Thank you NetGalley and Shadow Mountain Publishing, Shadow Mountain for accepting my request to read and review The Paper Daughters of Chinatown.

Published: 04/11/23
Genre: Children's Fiction | Teens & YA

Heartbreaking. The story was rewritten from an adult book to teen/young adult. Personally, I don't believe I could have read the adult version.

This is the water-downed story. The pieces are there without gorey details. It is enough to know a child was slapped for no reason. The abuses are insinuated and for that I'm grateful.

Little girls are sold into slavery to pay off their father's debts. For one child, her father's love for extracurricular betting was higher than any feeling towards her. If my understanding is correct, they are Paper Daughters. No, that is not bad enough, mother does more than nothing -- she keeps having human beings. The girls are never returned.

The story follows one tiny child and the paths she is thrown onto.

Another book that makes me ashamed to be human. This will stay with me the rest of my life. I am too emotionally impacted to write more.

things that made me give this book a 3.75 stars was the lack of tension I felt when Dolly, the interpreter, and some police officers would go on rescue missions, usually in the middle of the night. The characters kept mentioning the danger they were in, but it didn’t feel that way at all. It always seemed like they were able to stroll into the places and were met with little resistance and not a huge amount of danger. I felt more tension when members of the tong and previous owners would show up to the mission house and everyone who did not have the proper paperwork yet would have to go down into the basement. There was also a useless romantic plot in the middle that may have been real but it wasn’t necessary.

4.5 stars, rounded up

I was intrigued to see how Moore would adapt her original version of this story into one for younger readers. I was surprised to see that she choose a co-author to do it with. I'm not sure how each author contributed to the storyline, but, for the most part, everything was pretty seamless in the flow of the book. There were a few repetitions and some tiny gaps of unexplained things, things maybe teenagers wouldn't necessarily pick up on as missing, but I felt there were some assumptions of parts of the story that weren't explained as thoroughly as in the original. Overall, however, I really enjoyed this version for young readers and value the importance of telling this part of history and how it relates to the human trafficking that is still going on today, just without the racial aspect of it. I highly recommend this book. In the book, the authors list a Q&A for more information about the time period and the real-life characters. There is also mention of a teacher's guide available on the publisher's website for ways to incorporate this book into lesson plans. Bravo! Such a great idea! This version of the book chooses to focus less on Donaldina Cameron, the fierce protector of these young paper daughters, and more on Tien Fu Wu, one of the spirited girls who was sold into slavery by her father to pay off his gambling debts. What these Chinese women and girls went through is incomprehensible and heartbreaking, but Moore and her co-author Merrill do a great service to them by their strong portrayal of their courage and determination to overcome their trials, as well as the portrayal of the women and men who helped them.

Content: Clean; appropriate for teens, even younger ones. The heavy subject matter is dealt with in a very light manner bgut still portraying the importance of this lesson and the truth of what happened to these girls and the multiple harsh situations they were forced into.

I read this adaptation for the novel The Paper Daughters of Chinatown. I was familiar with the story because I had read the version for adult.s The story flows well but has a lot of information and facts that were well researcher about this time. I love that my kids can read this book and learn about this time in history. I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a historical novel.

I read the original book by Heather Moore several years ago, so I was excited to read this adaptation for a younger audience. This story is from a different point of view than the original, but I felt it was more suitable and relatable for teens and preteens to read. As per usual with Moore's writing, the history and research really shows through her story, and I was left with a sense of awe for the brave women who helped the "paper daughters" during this time in history.

My only complaint is that I wish the book had explained a bit more about human trafficking and given definitions to brothels and other words that would be unfamiliar to teens.

Content Consideration: Brothels are described, but I felt that the descriptions were tasteful and appropriate for a middle schooler to read.

Thank you to Netgalley for the e-advance copy. All opinions are my own.

My Rating Calculation:
Hook: 8
Writing: 8
Format: 7
Plot and character development: 8
Content: 8

Average: 7.8
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️: 7-8
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️: 5.7-6.9
⭐️⭐️⭐️: 4-5.6
⭐️⭐️: 1-3.9
⭐️: DNF

This was a moving addition the The Paper Daughters of Chinatown. It can be difficult to read because of what Tien Fu and others like her suffered and then overcame it and helped save others.

I read the original version of The Paper Daughters of Chinatown. The authors have created this wonderful young adult adaptation of the story. This version focuses more on the young Chinese girls that were kidnapped, stolen and forced into slavery and prostitution. Even though these subjects are difficult to read, the authors have done a wonderful job of explaining the circumstances in a proper and concise way. The historical aspects are so important in the story, and research is a strong point for these authors. The community that rallied around these young girls to help them was so inspirational. It’s just hard to believe people can be so cruel and heartless in historical settings and present-day settings. Definitely an eye-opening story. I would not suggest this for a young teen but an older and more mature young adult would probably enjoy it. I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

First let me say that this was a really easy book to read. I’d guess it took me something like two and a half hours to read the whole thing.

I really liked that so much of the story is told from Tien Fu Wu’s perspective, even though her story is heartbreaking. I liked getting to follow her through her recovery to the point where she decided to help rescue other girls and where she was able to use her own experience to understand how to comfort other girls.

All I can say about Dolly Cameron is that she must have been truly a force to be reckoned with. I loved the way her friendship with Tien Fu Wu developed and the growth they both experienced along the way.

I haven’t read the adult version of this book, so I don’t know what content was removed. One of the things I wish this book had given a little more background information on was why the president and his wife visited the mission home. I wanted to understand how that happened. How did they know about the mission, and was there something that prompted them to visit? It might be that that's included in the adult version and didn't make it into the young readers' edition.

Other than that, I thought the book did a great job describing the lives of girls like Tien Fu Wu and the obstacles that Dolly Cameron and the women at the mission faced in order to help them.

I think readers who enjoy books about history will definitely want to check this one out. The writing style seems more like narrative nonfiction, but it’s classified as a novel. Something about it reminded me of a book called LI JUN AND THE IRON ROAD by Anne Tait.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions my own.

This wasn't great.

The writing was messy and juvenile, the characters were flat, and this read more like a draft than an actual published book. The white savior element was really pushed forward in this story, and it all just felt very off. It doesn't make sense for a white woman to tell the story of Chinese heroes, and honestly I question why this is an actual book.

An amazing story of courage and bravery in the face of extreme diversity. Beautifully adapted for the intended audience and addressing a lesser known historical event.

This is a book that will stay with you long after you turn the last page. I read both versions of this book and the author did an excellent job of making this book age appropriate. This book should be in every school library.
I received a complimentary copy from Shadow Mountain Publishing via NetGalley and was not required to write a review. All opinions expressed are my own.

I have read this version as well as the original version of this story and it is one that needs to be read from both perspectives. Heather B. Moore and Allison Hong Merrill have captured the plight and perspective of these ladies perfectly. The fear and betrayal that occurred with these "paper.daughters" is horrific and beautifully written. I felt for each girl. To view this story from the perspective of a girl sold to cover her father's debts, betrayed and told she was visiting her grandmother, is emotional and harrowing,

This story holds all the emotion that comes from a story such as this, Thankfully these girls had rescuers to help them live a better life in a foreign world.. The story is not out of date or out of time as trafficking is still alive and well today. It is a snake that good people are fighting to destroy. If this story brings that snake into the light just a little more, it has done a world of good. I will never stop sharing this book or recommending it to others. Sometimes the stories that are the hardest to read emotionally are the ones that we need the most. This story is needed. It is needed in this version. It helps those of us who did not know to be just a little less ignorant and a little more empathetic, and maybe a little more determined to prevent future girls from suffering the same.

I received an early copy through NetGalley and this is my honest review.

The Paper Daughters of Chinatown (Adapted for Young Readers) is important historical fiction. I have not read the adult version and I think I'm glad of that, as this version is horrific enough. In the Young Reader adaptation we follow the life of six-year-old Tai Choi as she is repeatedly sold and trafficked. Not sure what age this material is aimed at, but I would be cautious. I believe in children knowing real facts, but I also know being immersed in good writing can feel like the real thing and this book is well written so caution is advised. In this glimpse of American History we do end up with women who make a difference and free many of these girls. A true legacy that lives on today.

This was an incredible story of two people from completely different walks of life who helped immigrant girls and women escape slavery in early 1900’s San Francisco. Tien Fu is sold into slavery at 6 years old, but eventually makes it to the Occidental Mission Home for Girls. Dolly Cameron helped run the home and by the end of her career, rescued over 3,000 people. This book is adapted for older teenagers from the best-selling novel and it was a little choppy, but I ended up invested in their story.

Historical fiction has always been my favourite genre, and I think I like children’s historical fiction better than that written for adults most of the time. Most of the time, books written for children tend to be cleaner, and without romance. When I saw The Paper Daughters of Chinatown, I was a little bit leery of it being too explicit. I decided to give it a chance, however, and I’m glad I did.
Tai Choi was only seven when her father in China sold her to pay his gambling debts. She was torn away from her loving mother and thrust into a new life of uncertainty. After being sold several times, someone from the Occidental Mission Home for Girls in San Francisco, California, found her and rescued her from her abusive situation. Soon after this, Donaldina Cameron arrived at the mission home. 
It took many years of patient kindness on Dolly’s (Donaldina’s) part until Tien Fu, as Tai Choi became known, could trust her. During that time, Dolly went on many hair raising rescues to save other girls who were being mistreated and abused. 
I had no idea, before reading The Paper Daughters of Chinatown, that so many Chinese girls were smuggled into California with fake papers. Of course, most of them ended up in brothels. I appreciated the way this author described a brothel in this children’s book – “a place where men paid money to visit girls who were trapped in a bad life.“ Some of the physical abuse is described in slightly more detail than that. On the whole this is a book I would not hesitate to let my 12-year-olds read. It would be good for parents to read ahead, in order to be prepared for questions that might come up. It is a beautiful story of people showing God’s love to those who desperately need it. I also really liked that this story is based on real people and real events. There are extensive author’s notes to explain the historical part.
Note: There is also an adult’s version of this book. I have not read that.
I received a review copy of this book from NetGalley, and these are my honest thoughts about it.

Happy Publication Day!

4/5

“She wouldn’t want to go back to being owned by any human being. She was anot a thing. She was not propriety. No one was.”

ARC BOOK REVIEW: The Paper Daughters of Chinatown (YA Version)
PUB DATE: April 11, 2023

I want to first start by saying thank you to Heather B. Moore and Allison Hong Merrill, Shadow Mountain Publishing, and Netgalley for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

What a story of courage, strength, and survival in the time of slavery and prostitution among young girls in Chinatown, San Francisco. The story starts with Tien Wu who thought she was getting a better life, but ended up being sold to many slave owners. Beaten and burned, all Tien Wu wanted was her mother, who gave her the strength to keep going. But when she is saved by the mission home she goes on to learn about herself. But after starting life so roughly and in survival mode all the time, will Tien Wu be able to adapt to this new life?
As the story goes on we meet so many different people who had an impact on how the mission home became a sanctuary. One of whom is Donaldina Cameron who made it her mission to save the “paper daughters” out of slavery. Little did she know that the “troublemaker” would eventually be her partner in crime.

I encourage all to pick this book up at some point in their life because Heather Moore and Allison Merrill did an excellent job at telling the true story of the Paper Daughters of Chinatown in Historical Fiction. This book is dark and sometimes difficult to read. Abuse of anyone, especially children, is heartbreaking. I would encourage you to look up the trigger warnings before reading this book.

I have never read the adult version of this book but rest assured, I will be making it a priority. But I did find the adaptation for young readers was well done. This book was easy to follow and held my attention the whole time and have no doubt it will for you too. Now go out and get this book, you will learn so much about the dark side of Asian culture in the late 1800s.

True story of a child sold by her father

I wondered how the author would make a book about human trafficking appropriate for younger readers, but she succeeded. The seriousness of slavery and abuse is clear without being too scary or graphic. Because of Chinese anti-immigration laws, the girls were given a new name and false papers, so they become paper daughters. Ironically, the girls were also taught to be afraid of Dolly to keep them from being rescued.

This is the true story of Tien Fu Wu, a resilient woman, who was sold by her father to pay his gambling debts in 1892 when she was six years old. Her life was incredibly heartbreaking, but she was able to overcome the things she experienced and help thousands of other girls in similar situations.

Donaldina/Dolly Cameron is a true hero. She rescued about 3,000 girls from slavery while working at the Occidental Board Presbyterian Mission Home in San Francisco, California. Dolly frequently faced many dangers as she stood up to groups of violent men who wanted to stop her. She had faith that God was with her and would help her accomplish the work she was led to do.

Between thirty-five and fifty girls lived at the mission home at any time. They were taught to read and write their native Chinese as well as English. They were also taught to sew and cook, and college was even provided for some of them who chose to go.

I read both the regular version and this one for younger readers and I prefer this version. This is a remarkable story that needs to be told but it’s nice to read it without all the ugly details. Thanks to Shadow Mountain Publishing and NetGalley for an ARC to use for my review.

Compelling, tragic, and inspiring. The Paper Daughters of Chinatown for young readers is an adaptation from the original historical fiction novel. I was curious to see how the authors would be able to take the difficult subjects of human trafficking and slavery and create an appropriate version for young readers. Heather B. Moore and Allison Hong Merrill have definitely done it. They’ve taken the real life stories of Tien Fu Wu and Donaldina “Dolly” Cameron and expertly brought them to life for younger readers.

In the late 1800’s a loophole in the law allowed young women and children to be trafficked from China to America. Six year old Tai Choi thinks she’s traveling to visit her grandmother. Instead, she’s been sold by her father to fulfill a gambling debt. Tai Choi finds herself on a boat to America where she’s given the new name Tien Fu Wu and told to lie about why she’s coming to San Francisco. She’s soon forced into servitude where she’s beaten and punished if the child she cares for cries or if she doesn’t perform her chores satisfactorily. When she’s rescued and taken to the Occidental Mission Home for Girls, she has a difficult time trusting. She’s rightly suspicious of her new circumstances and frequently acts up.

Dolly Cameron wants to do something important. She accepts a position at the Occidental Mission teaching sewing. As she learns the girls’ tragic stories, she’s filled with compassion. When she’s asked to help perform dangerous rescue missions, she readily agrees. Dolly has a complicated relationship with Tien Fu Wu and it takes a while for her to gain her trust. But, these two form a powerful friendship as both grow throughout the story and work to rescue other young women.

Tien Fu Wu is such a great character who helps the reader understand the painful experiences she endured after being separated from her family. Dolly’s character is inspiring and I sympathized with her compassion for the girls she rescues. I especially enjoyed how she tried to gently inspire Tien Fu Wu to do better when she discovers she’s stolen a crate of apples. Dolly also serves to shine a light on the evil practices of human trafficking, unfortunately still going on today.

I appreciated how this difficult yet little spoken of time in history was portrayed for young readers. While there are a few mentions of prostitution, opium dens, and gangs, it serves to help the reader understand the situation these children and young women were forced into. It’s sensitively handled and tastefully done with just enough detail to accomplish this task. The things these young girls went through were heartbreaking, yet they’re tempered with the kindness and love shown to them by Dolly and others. Dolly was so beloved that many called her “mother.” It’s a fantastic introduction to this tragic time in America’s history. I would recommend it to middle grade (5th & 6th grade) readers and up. I received an advanced complimentary copy from the publisher. All opinions are my own and left voluntarily. 4 1/2 stars out of 5.

*Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book for review, all opinions are my own*

Even before I started reading I already knew I was going to like this story but I'm happy to see that I liked it after reading it.
It was a much faster read than I was imagining, I just can't say that it's a read that can be done in one day because it's a story with very heavy topics so look for trigger warnings before reading because even though it's an adaptation for young readers it's still a story that touches on sensitive but extremely important topics.
It is a book that I think everyone should read.
I highly recommend it!

I was excited for the chance to read this Young Readers version of The Paper Daughters of Chinatown, and that Allison Hong Merrill worked with Heather B. Moore in writing this adaptation. Having read the original book, I was looking forward to seeing how this would be adapted for younger readers. I thought it was very well written. Showing what had happened for the girls who lived and experienced these events, and yet being very tasteful and written sensitively for the targeted audience of younger readers.

My teenagers read the book and my just shy of being a teenager child has asked to read it as well, to which I said yes to. Tien Fu Wu's story is heartbreaking, inspiring and eyeopening. This adaptation focused more on Tien Fu's story, whereas the original version focused more on Donaldina, aka Dolly, Cameron. Miss Cameron does have chapters/scenes where the story is from her perspective in this adaptation which I loved seeing. Especially since there are aspects of this story that cause Dolly and Tien Fu to not be in scenes together.

I loved learning more about Tien Fu's history. Not that I loved what she went through. It was heartbreaking that she or anyone would be treated that way. But this part of her life wasn't focused on in the original version. I loved Tien Fu's character, her resilience, her strong personality and loved how the authors portrayed her as a younger child and portrayed the scenarios that shaped her and that she didn't let her strength die, but continued to build it and grow.

The relationship between Dolly and Tien Fu is developed further in the original book as it is longer and has more pages to do so. But, their relationship was just as sweet and hard won in this book and I loved seeing how the authors were able to show that real life relationship in a historical fiction book.

My teenagers were moved by this story, just as I was, and I'm sure many others will be when they read the book. It has piqued my interest between the two books to learn more about Dolly and Tien Fu and the Donaldina Cameron House and the many people who over the years have worked and sacrificed to help, care for, teach and show love and compassion to fellow humans who were placed in unforgiving circumstances.

Content: Clean. Well written for the targeted audience. There are some mild moments of peril and very mild references to some of the horrors that these paper daughters faced but nothing detailed. The brothels and drugs were very vaguely mentioned and again, were done very tastefully/sensitively for what the subject is and who the audience is.

I received a copy from the author/publisher, Shadow Mountain, via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions in the review are my own.

Happy Reading!!!