Revolution Is Not a Dinner Party

Revolution Is Not a Dinner Party, by Ying Chang Compestine, is also from the 2008 Notable Books for Children List. This was a fascinating novel about a terrible period in China’s history. The author explained in a note at the end that although this was a work of fiction, it was inspired by real places, events, and people from her childhood. It tells the story of Ling and her family’s struggles during the Cultural Revolution in the 1970s. When the story begins in 1972, her parents worked as respected doctors in a hospital and lived relatively comfortably in an apartment. But changes soon occurred which affected her life and the lives of her neighbors. As the story progressed, Ling’s home was searched by members of the Red Guard, and much of their personal property was destroyed or taken. Food was rationed, and meat was scarce. Soon, her father was taken away and imprisoned for sympathizing with anti-revolutionaries, but was brought back to the hospital when an important Comrade needed his surgical skills. Anyone who did not wholeheartedly agree with Mao Zedong’s revolutionary ideas for his country was accused of being anti-revolutionary, and was imprisoned or re-educated (which meant sent to work on a farm with peasants). At the end of the book, after the death of Chairman Mao, Ling’s father was released and Mao’s wife and her conspirators were arrested by officials for the new Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party. This would be a great companion novel for a middle or high school student to read while studying this period of history.