AN OCEAN APART, A WORLD AWAY

AN OCEAN APART, A WORLD AWAY
By: Lensey Namioka

SUMMARY:
The book starts with a brief overview of the previous novel. This sequel to “Ties that Bind, Ties that Break” revolves around the main character’s best friend from the first. The main character of this novel, Xueyan, known as Yanyan, discusses her best friend leaving for America, and her adventure to say goodbye for the last time. This start catapults Yanyan into a series of difficult decisions. With the support of her family, she is encouraged to go to school, and pursue her dream to become a doctor. This extremely unique goal for a woman in China conflicts with her blooming romance with her brothers friend. Through her journey to find what is best for her, Yanyan ends up following in her friend’s footsteps and goes to America

TEACHABILITY:
This novel is definitely geared toward a young woman. In contrast to the universal appeal in the first novel, this seems to almost exclusively interest a girl with goals and conflicting ideas about what to do with her own life. This is an excellent novel for an eighth grader, but seems to delve a little too deeply into the politics of early 20th Century China without major explanation. Unlike the first one, it does not explain the themes as clearly or as repetitively, and would require teaching a lot of background to a group or class reading the book. I think that it can definitely lend itself to a student in a reading workshop, but does not seem to be a good book for a classroom. Like many sequels, it does not hold the magic of the first but can definitely keep the interest of someone who really enjoyed the first book and wants to read more about their story.