Bronze and Sunflower by Cao Wenxuan (translated by Helen Wang)

genre: middle grade fiction

Sunflower's life with her father at the cadre school is lonely.  While her father is out working in the fields or at his meetings, she spends her time out in the reeds near the river, where she can see the children in the village play.  Bronze, a big-hearted boy who is mute, sees Sunflower and knows she is a kindred spirit.  Can these two children from different worlds become friends?

Gently moving and closely connected to the earth, Bronze and Sunflower's friendship is a part of a larger picture that is China during the cultural revolution.  There is no Moa, though, no Red Guards or destruction of the Four Olds. There is just a boy and his family and a new friend named Sunflower as they struggle to make ends meet in a place where the seasons determine how much food you have in your belly in the winter and where the cost of school fees can mobilize a family to make crazy sacrifices.  Sometimes it's a bit TOO slow paced and both Bronze and Sunflower can seem a bit TOO perfect, but they do occasionally make mistakes and the time and place really seep through the pages.  This could be a good story for older elementary school students to study to help them learn about another way of life as well as the values of other cultures.