"Chinese Cinderella" chapter 11

In chapter eleven the story is set in Shanghai, Japan in the year of 1948. At the beginning of chapter eleven Adeline and her brothers, sister, stepsister and stepbrother are all given a present from one of Niang's friends. They all received a chicken. Adeline's siblings chose before her and she was the last one to pick. She ended up with the scrawniest and smallest looking bird of them all. Over time Adeline had a great bond with her bird who was called PLT (short for 'Precious Little Treasure'). They become the best of friends and they are always together. Adeline favours her chick over the others and goes and fetches her worms every now and then from the garden. Jackie is their dog that lives in the back garden. The dog is fierce and wolf like, one afternoon when Adeline is digging for worms Jackie goes and bites her. She runs inside and washes the blood coming from the bite marks on her arm. Her Aunt Baba gets home from work and when she see's Adeline she is shocked. She dresses the wound and cheers her up. I felt a bit upset for Adeline because if she didn't have an Aunt then no one would be looking out for her and taking care of her. It makes me feel quite angry at her Father and Stepmother. I wish i could ask her parents why they weren't more responsible and caring. Later on in the chapter Adeline's father tells one of his sons to go and fetch a chicken to show off to one of their guests how much Jackie's behaviour had improved. The son picks Adeline's chicken PLT knowing that she is the one to give him the least amount of trouble if the chicken is killed or hurt by the dog. They all eagerly watch, some with excitement and joy and some with fear. PLT is placed on the lawn while Adeline's father is holding onto Jackie's leash, he lets go and Jackie runs straight towards PLT with his sharp ferocious looking teeth. At once he pounces on the chicken and kills it almost at once, but Adeline runs over in fear of her beloved pets life quickly picks up her chicken and cradles her as she runs inside to wrap her up. She stayed awake most of the night, hoping and praying that PLT would be all right in the morning. When she was woken up she looked at her pet, and saw her cold lifeless body laying beside her, Adeline was most upset and angry about the loss of her pet. She couldn't believe PLT was the chicken chosen to test Jackie and she was upset about the outcome. I felt very deeply for Adeline in this chapter it made me feel very sad for her loss. I kept hoping that PLT would be alright when morning came but instead she died. Adeline buries her pet in the garden which i think shows readers how much she truly cares for her bird to lay her to rest in peace in the back garden. This chapter was interesting for me to read about and i enjoyed reading this book, until it got to the end.

"Chinese Cinderella" chapter 1 and 2

Adeline is the youngest child of five children, her father and stepmother were very wealthy but only her step mother had two other children who were the only ones that got money. Adeline's mother died giving birth to her and her father had remarried. Adeline is blamed for her mothers death and told she is a mistake, though people in her family tell her that, she still tries to work hard to make something of herself. "If you had not been born, Mama would still be alive. She died because of you. You are bad luck." tells readers that she is an unwanted child and blamed for the death of her mother. Because Adeline is the youngest girl she isn't considered worth much by her family or anyone else. Her father and stepmother neglect her or don't remember that Adeline exists and is a part of their family and she is always being bullied by her older siblings. Adeline has to get used to her step brother and sister being favoured over her siblings and herself, as her step mother is in control of the rules and who gets what. The first two chapters are set in Japan in Autumn 1941 in a city called Tainjin in Japan. Only Adeline's aunt Baba cares for Adeline. Every award she recieves from her school goes in her Aunt Baba's safe deposit box so that Adeline knows the award she won means something to her and is special. After reading the opening chapters of the book i felt sorry for Adeline that she had been blamed for the death of her mother, i was annoyed that no one was there to support her or care for her except her Aunt Baba. But as i continued to read the following chapters i started to understand how she must of felt at different stages of her life. I felt sorry for her because her father doesn't really appreciate her and he is usually ashamed of her and this is a lot for a little girl to put up with. As the book goes on i start to dislike Adeline's step mother Niang and the way she treats her. I don't think i would read the book again as it isn't really my type of genre that i enjoy reading. The book didn't really finish the way i would've liked it to and it didn't explain to me what happened after Adeline recieved the letter from her Aunt Baba i kept questioning what happened after. The emotions i felt during different stages of the book where, anger because i didn't like the way Adeline was treated by members of her family. I was sad for her when her Ye Ye and Nai Nai passed away. I also felt happy for Adeline when she recieved awards from her school. I felt the emotions she felt. But towards the end of the book i started to get bored and the story felt like it had no meaning.

"Chinese Cinderella" chapter 10

In the tenth chapter one of Adeline's brothers starts to get sick of not being able to eat whatever he wanted. So one morning he went to the cook and demanded an omelette the cook refused, so he went and made it himself. I felt happy that someone finally stood up and said that they should be able to have, eat and do the same things that everyone else in the family gets to do. Also the second world war is ended in August 1945 when Adeline is eight. This must of had a fairly big impact on Japan and the families life. There was a craze for everything american. Adeline makes a friend called Wu Cun-Mei i feel happy for her as she makes a friendship. They help eachother to excel in areas they need improvement at. They both try very hard at school and are keen to impress. As Adeline never got a tram fare she still walks to school each day. When Wu Chun-Mei see's her walking she orders her driver to stop and she gets out and accompanies her all the way. This shows how nice and thoughtful Adeline's new friend is. In this chapter Adeline is given a book from her new friend translated from english into Chinese. Adeline finds a personal link to the book and it is her favourite, she hand copies it so she has her own copy forever. Closer to the end of the chapter Adeline's three brothers make a glass of what they claimed to be, "orange juice" they persuaded Adeline to drink the glass. She said to her third brother, knowing he would never lie, "Can i drink this?" and he told her she could. When she took a sip, she realised it was her brothers urine. This shows/tells readers how cruel and mean her brothers are to Adeline. This chapter was quite long and i got bored reading it. I didn't like it as much as the previous chapters i had read. The tenth chapter was still set in Shanghai, Japan.

"Chinese Cinderella" chapter 9

In the start of chapter nine for "Chinese Cinderella" the five children are given what they are to wear for Chinese New Years. They complain about how ugly the clothes they are given to wear look. All of the five children realise how favoured and spoilt the children of their stepmother Niang are. They have wonderful new modern outfits to wear with lovely haircuts. They can eat whatever they fancy and when they are done they simply throw the left overs out the window to the dog, named Jackie. The children come together for a plan but soon after realise Niang knows about the whole thing and was eaves dropping on them all. A while after the plan as made and destroyed shortly after, Niang started to treat big sister better than the others too. This shows the reader she did this simply to get big sister on her own side and take big sister out of the game to go ahead with the plan and write a letter in brilliant Japanese writing that only their father could read. Niang was quite bright and sneaky with what she was doing. No one realised it though. The other four children sat and watched Niang's bioligical children and big sister get favoured by both Niang and their father. Adeline wished she could stop it all but she was too small a person and meant near to nothing to her family to do anything about it. Adeline is still very smart in class at her new school and is hoping to make some new friends. I didn't really enjoy reading this chapter as much as i did previous ones. This chapter is set in Shanghai, Japan.

"Chinese Cinderella" chapter 8

In chapter 8 of "Chinese Cinderella" it talks about how the children have been going behind their father and stepmothers backs and getting a tram fare from their dear Ye Ye. When Niang and father find out they are most angry and outraged for what the children have done. They told the children, "We merely want you to acknowledge your errors in your past. Admit you've been wrong. Promise you'll change for the better. Come and apologise." Only if they did as Niang said would they get money for a daily tram fare. Big sister was the first to give in. Then Adeline's three older brothers, Adeline though ... she never gave in. She felt the need to not disgrace her dear Ye Ye like this especially when she was the one who begged for money in the first place. Even during the winter months she would walk to school each day by herself without giving in and catching the tram. Adeline was such a nice young girl to do what she is doing for her Ye Ye. This shows readers that no matter what Adeline wont turn in to Niang. She will always stand strong by Ye Ye's side. I was most appreciative of how strong Adeline was and i thought she was very brave to not give in to Niang. I think Adeline Yen Mah could've made the story a bit more clear and elaborated on certain events. Especially at the end i think she could've continued on with the story to tell readers what happened after she got the letter from her Aunt Baba. I think if she did this that i might have liked the story a little more. This chapter is set in Shanghai, Japan.

"Chinese Cinderella" chapter 7

In chapter seven of "Chinese Cinderella" the rest of her family arrive from Tainjin to Shaghai. Adeline thought little sister had changed the most out of all of them. Little sister couldn't even remember any of them, not even her real mother Niang. Little sister would remain by Aunt Baba's side and Niang was growing impatient of this! Niang was told by little sister, "Go away i do not want you! Aunt Baba tell her, go away! go away!" Niang was pushed too far and started to beat her child, no one dare say a thing but Adeline was scared, she spoke up and said, "Don't beat her anymore. She is only a baby!" Niang was outraged that Adeline had said that, and Niang told her to get out. Adeline was upset about what had happened that day. She was terrified that she would have to leave home because Niang told her to do so. This chapter shows the readers how abusive the stepmother character really is and how irresponsible as a mother she is to beat her own children, Nianga baby wouldn't remember her. She was abandoned by her mother and left to be cared for by Aunt Baba. I think that what scares Adeline most was that if she did something worse than not go to Niang when she was called (like Niangs baby did) that something worse than being hit and slapped would happen to her. I tried to imagine the event from this book in Niang's view and how it must of felt to her having her own child not want her. But then i though about it and i think personally that it's Niang's own fault. She didn't take her baby with her, she left her in Tainjin with Aunt Baba for a long period of time. So it is most definate that a child the age of Niang's baby would forget their biological mother figure if left with another women for a long period of time. And over time the daughter would've created a bond with Aunt Baba much like a mother to daughter bond. This chapter is also set in Shanghai, Japan.

"Chinese Cinderella" chapter 6

In the sixth chapter Adeline has her very first day at her brand new school in Shanghai. When school was over for her she waited and waited and waited for some one to come and pick her up. She waited a long time but no one was coming. She had to find her own way home as everyone had forgotten about her. She got lost and had to call her father to come and pick her up, but no one had been looking for her. This shows the readers that no one cares about where she is and if she can get home or not it also shows that no one would miss her if she had dissapeared. Adeline realises that with Aunt Baba still in Tainjin she is all alone and no one cares about her so she must look out for herself for now. During the sixth chapter i wanted to know WHY Adeline was neglected and forgotten about and why her Aunt Baba was the only one who appreciated her and cared about her. I would like to ask all of the characters in the book these questions except for her Aunt Baba, Ye Ye and Nai Nai. I would also ask Adeline why she thinks people forget her and ignore or abuse her. And how that must of felt. This chapter left me questioning and i was a little curious and i tried to think of answers to my questions. I would also like to ask the author why she didn't continue the story and tell us more about what happened after she got the letter. I want to know if anything good ever did happen in her life, like any events that she didn't write about and if so, WHY she didn't include these in the story and i would like to know if she wrote the story in such a way to think badly of some of her family members and why. Or if the story includes every good and bad event in her life. There are alot of questions i have to ask characters in the story. I feel annoyed that i can't get answers.