Middle Grade Feature: The Diary of Ma Yan (The Struggles and Hopes of a Chinese Schoolgirl)

This is part of an entry where Ma Yan talks about having lost a pen:

I'm distraught.

You're probably going to start laughing. "A pen. What a little thing to get so distressed about!


If only you knew the trouble I had to take to get that pen. I saved up my pocket money for two weeks. Some of my comrades have two or three pens, but I had none and I couldn't resist buying one.

...For days, I had only eaten yellow rice. I preferred going hungry and saving so that I could buy the pen. How I suffered f...