambling debt. Because of the subject matter, it is a rather heavy book, with many emotions and triggers that may be hard for some younger readers to process. That being said, it is an important story and sadly still relevant topic, that needs be told and remembered.
Tai Choi is a well-written character, based on a true story, who is an example of grit, courage, tenacity, growth, and compassion. Dolly Cameron, the head of the school/rescue house, is an example of courage, compassion, and willingness to help is one we should strive to follow. Their voices and stories will resonate with the reader long after they are done reading this novel, as it causes one to contemplate a society that makes humans, and especially young girls, objects to be sold, traded, and used merely as objects. Tai Choi’s story is one that needs to be told and remembered and authors Heather B. Moore and Allison Hong Merrill have done a wonderful job making sure that happens.
Review of an Advance Reading Copy from Shadow Mountain Publishing
Content Analysis:
Profanity/Language: None
Violence/Gore: Child locked in a room; child threatened with a beating; child pushes another child to the ground in anger; child kicked in the head and stomped on; child threatened with having tongue cut out; adult slaps a child and pulls her hair; mention of child being beaten multiple times for saying something wrong; adult smacks child in the back of the head; adult pulls child’s hair; adult slaps child multiple times; adult pinches and twists child’s arm; child show her scars on back and arms from abuse; mention of gang wanting to blow up the home that shelters the rescued victims; likeness of character hung from a ceiling with a dagger in it’s chest; child tells of being beaten; adult tried to push child off of a roof; men grab at woman’s skirts in suggestive way; man kidnaps child; protestors collect items from a jail and burn them in the street; child left on the street to die; mention of someone being shot in the street.
Sex/Nudity: Mention of brothels; mention of men taking older girls to bedrooms; man tells a girl she is too ugly to be a prostitute; young girl says she was forced into the life of a prostitute.
Mature Subject Matter:
Human trafficking; Foot binding described; Gambling; Prostitution; Slavery; Sex slavery; Cancer; Death; Physical abuse.
Alcohol/Drug Use:
Opium addicts mentioned several times
