Description

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A Newbery Honor book!

Jean Fritz’s award-winning account of her life in China, and to honor this story, it is only fitting that it be added to our prestigious line of Puffin Modern Classics. This fictionalized autobiography tells the heartwarming story of a little girl growing up in an unfamiliar place. While other girls her age were enjoying their childhood in America, Jean Fritz was in China in the midst of political unrest. Jean Fritz tells her captivating story of the difficulties of living in a unfamiliar country at such a difficult time.

* "A remarkable blend of truth and storytelling." —Booklist, starred review

* "An insightful memory's-eye-view of her childhood . . . Young Jean is a strong character, and many of her reactions to people and events are timeless and universal." —School Library Journal, starred review

"Told with an abundance of humor—sometimes wry, sometimes mischievous and irreverent—the story is vibrant with atmosphere, personalities, and a palpable sense of place." —The Horn Book

"Every now and then a book comes along that makes me want to send a valentine to its author. Homesick is such a book . . . Pungent and delicious." —Katherine Paterson, The Washington Post

About the Author

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Acclaimed biographer, Jean Fritz, was born in China to American missionaries on November 16, 1915. Living there until she was almost thirteen sparked a lifelong interest in American history.  She wrote about her childhood in China in Homesick, My Own Story, a Newbery Honor Book and winner of the National Book Award.
     Ms. Fritz was the author of forty-five books for children and young people. Many center on historical American figures, gaining her a reputation as the premier author of biographies for children and young people.
     Among the other prestigious awards Ms. Fritz has garnered are: the National Humanities Medal, the Children's Literature Legacy Award, the May Hill Arbuthnot Lecture Award. the Christopher Award, the Boston Globe-Horn Book Non-Fiction Award, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, and many ALA Notable Books of the Year, School Library Journal Best Books of the Year, and ALA Booklist Editors’ Choice Awards.
     She passed away on May 14, 2017.

Praise For…

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"Told with an abundance of humor—sometimes wry, sometimes mischievous and irreverent—the story is vibrant with atmosphere, personalities, and a palpable sense of place." —Horn Book

"Fritz draws the readers into scenes from her youth in the turbulent China of the mid-twenties. One comes to appreciate the generous affection of her nurse/companion Lin Nai-Nai, the isolating distance in her mother's grief over losing a second child, the dynamics of a suffering population venting its hostility on foreigners, and most of all, the loneliness of a child's exile from a homeland she has imagined constantly but never seen. . . A remarkable blend of truth and storytelling." —Booklist, starred review

"An insightful memory's-eye-view of her childhood . . . portrayed in an unfolding of events, many of which are extremely touching. . . Young Jean is a strong character, and many of her reactions to people and events are timeless and universal." —School Library Journal, starred review

"It is a rare writer who can capture the intense feelings and bittersweet flavor of childhood as honestly and convincingly as Jean Fritz does." —The New Yorker

"Every now and then a book comes along that makes me want to send a valentine to its author. Homesick is such a book. . . Pungent and delicious." —Katherine Patterson, The Washington Post

"Fritz's Newbery Honor-winning memoir of growing up during a turbulent time in China's history is 'rich in the telling observations of sights, sounds and people.'" —Publishers Weekly



A Newbery Honor Book
An American Book Award Winner
Christopher Award Winner
Winner of the Child Study Children’s Book Committee (Bank Street College) Children’s Book Award
An IRA Teachers’ Choice
An NCTE Teachers’ Choice
A Boston Globe­–­Horn Book Honor Book
A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year
A New York Times Outstanding Book of the Year
New York Public Library’s 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing
New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age
A Booklist Editors’ Choice
A Booklist Best of the 1980s