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Yan Ma

The Diary of Ma Yan: The Struggles and Hopes of a Chinese Schoolgirl Hardcover – May 31, 2005

by Ma Yan (Author), Pierre Haski (Author)

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Wednesday, November 7

My father gave me and my brother a little money. My stomach is all twisted up with hunger, but I don't want to spend the money on anything as frivolous as food. Because it's money my parents earn with their sweat and blood.

I have to study well so that I won't ever again be tortured by hunger. . . .

In a drought-stricken corner of rural China, an education can be the difference between a life of crushing poverty and the chance for a better future. But money is scarce, and the low wages paid for backbreaking work aren't always enough to pay school fees.

Ma Yan's heart-wrenching, honest diary chronicles her struggle to escape hardship and bring prosperity to her family through her persistent, sometimes desperate, attempts to continue her schooling.

First published in France in 2002, the diary of ma yan created an outpouring of support for this courageous teenager and others like her -- support that led to the creation of an international organization dedicated to helping these children . . . all because of one ordinary girl's extraordinary diary.

Reading age

8 - 12 years
Print length

176 pages
Language

English
Grade level

5 - 6
Dimensions

5.5 x 0.69 x 8.25 inches
Publisher

HarperCollins
Publication date

May 31, 2005
ISBN-10

0060764961
ISBN-13

978-0060764968
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Gloria Whelan
64
Paperback
81 offers from $1.34

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-8–In 2001, while a French journalist was visiting remote Ningxia province in northwest China, a Muslim woman wearing the white headscarf of the Hui people thrust the diaries of her daughter into his hands. The three small notebooks described the girl's struggle to get an education despite extreme poverty. Each week Ma Yan and her younger brothers walked seven miles to school where they stayed until Friday night when they returned home. Often their only food was a small bowl of rice at midday. Only occasionally did they have a bit of money to buy some vegetables in the market or to catch a tractor ride home for the weekend. Ma Yan studied hard, but she did not feel successful unless she was number one in her class. When she didn't rank first, she was berated by her mother and made to feel guilty for her lack of effort. Her parents worked constantly to make a better life for their children, farming their own fields, harvesting crops for others, and collecting the plant fa cai from the steppes north of their home. The girl's feelings for her mother were powerful and complex, and she alternated between overwhelming love and rage at the injustices she suffered. While this book will not hold the interest of average readers because of its overly didactic tone, it does paint a vivid portrait of the daily life of a child in a part of the world seldom visited.–Barbara Scotto, Michael Driscoll School, Brookline, MA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Gr. 6-9. "I want to go to school, Mother. . . . How wonderful it would be if I could go to school forever!" Thirteen-year-old Ma Yan, a peasant in the drought-scarred province of Ningxia, China, evidently scrawled this message in frustration at having to work in the fields. According to a preface, Ma Yan's mother passed her daughter's plea to visiting French journalist Haski, along with journals documenting about nine months of Ma Yan's life. Haski published them in France and established a charity to assist similarly impoverished Ningxia students, to which Ma Yan has since promised 25 percent of her royalties. Some adults may be troubled by the diary's odd provenance and the purposeful annotations framing Ma Yan's rather meandering reflections. Nonetheless, the affecting story, extended with photos of Ma Yan and her family, will push readers to a new understanding of the hardscrabble existence endured by many, even as her brooding reflections ("My moods go up and down") underscore how much teens everywhere have in common. Some captions and photos not seen. Jennifer Mattson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ HarperCollins; Translation edition (May 31, 2005)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 176 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0060764961
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0060764968
Reading age ‏ : ‎ 8 - 12 years
Grade level ‏ : ‎ 5 - 6
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.69 x 8.25 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #4,711,656 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #821 in Children's Homelessness & Poverty Books (Books)
- #2,635 in Children's Asia Books
- #20,194 in Children's School Issues

Customer Reviews:
48 ratings

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Top reviews from the United States

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The need for education

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 3, 2019

Verified Purchase

When Ma Yan, a peasant girl in China, was 13 and 14 she kept a journal that, on a whim, was published in the early 2000s. Her diary is a glimpse into the need for education to stop the cycle of poverty. What she wrote is interrupted occasionally with interesting explanations on the culture. I recommend it to middle grade kids and up.

Helpful

B Ba

Very compelling read for tweens and teens!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 17, 2014

Verified Purchase

This is an excellent book! Every 10-15yo should read it! Too many American children take their free educations for granted... This book will give them another perspective. The majority of the book is a translation of a real diary written by an actual child, so it doesn't read fluidly as fiction would...but it is very compelling. I highly recommend it!

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JP

Ordered by mistake but loved it

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 18, 2012

Verified Purchase

I was trying to order a book by Mo Yan and selected Ma Yan by mistake. Turns out it was a lucky mistake. A heart-wrenching, heart warming diary of a young girl living in poverty in rural China whose greatest desire is to gain an education and honor her parents.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 1, 2013

Verified Purchase

I bought the book and read it from beginning to end without stopping. It was such an inspiring and interesting story. I look forward to my own children reading this in the next few weeks. Thank you for sharing your story of strength and determination.

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RM

Very interesting book.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 8, 2012

Verified Purchase

Very interesting book.
How can I complain again after reading about the difficult life of Ma Yan.
Her struggles in every day life were more than I could have imagined.
A very good book.
Read it and you will think twice about complaining about your life.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Jacqueline E Rivera

The book is sad and happy

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 7, 2018

Verified Purchase

I love this book it’s so good. Highly recommend!

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CESAR MAYORAL FIGUEROA

Four Stars

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 7, 2014

Just a must.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 27, 2012

Verified Purchase

Inspiring story - insipid translation. The effort expended by these children and their parents just to get an eduction is incredible. The way it was written (or translated) was mediocre.

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MGF

Grossartiges Buch - mäßige Englische Version

Reviewed in Germany 🇩🇪 on April 25, 2012

Verified Purchase

Das Buch ist auf jeden Fall sehr lesenswert, wenn man sich in die Welt von Jugendlichen in armen Regionen Chinas hineindenken will. Ich selbst kenne China sehr gut (habe 11 Jahre hier gelebt und 30 Provinzen besucht, z.T. auch Regionen wie Ma Yan's Heimatdorf) und finde es sehr authentisch.
Weil mir das Buch sehr gefallen hat habe ich mir auch das chinesische Original gekauft, welches wie in den meisten Fällen besser als die Übersetzung ist. Leider wurde in der englischen Version etwas zu viel gekürzt und manchmal habe ich den Verdacht, dass diese eigentlich aus der französchen Übersetzung hervorging (habe ich jedoch noch nicht verfiziert). Deshalb nur 4 statt 5 Sterne!

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Kindle Customer

Inspiring book

Reviewed in India 🇮🇳 on March 16, 2022

Verified Purchase

It is really inspiring book . Especially for young teens in middle or high school. It motivated me a lot.

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