Rating: 
Summary: I like wondering how he would solve his problems.
Review: He had many problems in this book and it was great wondering how he would come out. The only draw back was the Chinese language. At least there was a glossary in the back! I think it had a nice plot and the problems were believable. Also, the author had a good way of describing things that we probably have never seen. For example: The five dollar watch. Over-all, I thought that it was a wonderful bookk to read, although it was hard to follow at some points.
Rating: 
Summary: Just My Opinion
Review: I had to read this book for school. Personally, I thought that it was pretty good, but it is kind of hard to start. Also, I noticed quite a few generalizations about Chinese people in the book. I myself would recommend this for people who are 12 years old or above, because younger children may get tired of it.
Rating: 
Summary: It was a good book, but it has some hard words.
Review: It was a good book. It may be for older children, because
it has a lot of hard old Chinese words. I recomend this book for 6&7 grades
Rating: 
Summary: Some good points, but other than that......
Review: not much of annything happend. People who like historical fiction will probably love it. It is historicaly and culturlly correct. I personally did not injoy it. Nor do I think fans of Tolkien, Brian Jacques, Lloyd Alexander, Richard Adams, etc. will either. It just depends on taste. When I read I like to escape from the real world. To sum it up, BOARING, DULL, WITH SMALL UNINTERESTING CHARICTORS, and I would NOT recomend reading it unless you have to.
Rating: 
Summary: This book is boring
Review: now mabye this is not fair because i do not usually like realistic books but this book was boring. I hade to read this book for school and I was bored. It's about a young boy named Fu growing up and having a hard life in China. I would not recomend this book unless really like realistic books and ones that are slow. Did I mention the chapters were long.
Rating:
Summary: Not a good book
Review: On avrage, I read fast. I read a copy of the edition that was 264 pages. Normanly that would take me 2 days. This boring book took me about a week. From the begining, this book was dull and hard to understand. I would NOT recomend this book to anyone who doesn't history fiction. It had some crude parts, as well.
Rating:
Summary: A historical gem and a triumph for traditional values.
Review: The type of book older readers will remember with fondness, from a time before literature and book awards were far less political than today.The real China of the 1920s vividly comes through, in a world where boys and men tangle with age-old questions --and are actually portrayed in a positive light while successfully doing so.
Rating:
Summary: Not a good book
Review: This book is a great book. It at the beginning can be a littleboring, or if you pick it up after a long time it may be a little boring, but after you read it for a little while, it gets a lot better. I read this book, and it was great. The scenarios are real, and this book is really actionpacked. But,as I said it sometimes can be boring.
Rating:
Summary: Good book as you slowly read it!
Review: This book is a great book. It at the beginning can be a littleboring, or if you pick it up after a long time it may be a little boring, but after you read it for a little while, it gets a lot better. I read this book, and it was great. The scenarios are real, and this book is really actionpacked. But,as I said it sometimes can be boring.
Rating:
Summary: 1920's China, a boy grows up amid struggles
Review: This book is the story of a thirteen year old boy from the farms of central China who, with his widowed mother, moves to the big city, Chungking (now spelled Chongqing). Because life on the farm is so uncertain, and, in fact, rather dangerous because of banditry, Fu will be apprenticed to Tang, a master coppersmith. The book portrays a turbulent time, after the fall of Imperial government, and before a new order could arise, a time of war and disunity. I often read this book with my sixth grade class. The author is Western (she left America for a career as a teacher and missionary in Shanghai, Chungking, and Nanking) and sometimes this bias shows through, as does her distaste for rabble-rousing young revolutionaries (early communists?), though perhaps her sentiments would be shared by many modern Chinese. Still, the book makes fascinating reading. It introduces the reader to a China that has passed into history (thank goodness - it was such a violent time), yet many authentic cultural ideas and customs that are presented in the book persist, such as payment of debts on New Years, crooked streets catching ghosts, etc. There are even a few Chinese expressions. Some are translated into English (like FangXin - let down your heart) and others are kept in Chinese, such as Tuchun (a military governor). The book is well-written, though quite episodic. This episodic nature can be an advantage, though, since it may be possible to shorten the book when presenting it to a class by skipping some chapters. Also, in the back of the book is an appendix, keyed to the chapters, that explains some differences between the China of today and the China of the 1920's. The characters are well drawn. Although there is little character development outside the main character, Young Fu does have to deal with a lot of the issues confronting a young man growing up. His adventurous spirit and willingness to embrace new ideas are contrasted with the attitudes of others around him. This openness to change (and to Western ideas, such as Western medicine)usually lead to his successes. Some of the main issues dealt with in this book are: superstitions, the value of education, the roles of foreigners in the China of that time, the value of education, the effect of war and politics on a large, though backwater, town, as well as friendship and family. This book is probably appropriate for very high fifth grade through ninth grade. It makes excellent material for a sixth grade class, but they may some guidance or orientation, because the life depicted is so different from our own. The illustrations help when explaining ideas such as "Wedding Chair" or "Load-pole."
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