School Library Journal
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Gr 3-6-Ten-year-old Bandit is excited when her grandfather announces to the family that she will be going with her mother to join her father in America. She must leave her clan and the only life she has known in China, but she is sure that moving to America will be an adventure. To celebrate, she chooses a new name--Shirley Temple Wong. Life in America is not easy because everything is new and Shirley doesn't speak English. She is ignored by her classmates until she gains the respect of the toughest girl in class. Shirley learns to love baseball and begins to play stickball. It's 1947, and Jackie Robinson of the Brooklyn Dodgers is everyone's hero, proving that a black man can play baseball as well as anyone. Slowly Shirley learns about the opportunities available to her in America and begins to make true friends. Bette Bao Lord's wonderfully humorous story (Harper, 1984) shows what it means to be an American from the eyes of a spunky young immigrant. It will touch the hearts of listeners. Melissa Hughes authentically narrates all the voices, including many accents and ages. This story will be enjoyed on many levels.-Teresa Wittmann, Westgate Elementary School, Edmonds, WA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

School Library Journal
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Gr 3-6-Christina Moore brings the character of Shirley Temple Wong to life as she narrates this tale of emigration. This recording of Bette Bao Lord's semi-autobiographical novel (Farrar, 1984) is excellent. The year is 1947, and Shirley and her mother sail from China to America to join her father who is an engineer in Brooklyn. The beginning chapters set in China will seem as foreign to American listeners as the classroom at P.S. 8 did to Shirley. America seems a world of wonder to Shirley, but makes her feel afraid, stupid and clumsy. Then Shirley discovers baseball. Playing right field, she no longer feels small and stupid. Shirley becomes a big fan of Jackie Robinson and the Brooklyn Dodgers. Baseball, America's pastime, helps Shirley to make friends and to be accepted in a strange and foreign land. There are many interesting and strong female characters, and people of many different ethnicities are portrayed. Moore does an excellent job of portraying Shirley, and changes her voice to give each character a distinct sound. The narration is well-paced and aural quality is good. This recording brings new life to an old favorite.-Stephanie G. Miller, Boulder City Library, NV (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

A young Chinese arrival, self-named Shirley Temple Wong, finds a secure, bicultural niche in 1945-46 Brooklyn--as, it's suggested, did Chinese American novelist Lord (Spring Moon). The opening passages, meant to evoke a traditional Chinese household, have a slightly artificial, storybook quality; but once Lord gets Shirley to the Brooklyn neighborhood of look-alike houses, and into P.S. 8 where not two children look alike, this becomes an endearing, warming account of immigrant woes and joys. Her first afternoon, after Father has shown her around, Shirley insists on going to fetch cigarettes--""Rukee Sike""; she proudly procures them, from a substitute store (""Nothing to it at all""), then loses her way back (""What a fool she was!"")--but Father and his guests, finding her, still march her home triumphant. She is put into the fifth grade, not only knowing no English, but actually a year ahead of herself (asked her age, she held up ten fingers--because a Chinese child is one year old at birth); in resonse to a wink, she takes to blinking (a tic, wonders the teacher); introduced, she bows. And, from her general differentness, she's soon ignored, friendless; a failure, too, as ""China's little ambassador"" of her mother's imagining. (In a poignant bit, P.S. 8's second ""Chinese"" student proves to be from Chattanooga, and not to speak Chinese.) The turnaround starts with two black eyes from Mabel, ""the tallest and the strongest and the scariest girl in all the fifth grade."" Shirley doesn't tattle; Mabel befriends her--picking her for stickball, coaching her; and, from an inadvertent resemblance to Jackie Robinson ("" 'Cause she's pigeontoed and stole home""), she develops a passion for the Dodgers and an identification with Robinson (""making a better America,"" proclaims her teacher) that climaxes when she presents him with the keys to P.S. 8. But in a nice parallel with a Chinese tale, this identification also allows Shirley to wear ""two gowns,"" and to imagine her Chinese relatives clapping along with the P.S. 8 audience. It's a deftly worked resolution, inspirational message and all. Copyright ŠKirkus Reviews, used with permission.