Red Land, Yellow River

The amazing, dramatic, and painful autobiographical story of Ange Zhang as he came of age during the Cultural Revolution in China.

When Mao’s Cultural Revolution took hold in China in June 1966, Ange Zhang was thirteen years old. His father was a famous writer. Shortly after the revolution began, many of Ange’s classmates joined the Red Guard, Mao’s youth movement, and they drove their teachers out of the classrooms.

But in the weeks that followed, Ange discovered that his father’s fame as a writer now meant that he was a target of the new regime. When his father was arrested, he began to question everything that was happening in his country. Finally, Ange was forced to join many other young urban Chinese students in the countryside for re-education where he found the emotional space to develop his own artistic talent and to find that he, like his father, was an artist — except that Ange’s talent lay in painting and drawing.

This dramatic, painful autobiographical story is complemented by photographs, many drawn from Ange’s personal collection, as well as a non-fiction section that explains the historical period and is also illustrated with archival images.

Key Text Features
author’s note
glossary

Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.6.7
Integrate information presented in different media or formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively) as well as in words to develop a coherent understanding of a topic or issue.

ANGE ZHANG has illustrated many books for Groundwood, most notably his memoir of growing up during the Cultural Revolution, Red Land, Yellow River, which won the Bologna Ragazzi Award. A former designer for the National Opera Theater in Beijing, he now works as an animation artist. He lives in Toronto.

ANGE ZHANG has illustrated many books for Groundwood, most notably his memoir of growing up during the Cultural Revolution, Red Land, Yellow River, which won the Bologna Ragazzi Award. A former designer for the National Opera Theater in Beijing, he now works as an animation artist. He lives in Toronto.

• CCBC Our Choice (Starred Selection)Commended 2005
• Rocky Mountain Book AwardNominated 2006
• Norma Fleck Non-fiction AwardShort-listed 2005
• Red Cedar Book AwardLong-listed 2006
• TD Canadian Children's Literature AwardLong-listed 2005
• Children's Literature Roundtables of Canada Information Book AwardCommended 2005
• Rocky Mountain Book AwardWinner 2005
• Governor General‚Äôs Literary AwardShort-listed 2004
• Governor General's Literary Awards: TextShort-listed 2004
• CLA Book of the Year for Children AwardShort-listed 2005
• Bologna Ragazzi AwardWinner 2005
• Pennsylvania School Librarians Association (PSLA) YA Top Forty (or so) ListCommended 2005