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PRAIRIE LOTUS

Linda Sue Park

The year is 1880. Hanna Edmunds, age 14 and half-Asian, has just moved with her white father to the frontier town of LaForge, in what the U.S. government calls Dakota Territory. The only Asian in the whole town, she attends class in a one-room schoolhouse and helps her father set up a dress-goods business on Main Street - all in the face of bullying, contempt, and even hatred. Hanna learns that while there are no easy answers in her battle for acceptance, asking the right questions is a good way to start.

Fans of Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House series will relish the opportunity to revisit the world of those books while at the same time viewing it through a different lens - one that examines the racism, sexism, and intolerance of the era. PRAIRIE LOTUS is both rooted in the details of American frontier life and relevant in its exploration of issues vital to today's young readers.
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Published 2020-03-01 by Clarion

Comments

[...] In her latest middle-grade historical-fiction masterpiece, Park conjures the resourceful and industrious spirit of America's westward expansion without ignoring the ugly veneer of racism....An incredible and much-needed addition to the historical-fiction canon.—Booklist, starred review

Best Books of 2020 so far: Ages 9 to 12 Read more...

An absorbing, accessible introduction to a troubled chapter of American history. Read more...

Park brings new depth to these well-trodden tales. . . . Remarkable (starred review). Read more...

[...] This is not your mother's Little House on the Prairie. . . . In Linda Sue Park's triumphant novel, Hanna must rely on her humor, determination and wits to succeed in this refreshingly different viewpoint of 1880s prairie life. --- National Public Radio Best Books 2020

[...] Park's novel is clearly in conversation with [Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House books], from Hanna's friendlier interactions with, and more thoughtful views about, members of the Ihanktonwan tribe to racist attitudes among LaForge's townspeople, who object to Hanna's presence in the school and blame her after a local man assaults her. But this novel stands on its own, with a vividly drawn protagonist in self-reliant Hanna. -- The Horn Book Magazine, starred review

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