Growing Up Under a Red Flag: A Memoir of Surviving the Chinese Cultural Revolution

Compestine’s childhood informs this tense account of 10 years under Mao Zedong’s oppressive rule. Born in Wuhan, China, the book’s narrator is three years old in 1966, when Mao declares a Cultural Revolution to regain power over the government. Her parents were doctors, her father a surgeon trained by an American who left Wuhan when the Communists began to rule China. Though she learns English and reads with her father, who “loved my curiosity and strong spirit,” such activities must be conducted in secret, and the Cultural Revolution soon encompasses electrical outages, food rationing and scarcity, mandated uniforms, and the removal of individuals who don’t conform. Her father is targeted following the receipt of a letter from the U.S., and the Red Guard storms their home, arresting him as an American spy. Debut illustrator Liu gives the ink and digitally colored artwork the feel of vintage Chinese art and design, strengthening an already gripping historical narrative. Ages 6–9. (May)