Culture 5

Bibliography
Yep, Laurence. 1997. RIBBONS. New York, NY: Putman and Grosset Group. ISBN 0698116062.

Plot Summary
Robin is an eleven year old girl that loves ballet. She is a very good dancer and works very hard at being the best in her class. One day she finds out that she will no longer be able to take ballet lessons due to the financial difficulties of her parents. Her mother is from China, and is trying to bring her own mother to America to live with them. Robin does not understand why she has to give up ballet just so her grandmother can come and live with them, but her mother insists that they must all make sacrifices. Once the grandmother arrives, and starts to live with them, things actually get worse for Robin. She has to give up her bedroom, and the grandmother spoils her younger brother. As time goes on Robin begins to understand certain things about her grandmother and they are able to bond and become close.

Critical Analysis
This well written story has many cultural markers. The setting is in today’s modern times. Robin is a typical American teenager who is part Chinese. Her father’s nationality is never stated, only that he is Caucasian. She is living in a culturally diverse community. There are Chinese words used throughout the text. Most of them are italicized and a definition follows, for example: “She’s here! She’s here! He shouted excitedly. Paw-paw’s here! Paw-paw is Chinese for maternal grandmother. He started to race for toward the stairs, but I caught him.” This type of writing keeps the story flowing while adding cultural authenticity. The characters are well defined and are not stereotyped. The Chinese American lifestyle is shown here. They live in America and their lives are like so many typical Americans. They also bring with them the Chinese culture and many traditions. The inter workings of the family are where we get the insights into how a traditional Chinese family might live. The mother in the story feels that she must do everything for her mother and brothers. Her brothers on the other hand just seem to expect things from their sister. At one point Robin’s mother states “It’s Chinese tradition to put the boys before the girls”. Robin also finds out about the Chinese tradition of footbinding. This is what was done to her grandmother. Robin and her grandmother get closer after Robin finds out that her grandmother uses canes and lives with terrible foot pain because of this Chinese tradition. The author explains that this practice is not done anymore, but it was done as late as 1949. Through this story we see Robin learn to appreciate her Chinese side of the family, and in the end she does not want her grandmother to leave. The story does a good job of showing how the blending of different customs and traditions can work well together.


Review Excerpts
Midwest Book Review
Startlingly realistic and refreshingly different is this story of a young Chinese would-be dancer forced to give up her dreams when her family must save to bring an aged grandmother into their home from China. Robin's parents can no longer afford ballet lessons, Robin's grandmother proves a crusty old woman who obviously favors her younger brother, and Robin is forced to compromise her dreams until her actions threaten her future. Yep creates a moving and absorbing drama of cultures colliding.

Kirkus Reviews( December 15, 1995 ; 0-399-22906-X )
Her demanding ballet teacher believes that Robin Lee has real talent, but it's unlikely that she'll be able to develop it soon. Every penny her family can scrape up has to be saved to bring Robin's grandmother from China to the US--an obligation that Robin's mother sees as almost sacred--so Robin's lessons are scrapped. When the crotchety old woman arrives, she quickly establishes herself as the center of the Lees' universe. A frustrated Robin dutifully practices her ballet exercises on her own in the garage, but the combination of ballet shoes that have grown too small and a lack of formal instruction results in little progress and increasingly deformed feet. Her anger builds until the day she finds her grandmother soaking her hideously misshapen feet, which were bound in her youth. The sight sobers and humbles Robin utterly and marks the beginning of a touching and beautiful bond between the old woman and the young one. Yep (Hiroshima, p. 642, etc.) creates an elegant tale of love and understanding with an upbeat resolution that will please the most demanding readers. (Fiction. 10-14)


Connections
Read more stories by Laurence Yep: The Star Fisher
Dragon’s Gate
Research Chinese Americans using Non-Fiction books