I love Jade. She's definitely going on my list of smart strong girls. She's very naive about the world (find me someone forced to live in an Inner Court their whole lives who isn't naive), but she's also very inventive, mischievous, determined and funny. Seesaw Girl is a great, quick read for anyone.

 

 

This is the type of book I wish I had read when I was a kid, and it really makes me wonder how the me then would have felt about it. I know a fair amount about Asian history now, but as a kid (and even a teenager) the majority of my history studies were centered on the United States or Europe. I think the only time Asia was even mentioned was in reference to WWII, which is pretty sad. Park does a fantastic job of explaining a lot of customs and traditions that would seem incredibly alien to an American child, while still making them accessible and interesting. I really wonder how a kid in the U.S. would view having to disassemble their clothing every time it needed to be washed, barely speaking to or knowing their own father, or having to spend their entire lives barely leaving the confines of their home. Or how women weren't allowed to read or write, and that when they married (at the ripe old age of 15 in this story) that they became a part of their husband's family and were no longer members of their own. It's fascinating to think about how kids these days would view these things.The main story is a bit sad and I think she could have developed it more than she did. This book almost felt like a short story, and with just a bit more fleshing out it could have been fantastic. This was her first children's book though, so I'm hoping her subsequent stories only get better. I'm definitely looking forward to reading more from her.