The Paper Daughters of Chinatown: Adapted for Young Readers ~ Review

The Paper Daughters of Chinatown

Adapted for Young Readers

By Heather B. Moore

 and Allison Hong Merrill

This is a story of survival and even triumph. Tai Choi was supposed to live a life of privilege, but instead, she was treated little better than an unwanted piece of livestock to be bartered off to the highest bidder when no longer needed. For all intents, she was a slave in a land that had abolished slavery. But for Tai Choi, and hundreds if not thousands, slavery was very much alive in America. 

The Paper Daughters of Chinatown is written for young readers, so more graphic content is removed but eluded to. This is based on true-life events and is handled sensitively in an age-appropriate manner. Yet the underlying feeling is left intact - helplessness and being at the mercy of those who care little for you beyond the work required. 

Tai Choi was sold by her father for gambling debts and forced to assume a new identity - Tien Fu Wu, and, worse, warned away from the very people who sought to help her. When she escaped this life she had to learn to trust those who had aided her. With time, she and Dolly Cameron would forge a friendship and take on the work together of helping to rescue others caught in the life that had stolen so much from Tien Fu Wu. It wasn't an easy life, but it was a worthy one born from experience and caring, and on the friendship forged between two very different women.

This is a look at American history that is little known to most. A dirty little secret that has been swept away like a pile of dust hidden beneath a rug. The author expertly crafted this story for children to experience this travesty while only alluding to the darker parts. Historical fact-based fiction isn't always pretty, but this is a story of triumph and overcoming evil. I would recommend this for those looking for a historical fiction title for a book report. This is a title for middle-grade readers and up.

I was provided a complimentary copy of this book with no expectations but that I provide my honest opinion. All thoughts expressed are my own.

About the Book:

Based on the true story of two friends who unite to help rescue immigrant 

women and girls in San Francisco’s Chinatown in the late 1890s.

When Tai Choi leaves her home in the Zhejiang province of China, she believes it’s to visit her grandmother. But despite her mother’s opposition, her father has sold her to pay his gambling debts. Alone and afraid, Tai Choi is put on a ship headed for “Gold Mountain” (San Francisco). When she arrives, she’s forced to go by the name on her forged papers: Tien Fu Wu.

Her new life as a servant is hard. She is told to stay hidden, stay silent, and perform an endless list of chores, or she will be punished or sold again. If she is to survive, Tien Fu must persevere, and learn who to trust. Her life changes when she’s rescued by the women at the Occidental Mission Home for Girls.

When Dolly Cameron arrives in San Francisco to teach sewing at the mission home, she meets Tien Fu, who is willful, defiant, and unwilling to trust anyone. Dolly quickly learns that all the girls at the home were freed from servitude and maltreatment, and enthusiastically accepts a role in rescuing more.

Despite challenges, Dolly and Tien Fu forge a powerful friendship as they mentor and help those in the mission home and work to win the freedom of enslaved immigrant women and girls.