This series of books will all be set in or apply to China, although the series features two or more books as selected by Radio Reader BookByte contributors. First up will be Banished! By Han Dong, published in 2008. The work is set in 1969 as China is in the throes of the Cultural Revolution. In order to protect their son in a reeducation camp, a family encourages their son to embrace the leaders and ideals of the Revolution.
The second book will be 1000 Years of Joys and Sorrows by Ai Weiwei published in 2021, and will be reviewed by Amarillo’s Donna Miller. The author’s father, AiQing, was once China’s most celebrated. After being branded a rightist during the Cultural Revolution, Weiwei’s family was banished to a region known as “Little Siberia.” Qing was sentenced to hard labor cleaning public toilets. Ai Weiwei articulates his decision to leave China and study art in the U.S. where he is befriended by the poet Allen Ginsberg and where he was inspired by Andy Warhol and the artworks of Marcel Duchamp. He eventually rose to be renowned both as an art world superstar and international human rights activist and writes now to explore the ways in which his work has been shaped by living under a totalitarian regime.
Jessica Sadler is a 6th grade STEAM Facilitator who won the Spirit of Education Award in 2020. She holds a Bachelor’s in Elementary Education K-6 and a Master’s in Special Education with endorsements in English as a Second Language. Jessica’s teaching awards include “Best Teacher in Lawrence” in 2013. Nominations include 2013 ESU Master Teacher, 2020 Kansas Teacher of the Year, and 2019 PAEMST Award. Radio Readers will enjoy Jessica avocation which is reading.
