Customer Reviews

Sparrow Girl

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The Chinese were declaring war against the sparrows, claiming they were their enemies. Ming-Li's Older Brother had a basket of firecrackers to frighten them away with, but Ming-Ling was upset because she liked sparrows. Even her mother and father were excited at the prospect of having a village barn filled with grain. If the sparrows were around, they would eat it all before it could be put into storage. She was so upset and couldn't sleep. When she went in to talk to Older Brother, he simply said to her, "Our Leader's plans are always perfect. They told us at school. Now, go to sleep!" Chairman Mao was always right.

The next morning the whole village seemed to explode with noise. Everyone was trying to drive away the sparrows. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Birds began to fall from the sky. They were literally dying from fright. Ming-li ran home to check on her own pigeon. Older Brother must have let her out, but when she went up to the roof her pet flew to her. She died in her arms and "tears filled Ming'Li's eyes." Later, whenever she saw a bird fall to the ground, she rushed to pick it up. Perhaps she could save just one. The birds were coming down in torrents. Would there be any birds left in China?

This story is based on the true story of Chairman Mao's Great Sparrow War in 1958. This program proved ecologically unsound because without the sparrows, the locust population grew and contributed to "a famine that killed between thirty and forty million Chinese" people. The story is very touching and heartbreaking. The art work superbly captures the mood of the story. This is a serious tale and would be an excellent choice for a historical or ecological class study.

In 1958, Chairman Mao Tse-Tung's initiated the Great Sparrow Campaign, a massive effort to eliminate all of China's sparrows, which he blamed for eating too many grain seeds and causing hardship for China's farmers. He ordered all the peasant to bang pots and pans and to have noise parades to frighten the birds away.

The decision saddened and frightened Ming-Li, a young girl living in the country-side, who liked sparrows and wondered about the consequences of the decision and if there was another way to save the crops. Her fears proved fully grounded. Sparrows not only ate grain, they also ate locusts and worms, and the decimation of the sparrow population contributed to an enormous growth of locusts and the start of China's terrible famine. Ming-Li was too young and small to stop these major events, but her love of sparrows did lead to a powerful action that would bring hope to her village and new-found respect from her father.

Readers of all ages will appreciate Sparrow Girl for its informative account of an important event in China's Great Leap Forward and its lesson about the dangers of upsetting the environment's ecological balance. The rich illustrations make this work of historical fiction all the more memorable.

Thought it was for kids, and yes, it's intended to be so. But, the story is deep. I have shown the book to my friends and co-workers who are adults, and they liked so much that some of them went out and purchased copies for their kids or family members. The story gives a long lasting impression on readers along with beautiful illustrations.

This is a great story that shows how one young girl can make a difference. It also shows how blind following without personal thought can lead to destruction.

Sparrow Girl is the story of how devastating human intervention can be to wildlife populations. In China, early Communist policy called for the extermination of all sparrows that might feed upon grain crops. The onslaught to the birds was highly successful and the Chinese were able to kill thousands upon thousands of birds in the country side. The following year famine occurred due to the bloom of locusts who wiped out the cereal crops. This book teaches a lesson in the importance of cause and effect. Kill all the birds and the bugs will take over....

In this poignant fable based on historical fact, Chairman Mao instructs the Chinese people to keep sparrows from settling down anyplace for three days because he believed that the sparrows were responsible for eating all the grains in the cultivated fields. Exhausted, most of the birds died; although, a small girl named Ming-Li rescues a few sparrows from being harried to death and hides them in a barn. The next year, when the farmers in her village see their grain being destroyed by insects, the wise girl tells them this is happening because all the sparrows are gone, and she shows them the seven sparrows that she has saved. This story ends with a positive result: the farmers decide to let the sparrows repopulate. The actual consequence of Mao's edict was to enable a massive famine that resulted in more than 3o million people dying from hunger over a three year period. The paintings represent the text very well: one dramatic double spread shows golden birds falling from the sky, "They're like raindrops...The sky is raining birds". Another very moving double spread shows Ming-Li sitting on a rooftop with her older brother, a birdcage with seven sparrows sits between them. Sparrows populate the inside cover pages. An author's note explains the facts of the "Sparrow War". More context about the true event would have enhanced this book; although, information is readily available on the internet.

This is my newest favorite read aloud book! The illustrations are full page, unusual, and beautiful. The story is told through the eyes of the little girl and children of all ages will feel her empathy while reading this work of historical fiction. I am an elementary teacher and would highly recommend a copy in every library!

I've been following the young career of the illustrator, Yoko Tanaka for a few years now, and these illustrations are such a wonderful example of her ability to make everyday things seem magical and ethereal. I'd highly recommend this book for anyone who wishes to expose their little ones to something special among children's book illustrations.

My six year old granddaughter reports that this is a wonderful book. Her mother confirms it. This is the second book by Pennypacker I've given to her, and her response to both has been great. She loves books and I just want to keep feeding her need to read.