The accolades speak for themselves:"Fritz draws the readers into scenes from her youth in the turbulent China of the mid-twenties. One comes to appreciate the generous affection of her nurse/companion Lin Nai-Nai, the isolating distance in her mother's grief over losing a second child, the dynamics of a suffering population venting its hostility on foreigners, and most of all, the loneliness of a child's exile from a homeland she has imagined constantly but never seen....A remarkable blend of truth and storytelling." --Booklist, starred review"An insightful memory's-eye-view of her childhood...Young Jean is a strong character, and many of her reactions to people and events are timeless and universal." --School Library Journal, starred review"Told with an abundance of humor--sometimes wry, sometimes mischievous and irreverent--the story is vibrant with atmosphere, personalities, and a palpable sense of place." --The Horn Book"Every now and then a book comes along that makes me want to send a valentine to its author. Homesick is such a book....Pungent and delicious." --Katherine Paterson, The Washington Post
Jean Fritz was born in China and lived there until 1927, when she was twelve. Young Jean had spent her entire life in China, but her parents' memories of home and letters from relatives in Pennsylvania made her feel that she was American--and homesick for a place she'd never seen!
Family photographs and illustrations by Margot Tomes show us the real people behind Jean's vivid and unforgettable stories--memories of picnics on the Great Wall, pranks, holidays in the foreign compound, rebellious moments at her British school. close ties to Chinese friends, and how it felt to be called a "foreign devil" and spat upon in the streets of a turbulent China on the eve of revolution. When her family embarks upon its long journey home, Jean is thrilled, but she wonders: When she arrives in America at last, will she fit in after growing up on "the wrong side of the world?"
