Chu Ju's House

by Gloria Whelan

Book Overview

One girl too many . . . When a girl is born to Chu Ju's family, it is quickly determined that the baby must be sent away. After all, the law states that a family may have only two children, and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0439799554
• ISBN13: 9780439799553
• Release Date: October 2005
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Length: 240 Pages
• Dimensions: 7.6" x 0.5" x 5.1"

Customer Reviews

Hallie Snedeger

Chu Ju is a fourteen year old girl who lives in southern China.Her mother is pregnant with her second child, and desperatly wants a girl. Chu Ju's mom ends up having a girl,they name her Hua, Her mom decides to give the baby to an orphanage. To save her sister Chu Ju runs away. She hides on a boat hoping that it will take her far from home. Chu Ju gets found and is taken care of by a woman. Chu Ju decides to tell her her story, but she is horrified and to return her immediatly. Chu Ju leaves and finds another home on a silkworm farm but has to leave shortly after. She finally finds another home with a woman named Han Na. She makes a friend named Ling. Then she finds out that Han Na's son has gone to jail in the city so Chu Ju must go and help him but without Han Na finding out because she is very weak and she doesn't want to worry her. She goes on an adventure to help save her son while thinking if she will make up the courage to go back home. Will Chu Ju make it to the city,will she ever go back home,or will she be able to cope with a terrible death, read the story to find out what happens in the story Chu Ju's House.

Worthy of your time AND money

Gloria Whelan, author of The Island Trilogy and Homeless Bird, follows through with the superb story of a young girl named Chu Ju who must flee from her family's home so that her baby sister may have life. This is a touching account of the sad reality of female experiences in a society where males are prized and females are denigrated. Though this is a book with a female protagonist, this is a book that appeals equally to both boys and girls. Although some of the relationships featured in the book seem hyperbolized and farfetched, the truthful actuality of the matter is that there are many instances where girls are treated even worse. Chu Ju's House is a treasure for any library. Whelan is marvelous at forming a story that makes you want to reach out and help Chu Ju. It is inspiring and eye-opening, beautiful and heart-wrenching, and easy-to-read yet difficult to swallow. With uncomplicated language and written in first-person narrative, Chu Ju's House is effortlessly comprehensible. An excellent choice of a book for classroom discussion, Chu Ju's House is full of instances that children can relate to: the torturous feeling of being unaccepted, and of feeling worthless and unwanted. Which child has never felt left out and alone? This is a book that not only touches on these topics, but wholly revolves around it. Chu Ju's House is a good read for child and adult alike. It teaches the values of self-acceptance and forgiveness, and inner strength when everyone is seemingly at odds with what you need and want.

The Wonderful House of Chu Ju

Chu Ju's House is about a family of a mom, dad, grandmother, and a daughter. In there country, china, it is very depressing to have a girl as a child. They think they do not work hard, are weak, and are useless. If they have a boy, they are very pleased because they work harder and are strong. One day when Chu Ju finds out her mom is going to have a baby she was excited yet scared because if it is a boy they won't pay any attention to her and if it is a girl one of them will have to go away so the government won't know about it. Her mom had the baby and it was a girl. They were very depressed but Chu Ju wasn't she would have someone new to be with her. Then she thought again that one of them had to go and her mom and dad were talking and it was going to be the new baby since it was the youngest. Then though out the days Chu Ju and the new baby got really attached and close. So Chu Ju decides to name the baby Hua. A few weeks passed and then her mom got a little closer to Hua. Then when the lady came to pick Hua up her and the grand mother argued on the baby and the price. Then her mom was in the corner crying and screaming that she didn't want the baby to go and she didn't want the baby to go as much as Chu Ju did. Then Chu Ju convinced the lady and the grandmother that if the e mom it crying that hard for the baby it should stay. And finally the lady left and Hua stayed!!!!

Wonderful new novel from Gloria Whelan.

Fourteen-year-old Chu Ju and her family live in modern rural China, where a strict policy of two children per family is enforced. When Chu Ju's mother becomes pregnant again, the family hopes for a boy, because sons are strongly preferred. But when the baby is born, it is another girl, who is named Hua. When Chu Ju learns that her grandmother plans to sell baby Hua to an orphanage so that there will be room in the family for another child, hopefully a son, Chu Ju decides to run away from home to spare her sister this terrible fate. Chu Ju's journey brings her to a fishing boat, a silkworm factory, a rice paddy, and the bustling and modern city of Shanghai. Fans of Gloria Whelan's previous novels won't want to miss this one. It's a wonderfully written and fascinating look at the hardships faced by a young girl in a society that strongly prefers males, and her journey to prove her worth and find a place for herself in the world.

Another classic Gloria Whelan book

14-year-old Chu Ju lives in a rural Chinese village where according to culture boys are far more valued than girls. Her mother is pregnant again and the whole family prays for a son, because they know the strict rules of 2 children per family would not permit them to have another child if the baby turned out to be a girl. Unfortunately, Chu Ju's new sibling turns out to be another girl. Chu Ju's grandmother is very bitter at the result and convinces the family to put the girl up for adoption and hopefully have another child that will be a boy. Chu Ju is devastated when she hears of her family's plan and she decides to run away so her baby sister will not have to suffer. Little does Chu Ju know how important this journey will be to her life and self-realization. Told over several years, Chu Ju's journey brings her many hardships, but joy as well. She goes from village to village finding an assortment of jobs, such as working on a silkfarm, a fishing boat, and working in the rice paddies. In the end, Chu Ju realizes she made the right decision and you know she will be happy since she has found her true love and a family that accepts her for who she is and not her gender.Being a 2nd-generation Asian-American this book hit very close to home. Unfortunately this type of gender discrimination is very common in many of China's rural villages which still go by old customs and have not been educated in the new modern ways. This topic was probably very tough to write on, but I think Gloria Whelan did a great job touching on both sides of the issue. Like Homeless Bird, she has created another great story of a girl who had courage to face the odds.