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The Vine Basket Audiobook
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Things aren’t looking good for fourteen-year-old Mehrigul. She yearns to be in school, but she’s needed on the family farm. The longer she’s out of school, the more likely it is that she’ll be sent off to a Chinese factory . . . perhaps never to return. Her only hope is an American woman who buys one of her decorative vine baskets for a staggering sum and says she will return in three weeks for more. Mehrigul must brave terrible storms, torn-up hands from working the fields, and her father’s scorn to get the baskets done. The stakes are high, and time is passing. A powerful intergenerational story of a strong, creative young artist in a cruelly oppressive society.
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“Narrator Zeynep Bilik presents fourteen-year-old Mehrigul, her little sister, and her grandfather with warmth, sweetness, and dignity…Bilik skillfully slips from beautiful accented English to Mandarin to Uyghur (including translation), which adds authenticity to the story. Mehrigul’s drunken, gambling father and depressed mother are aptly rendered in tones of anger and frustration. A moving author’s note in La Valley’s own voice recounts how she was inspired to write about the family after a personal encounter. Listeners of all ages will learn from Mehrigul’s simple tale.”
— AudioFile
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“The tight focus on her character engages the reader so that learning about Uighur village life happens as a consequence, all the more memorable for being rendered as story rather than lesson.”
— New York Times Book Review -
“An absorbing read and an excellent choice for expanding global understanding.”
— School Library Journal (starred review) -
“Strongly evokes the culture and struggles of an ethnic group whose future is less than certain.”
— Publishers Weekly -
“Paints a memorable picture of this faraway people…A haunting tale of artistic vision triumphing over adversity.”
— Kirkus Reviews
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About Josanne La Valley
Josanne La Valley earned an MFA in writing children’s books from Vermont College of Fine Arts. She has traveled across the Taklamakan Desert to the Hotan region of China, where she spent time among the Uyghur, who are featured in her novels.