Prairie Lotus

by Linda Sue Park

Prairie Lotus is a book about a girl determined to fit in and realize her dreams: getting an education, becoming a dressmaker in her father's shop, and making at least one friend. Hanna, a half-Asian girl in a small town in America's heartland, lives in 1880. Hanna's adjustment to her new surroundings, and the townspeople's prejudice against Asians, is at the heart of the story.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Middle Grade, Historical, Fiction, Young Adult, Childrens, Juvenile

260 pages, Hardcover

First published March 3, 2020

About the author

Linda Sue Park is a Korean American author of children's fiction. Park published her first novel, Seesaw Girl, in 1999. To date, she has written six children’s novels and five picture books for younger readers. Park’s work achieved prominence when she received the prestigious 2002 Newbery Medal for her novel A Single Shard.

Reviews

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Linda Sue Park has done those of us who grew up loving the Little House books a solid by writing this meticulously realized story of Hanna, a half Chinese girl who works as a dressmaker in her father's shop in Dakota Territory. Hanna's Chinese immigrant mother has died, and she and her white father are looking to start over by running a dry goods store in a small prairie town. Hanna is subjected to ridicule and racism, but finds solace and solidarity with other girls and women in town who eventually stand up for her. LH fans will find homages to the Ingalls within the pages, and even a character modeled after the famous Nellie Olsen :) In her thoughtful author's note, Park explains that she wrote the book "as an attempt at a painful reconciliation." She loved the Little House books so much that "fifty years later I still know countless phrases and passages by heart." But like all LH fans, she recognizes and acknowledges the issues of racism and colonialism in the text and set out to write another version of a homesteading family. Prairie Lotus, along with Birchbark House, ensures that readers will not fall prey to the danger of a single story, as famously described by Chimamanda Adichie in her viral TED Talk. This is a valuable and necessary addition to the children's historical fiction canon.

[emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know about you, but I read middle grade in order to be jealous of children.

I wish my library had books like this one growing up, instead of 800 musty books from the 1980s nobody's ever heard of with the plasticky jackets all scratched up and falling off.

That's like. A slight exaggeration. But still.

I am no longer the target audience of books like this one (obviously), but I still like reading them and yearning for what could have been.

I mean, I do not want to actually be 10 years old right now. In this climate. But I do love to complain.

This was kind of meh at some points for me, but that is obvious, is what I'm saying. I'm 23 years old. But telling stories like this one is rad as hell.

Sorry I swore in a review of a kids' book. But that's the bottom line.

------------
pre-review

pretty sure if i don't like this book i'll be excommunicated.

fortunately i like it fine.

review to come / 3 stars

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taking lily's idea and reading only books by asian authors this month!

book 1: the incendiaries
book 2: last night at the telegraph club
book 3: dear girls
book 4: sigh, gone
book 5: frankly in love
book 6: emergency contact
book 7: your house will pay
book 8: convenience store woman
book 9: on earth we're briefly gorgeous
book 10: we are not free
book 11: searching for sylvie lee
book 12: the displaced
book 13: schoolgirl
book 14: sweet bean paste
book 15: little fires everywhere
book 16: trust exercise
book 17: front desk
book 18: the bride test
book 19: interior chinatown
book 20: it's not like it's a secret
book 21: almost american girl
book 22: never let me go
book 23: prairie lotus

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

In my ongoing quest to find the perfect book for my niece, a friend recommended this one. I always read books I send her first to make sure my brother will be comfortable with them. Miy niece is a bit young to understand racism, so I’ll save this one maybe for next year. It was really well written, historically sensitive, had a great central character in Hanna, and captured the Little House on the Prairie feel very well. Hanna is shaped by her past in how she deals with the present and how she thinks about her future. I only wish she and her dad could’ve had a relationship of better ease.

[Katy O. · Rating 5 out of 5]

STELLAR. This amazing MG book is the perfect answer to: “What should I hand to or read to kids instead of or alongside the classic but problematic Laura Ingalls Wilder?” ❤️

[Rachel L · Rating 4 out of 5]

“There were always a hundred reasons for disliking people and not nearly as many for liking them.”

Gosh I wish this book existed when I was a child. This is the perfect book for those kids who read the Little House series and want to read more. It’s also the perfect book if a parent doesn’t want their children to read the problematic Little House series. I feel like this book gives us the story that has been all but wiped from history and I am so glad Linda Sue Park wrote it.

Even as an adult, I feel I learned a lot from Hanna. Mostly she taught me that you can be strong in the face of awful things and to always be kind, even when someone isn’t being kind to you.

[Shella · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to love this book. I think the author had a passion and dedication to reconcile her heritage and love of the Little House series. The most disappointing part of reading this book was the lack of historical knowledge that students will walk away with after reading it. The book is mostly about racism and not learning additional historical elements of the time period. They are briefly mentioned and not explained. I think brief mentions of these events will be lost on our current historically ignorant generation of readers. For example, I would love to know more about the riots that caused the injury to her mother. It was not explained well as to why her father would want to take his biracial daughter completely away from a Chinese community after her mother died. This is the second book I have read this year about a biracial protagonist where the white parent seems completely oblivious to the consequences and needs of their child in that particular time period (The Invincible Summer of Juniper Jones). I would have liked the setting to have remained in an area out west. I did not walk away with a good idea at all of the rich history and experiences of Chinese immigrants during the mid to late 1880's. I think the drive to connect her experiences with the Wilder series created a lost opportunity. My hope is in the future, authors will write from an immigrant's point of view within the historical events of the time period. I learned so much from Avi's Gold Rush Girl and how horrific the conditions were in San Francisco at that time. I am very curious how that time period would have been for immigrants and also during the railroad building. I think The Birchbark House is a much better antithesis to the Little House series. I never connected to the protagonist in this book. I did not care for the writing style that used inner dialogue in italics. This was not the case with Park's A Single Shard- I loved everything about that book- so well done. I did not even expect to like it and was blown away. I think this story was too forced and just did not convey the authenticity that I hoped to read. Overall- yes it is a good book- does it replace other classics written for that time period- no. I would highly recommend The Birchbark House over this book to give a different point of view during that setting.

[Christy · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars


Prairie Lotus takes place in 1880 and follows a young girl named Hanna traveling with her father. Her mother passed away and it’s just to two of them looking for a place to settle. Things can be difficult for them as Hanna is half Chinese. This was a really interesting look into American history from that time, seeing it from an asian perspective.

This story delved into a lot of difficult topics in a short amount of time. I enjoyed listening to it a lot and would recommend it to anyone looking fo ra great middle grade.

Audio book source: Libby (library borrow)
Story Rating: 4 stars
Narrator: Emily Woo Zeller
Narration Rating: 4 stars
Genre: Historical Middle Grade
Length: 5 hours and 20 minutes

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inspired by Park's childhood fascination with Little House on the Prairie, this is a wonderful look at life in the Dakota Territory for a young girl trying to make a place for herself. Half Chinese, half white, Hanna wants to make friends and become a fine dressmaker, both things that seem out of her reach. I loved her fiery spirit and her determination, as well as her eye for fashion! I never read the Little House books, which is odd because I, too, was obsessed with "Wild West" and pioneer stories, and this book will be amazing to put into the hands of any young reader with similar interests!

PS- my daughter (11yo) took it from me and read it first and also loved it!

[Eloise · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeously written, consequential and unforgettable. Highly recommended reading. Hanna and her journey is at once captivating and heartrending - though not without flashes of hope.

[Janssen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was SO EXCELLENT. We were all so into it.

[Irene · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is remarkable for its place in children's literature. I appreciate its existence so much! It's a lovely story about a pioneer girl in the vein of Little House on the Prairie, but the main character, Hanna, is half Chinese.

Before moving to the Dakota Territory in 1880, Hanna and her parents lived through the 1871 mass lynching of Chinese people in Los Angeles. The event is used to set the tone for society's attitude towards Chinese people in the time period of this book. Personally, I did not know about this race riot until I was an adult - I certainly never heard about it in school - and I am beyond pleased that this book provides an opportunity for young readers to learn about this piece of American history.

I am especially thrilled that this book features a half-Chinese main character, since books featuring mixed race characters are even rarer than books featuring people of color. There is much in this book that will resonate with Asian and half-Asian readers: Hanna's anxiety and discomfort from being different from everyone around her; the physical and mental exhaustion of worrying about how she ought to behave, and how others are perceiving her, on top of all the regular expectations of being in school; the indiginities suffered when others mistreat her, and the injustice of being blamed for others' cruelty; the self-doubt in wondering how someone's behavior towards her might be different if she weren't Chinese. These are all the emotions and experiences that are familiar to Asian Americans today.

It's worth noting that the book does not use the word "chink" as a racial slur, but does use the phrase "chinks in the boards." (p. 68) I have to assume this was a conscious choice of words. Maybe the author is saying, "Nope, I am not going to use that awful word and, in fact, I'm going to use the non-offensive definition just to show how the word itself is twisted and gets its power only from the hate and racism of the people speaking the word." Other characters do use the term "Chinaman", which is appropriate for the time period. Since only the townspeople who don't like Hanna use the word in dialog, I think the text sufficiently conveys that the word is generally not acceptable and is derogatory.

The author does an excellent job incorporating lessons of race that are applicable in real life. Although most often, when Hanna was mistreated, she was forced to suffer in silence, I liked that when given an opportunity, Hanna spoke up and modeled how a person could deal with a microaggression while remaining calm and non-confrontational. The book even states that Hanna had "spent a lot of time thinking what she should say" in case she was faced with a particular insult, which I appreciated because in my own experience, in the heat of an offense, I can rarely think of an effective response.

The book also does a great job showing how Hanna herself, in a position of being at the mercy of others, was limited in what she could do; it was important that she have white allies who were willing to do the hard work of having the conversations that could truly change minds. The author even makes a point to show how standing up to others is a daunting and seemingly impossible task for a single person, but becomes doable with the support of just one other person. Again, in this example, the author is careful to show that the right approach did not come quickly and easily, but rather, took a lot of consideration and thought, planning and practice.

I appreciate that Hanna's story includes interactions with Native Americans. I don't know how students learn about America's westward expansion now, but I clearly remember being in middle school and learning about Manifest Destiny as a fact of history. It actually feels like a relief to know that young readers today have access to narratives that re-frame the events of this period from a non-white perspective. Hanna ties her experience with Native Amerians to her overall understanding of American society, thinking, "I used to think only of how white people treated Chinese people. Now I know it's about how white people treat anybody who isn't white." (p. 157)

Besides race, this book also addresses loss. Hanna needs to come to terms with the death of her mother, keeping her memories and love for her mother strong, even while her father moves them far away from any place that would remind them of her.

I am impressed, too, in the way this book handles an assault. Physical violence (written in a very age appropriate way) might seem like one too many issues being tackled, but it's a realistic possibility. The event and the aftermath are not dwelled upon; readers get a glimpse of how a physical assault can affect a person's thinking and behavior. I think it's a worthwhile inclusion, it provides a point of reference for young readers to process abuse.

A couple minor things did catch my attention. At one point, a character declares that "it was Koreans who had invented chopsticks". (p. 51) I am no scholar of Asian history, but I turned to Google, and every resource I could find on the history of chopsticks credits China with their invention. The assertion was made to show the character's pride in being Korean, but since it appears to be inaccurate, I'm concerned that young readers may accept it as fact, and I wonder why it was included, instead of some other undisputed Korean achievement.

Also, a great deal is made in the book about how Mr. Harris had to write to the federal government to ask whether or not Hanna is legally allowed to attend the same school as everyone else. A lot of events hang on this question, yet we don't get an answer. (In San Francisco in the 1880s, Chinese children attended Chinese-only schools, and during segregation in the South, Chinese children were considered colored and barred from white schools.)

[Rune · Rating 2 out of 5]

There’s a part of me that deeply, deeply wanted to love this book. Especially as it’s aimed at middle grade readers.

The first half, I was on the trajectory for a 4/5 star read. Then things started picking away at that.

First off, my biggest issue is how terrible Hanna’s father is. He isn’t supportive. He shouts at his daughter to the point she is afraid to tell him she’d been assaulted in order to spare herself from his anger. That’s bad! When your father figure is so verbally abusive that the daughter doesn’t want to confide in him. That’s bad!

Secondly, I’m half chinese, half white. I don’t want to prescribe a “true way” to be mixed race. There isn’t one. Some mixed kids look more asian than they do white. Some look more white than they do asian. Some look both. This variety leads to a variety of experiences. Don’t even get me started on cultural gatekeeping.

However the way Hanna’s identity was treated was concerning. We’re constantly reminded Hanna is “half Chinese” when she isn’t, she’s actually a quarter. Which makes it extra weird bc it’s treated that her half Chinese, half Korean mother is more Chinese than Korean and Hanna is Chinese with some “Korean blood”.

No. That’s not how it works. Hanna is allowed to be half white, a quarter Chinese, and a quarter Korean. Mixed race people exist. Half half is such a prescriptive term. And doesn’t focusing on her being half Chinese negate her Korean identity? (If we want to get hella picky) (again, don’t get me started on cultural gatekeeping)

(EDIT: Actually, doesn't focusing on her being half Chinese relegate her to nothing but half an identity? Why not simply call her Chinese. She is Chinese. She is White. She is Korean. THAT'S HOW IT WORKS)

And it’s such a nitpick on my part too. But it gets insanely frustrating when Hanna’s father fails repeatedly to stand up for his daughter. Like dude, you circumvented the law to legally marry your Chinese-Korean wife when interracial marriage was illegal. Why can’t you treat your daughter with some respect.

Speaking of the plot. There’s so many characters that just come and go. There’s a minor love interest who vanishes during the entire second and third act after it is insinuated his parents abuse him and his sister. Like what?

There’s kids at the school who keep disappearing after being given intros that make you think they’re important.

Her father being white seems to be presented only as a plot device to get her to this obscure location in Dakota. Not as an exploration of mixed race identity.

I would have liked the casual racism that runs rampant in this book to have pointed this out. How Hanna having some white features similar to her father makes up for her asian features (which is super demeaning). How she’s more desirable (yes I know this is disgusting but the book started it) because of her mixed race because it’s not as taboo. She’s a little white. Don’t worry racist white man it’s okay to be a total creep now.
(I would like to clarify I support none of this and am taking examples of racism from the book and modifying it to a mixed race perspective. Especially those who are half white bc we get to deal with colonial garbage)

Anyway. I’m glad this book was written. I hope more Wild West stories with asian representation are written. If you read YA I would recommend anything written by Stacey Lee.

I’m very tired. It’s very late. This entire ramble makes no sense. Night.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember enjoying Linda Sue Park’s, A Single Shard, so when I came across this book about a young half-Asian girl’s fight against racism on the prairie in Mid-West America in 1880 I decided it would be my next listen.

When Hanna and her father relocate to make a new start after her mother has died Hanna has not only to get used to completely different surroundings in an unfamiliar area of America, she also has to fight against the townspeople’s prejudice against Asian people. Hanna wants what other girls want - to fit in, go to school and make at least one friend. Her ultimate dream is to become a dressmaker.

She faces her oppressors with remarkable dignity and perseverance, a legacy from her mother. In the end note, we learn that Linda Sue Park, a Korean-American, has struggled with racism herself. Well read by Emily Woo Zeller.

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not really sure what to think about this one. The storytelling was compelling and the main character likable enough. I thought the friendship that developed between Hanna and Bess was sweet, and I liked Hanna’s admiration for her mother. I think Linda Sue Park has a knack for distilling important topics into manageable, approachable chapters for middle grade readers and for shining a light on perhaps under-discussed topics for middle schoolers. In this book it is the plight of Native Americans And immigrants throughout history; in A Long Walk to Water it was the ongoing ramifications of war in Sudan. But, this book strays more into historical time travel rather than historical fiction. I’m all for shining a light on these topics and questioning the historical narrative, but it often felt like the author was putting current talking points into the reader’s ears through the voice of her historical character, which seemed disingenuous at times—especially when victim shaming got thrown in at the end. Because if we’re going to address racism against immigrants and the mistreatment of Native Americans, why not throw rape culture in there as well, just for good measure?

[The Library Lady · Rating 2 out of 5]

What we have here is an author simultaneously decrying the accurate_for_the_times prejudices of Laura Ingalls Wilder's "Little House" books and blatantly lifting her characters off the page to make a more palatable version for current tastes.

And when I say blatant, I mean blatant. Her characters the Harris family are totally based on the Ingalls. Perhaps someone who has only seen the TV shows wouldn't get this, but babies, I read my first Little House books back about 50 years ago, and I've read them repeatedly. I'm the girl who begged and pleaded with my mom for a comforter that looked like a patchwork quilt--hell, my own grown daughter still uses that quilt. I played "Little House" with my dolls for years. I was a fanatic, and as a result, hated the TV series.

So here we go:
Mr Harris is a justice of the peace, with a bushy brown beard and bright blue eyes. If you've only seen the series, you may not instantly recognize Charles Ingalls here. I did.
Mrs Harris wears a "gold bar pin" on her dress, just like Ma's and is prejudiced against non whites.
Bess is what Laura was called in later life(her middle name was Elizabeth) and has beautiful brown hair that would reach to her waist if uncoiled. (As Laura's did.) Bess hates sewing, is a bit shy and needs to teach, even though she doesn't like the idea of "standing in front of a room of strangers, day after day," which I believe is a direct quote from one of the books. She says she needs to earn money, though Ms Park manages not to give her a blind sister-- perhaps named "Amy"-- as a stand in for the real Mary Amelia Ingalls.
Sadie is Bess's pale, thin sister. "Sadie" is a diminutive of Sarah, Mrs Harris's first name. Laura's pale, thin little sister, Carrie was named for her mother "Caroline"
Oh, and Dolly Swenson is clearly a stand in for Nellie Oleson, though she isn't as mean.

There are other ripoffs from LIW--the fabrics Hanna uses for her dress sound a lot like ones Laura Ingalls used for a dress, the Harris family has gone from Wisconsin to Kansas to Iowa and Minnesota, and are settled in LaForge (DeSmit) because Ma doesn't want to wander any more and wants the girls to go to school, and Bess mentions a teacher who couldn't control her classroom that sounds suspiciously like Eliza Jane Wilder. I could go on but I won't.

If Park was inspired by LIW to write this, couldn't she have set it in another place, another town, with characters of her own? I might have enjoyed that book. This one has a feel of fan fiction.

Bottom line: Park will make money and win awards for this, but ironically the one award she will not win is the Laura Ingalls Wilder award from the American Library Association, because they took the name off it. And her success will be due to Laura's books.

[Darla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Life on the prairie gets an update with a plucky heroine; daughter of a Korean/Chinese mother and a white father. Her mother died in the California race riots, so Hanna and her father relocate to a town that is modeled after DeSmet in the Little House books and decide to open a dry goods store to sell fabrics. Included in the story are Hanna's experiences in a one-room schoolhouse. Twice in the narrative Hanna interacts with native Americans that she encounters on the prairie in a respectful way. Park notes that she has those characters interact with Hanna using language and gestures to lend dignity to them. Hanna herself faces racial prejudice due to her "Chinaman" heritage and though it is tempting, she refuses to give up on her goal of finishing school and sewing dresses for their store. Throughout there are touching memories of her deceased mother as well as the struggles that Hanna and her dad have in relating to each other. Note: does include an incident in which Hanna is accosted by two drunk men in town and manages to escape, but bears physical scars from being grabbed and the knowledge that she could have been more seriously assaulted. Love, love, love the cover!

Thank you to Houghton Mifflin and NetGalley for a DRC in exchange for an honest review.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was just so good. I adore Linda Sue Park's writing, and this story deserves a place in the classic children's book canon.

Hanna is half-Chinese, and she and her white father are traveling east from Los Angeles after the death of her mother. They're hoping to settle in the Dakota Territory and set up a store where Hanna hopes to build a career as a dressmaker. All she wants is to graduate from school and become a seamstress.

Prairie Lotus was inspired by the author's love of the Little House books, but this is Park's response to the problematic elements of those stories. Hanna is such a likable and well-constructed character. She experiences so much hate and discrimination, and throughout the course of the story, she learns to stand up for herself.

I loved this story, and highly recommend checking it out if you enjoy middle-grade historical fiction.

[Renata · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVVVVVVED THIS! The Little House books are such #problematicfaves of mine, I'm so thrilled to have the chance to keep scratching that bonnet itch in a way that expands the understanding of the pioneer mindset rather than limiting it. This is a great blend of a character to root for facing serious, realistic challenges without it being overwhelmingly bleak.

[Ms. B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Destined to become a classic, this is a wonderful story about what pioneer life may have been like for a young Chinese American whose father moves west from California to start a business in an 1880s frontier town. Will fourteen year-old Hanna be able to meet her goals of earning her diploma, making friends, and proving to her father that she's ready to be his business partner in this new home?
Not just for Little House on the Prairie fans. Anyone who's looking for a story with a strong female character or who likes coming of age stories will want to give this one a try.

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love love love this book. Middle grade readers will find themselves in the characters and all readers will appreciate both the subtle and head-on instances of anti-racism that masterfully transcend the late 1800s setting and speak true to a modern audience. This is clearly written by a Newbery medalist again at the top of her game.

[Colby Sharp · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so good!

Check out my video review here: https://youtu.be/MNSVDDQsf-Y

[Tara Ethridge · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I could give this middle grade book 10 stars, I would. It is simply the most beautiful story of Hanna, a half white and half Chinese girl who moves to the Midwest with her dad to set up shop in a town. She is a skilled dressmaker who deals with such hardship and racism, and the storyline is gripping. Linda Sue Park’s afterword of her as a little girl wishing to see herself represented in Little House in the Prairie had me in a puddle of tears.

[Jane Keranen · Rating 5 out of 5]

i am a half chinese girl from the prairie and for all the problems i had with it the ending scene made me cry! and that is enough i think

[Lata · Rating 4 out of 5]

I grew up reading Laura Ingalls Wilders’ stories, and watched the tv show, too. So yeah, I was a fan. But looking back on the books, it’s hard not to notice the racism and how no one of colour was present in any meaningful way.
Anyway, I picked this book up on impulse, and imagine my surprise when I discovered Linda Sue Park was also a fan of Wilders’ books; Park, however, had written a much more realistic picture of the US west in the 1880s, rather than the whitewashed, i.e., nostalgic, thing we usually see. Or saw, as this is ever so slowly changing, thanks to terrific stories like this about a biracial girl and her white father arriving in a small town in Dakota, to start a new life. That Hanna was automatically subject to racial slurs and a variety of micro aggressions and just plain thoughtless cruelty is not at all surprising. That she did manage to forge a friendship with a couple of young women is heartening, though even that was fraught with problems, as Hanna had to do a heck of a lot of work to educate and enlighten these two.
The story was written for kids, so the hate, though widespread, is on the lighter side. Park does mention real incidents, including murders, against Chinese Americans, and showed the bigotry common amongst Whites against indigenous and anyone else not part of the dominant group.
I loved Park’s use of actual indigenous words when Hanna encountered a small group of aboriginal women and children; I loved the total lack of pidgin in the dialogue in these scenes.
Though covering many ugly topics, I liked Hanna’s expressions of hope, and her pleasure in designing dresses and building a life in her new town. I liked this book a lot.

[Natalie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hanna and her father are moving to a new town in the midwest. After her mother died, Hanna's father wanted to escape the memories and start somewhere new. The challenge at settling in a new town comes from Hanna's heritage. While her father is white, her mother was half-Chinese, half-Korean.

Hanna has faced numerous racist situations and she knows what to expect, but she's trying to make the best of it. She wants to go to school and get her diploma. It was a dream her mom always had for her. When she starts attending school it causes a stir in the town and they have to debate if she's allowed to attend or not. When the justice, Mr. Harris, says the law allows her to attend, the other people townsfolk start keeping their own kids home.

At home her father is trying to set up a dress store. Hanna's mom sewed the best dresses and taught Hanna everything she knows. Now Hanna wants to make dresses for the dress shop but her father is hesitant. He doesn't want Hanna's race to interfere with the opening.

I loved the author's note at the end. Park spoke about how she loved Little House on the Prairie as a child, but as an adult she had to make peace with the racism she saw in the book. Prairie Lotus is her passion project to honor what she loved and show different stories from the prairie settlements.

Overall, I liked this book. I liked how Hanna felt proud of her ancestry and took the good things from each part. These stories are important. I like reading about different people and the types of experiences they faced and struggled to overcome.

The racism was appalling and made me sick to hear about. I could totally see if happening exactly like that. I always think of that line in a Pocahontas song, "...they're different from us, which means they can't be trusted...." That song always makes me tear up. I wish people were kinder and less stuck in their ways. I love living in a world with so many different cultures, peoples, beliefs, and ideas. That's what makes life exciting.

The story was a little jumpy for my tastes. At the beginning I thought it would be about Hanna going to school. Characters were introduced and it seemed like they'd be integral to the story but then they were barely mentioned again. The latter half of the book is all about the sewing shop, but then at the last minute there is an assault thrown in. The theme of racism is shown in all these different circumstances, but I would've rather the story focused on just school or just the shop.

I was also appalled at how Hanna's father treated her. As someone who went out of his way to marry a woman who was part-Chinese, he didn't seem to be very understanding of his daughter.

My favorite parts in the book were Hanna's interactions with the Native Americans and how happy she was that they had black hair like hers.

I would want this book in my classroom, but I doubt I would use it as a read aloud or a book group book. I don't really think it's one that would excite reluctant readers.

[Janni]

An amazing book and a must-read for ... well, anyone growing up in the U.S., for starters. This reimagining of the Little House books through a half-Chinese girl’s eyes brings into focus so much relevant to both the nineteenth century and today.

[Sandy Brehl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Don’t take my word for how wonderful this book is- latest count is five starred reviews!
That won’t keep me from adding my voice to cheer for Hannah and for the amazing research/writing by Linda Sue Park.
This is a perfectly balanced blend of classic settler story and nuanced counter narrative to the traditional single-story approach of Wilder and others.
Hannah is a genuinely bright, competent, self-directed girl of her time, which means that she has had to learn the ways of reshaping her father’s opinions without treading too heavily on the strictly defined limits on females- especially on a “mixed” child in a culture that never questions. White supremacy.
I loved the way Hannah wins her father’s respect through business savvy and patience, while winning the respect of others in her new town, too.
That doesn’t remove the hatred of others, nor the target on her back as a likely victim. The complex story is age appropriate, reads with page-turning tension, and made this reader cheer for her challenge after challenge and word after word.

[Hannah]

I could write about the historical and sociopolitical relevance and resonance of this book, and all that complexity is why I assign this book to my students, but mainly, as an adult iteration of a young girl of color who deeply loved the Little House books while being acutely aware of all the ways it enacted harm on others and on me, I just have to say that this book and its author's note are absolutely incredible treasures.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh my gosh. Linda Sue Park has written the version of Little House on the Prairie for everyone else, the ones who aren't white, and cute, and fit into what most people think of living on the prairie in the late 1800s. Park even says that was her intent.

Well researched, well written book about a girl who is half-Chinese who travels with her widowed father to an area very much like De Smit of the Laura Ingles Wilder fame. There she encounters all the prejudice that is all too prevalent at that time.

Read this in one day, I could not put it down. Through it all Hanna keeps her composure, remembers what her mother always taught her, and moves on.

Highly, highly recommend this book.

[SuperWendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A representation of the American western frontier often ignored in history, and rarely addressed in children's fiction. Despite heavy themes of racism and prejudice, it's a story that never feels grim or hopeless, featuring a plucky protagonist with dreams, ambitions, and a spirit that pushes her forward. My only quibble was an episode near the end when Hanna was confronted by ugly, drunken louts - which bothered my genre reader sensibilities even as I understood the authorial choice. Park could easily turn this into a series, let's see if she does....