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A Girl Named Faithful Plum: A True Story of a Dancer from China and How She Achieved Her Dream
In 1977, when Zhongmei Lei was eleven years old, she learned that the prestigious Beijing Dance Academy was having open auditions. She'd already taken dance lessons, but everyone said a poor country girl would never get into the academy, especially without any connections in the Communist Party of the 1970s. But Zhongmei, whose name means Faithful Plum, persisted, even going on a hunger strike, until her parents agreed to allow her to go. She traveled for three days and two nights to get to Beijing and eventually beat out 60,000 other girls for one of 12 coveted spots. But getting in was easy compared to staying in, as Zhongmei soon learned. Without those all-important connections she was just a little girl on her own, far away from family. But her determination, talent, and sheer force of will were not something the teachers or other students expected, and soon it was apparent that Zhongmei was not to be underestimated.
Zhongmei became a famous dancer, and founded her own dance company, which made its New York debut when she was in just her late 20s. In A Girl Named Faithful Plum , her husband and renowned journalist, Richard Bernstein, has written a fascinating account of one girl's struggle to go from the remote farmlands of China to the world's stages, and the lengths she went to in order to follow her dream.
Zhongmei became a famous dancer, and founded her own dance company, which made its New York debut when she was in just her late 20s. In A Girl Named Faithful Plum , her husband and renowned journalist, Richard Bernstein, has written a fascinating account of one girl's struggle to go from the remote farmlands of China to the world's stages, and the lengths she went to in order to follow her dream.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published September 13, 2011
13 people are currently reading
221 people want to read
About the author
Richard Bernstein
45 books30 followersRichard Paul Bernstein was an American journalist, columnist, and author. He wrote the Letter from America column for the International Herald Tribune. He was a book critic at The New York Times and a foreign correspondent for both Time magazine and The New York Times in Europe and Asia.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
May 4, 2019
My 12 year old dancer pestered me for months that I needed to read this and she was right. It is such an inspirational book! It was mind-boggling to me that as recently as 1978 rural China did not have indoor plumbing and the primitive living described. Faithful Plum is probably only like 10 years older than me and I just can't fathom growing up like that. A hard boiled egg for your birthday. That an egg could be a present and your only one! My husband wants to give my 12 year old a hard boiled egg for her birthday later this year and pretend that is all she'll get. LOL
This story is just incredible. Her determination is so admirable. She had everything against her including her teachers at school once she survived that audition. And what an intense audition. Makes American Idol and similar shows today look like nothing. I absolutely loved this book. I loved that the author is her husband and he did a great job crafting such a strong book over this piece of her life. I'd love to see her dance. What a story!
This story is just incredible. Her determination is so admirable. She had everything against her including her teachers at school once she survived that audition. And what an intense audition. Makes American Idol and similar shows today look like nothing. I absolutely loved this book. I loved that the author is her husband and he did a great job crafting such a strong book over this piece of her life. I'd love to see her dance. What a story!
January 25, 2019
Zhongmei Lei is a dancer at the Beijing Dance Academy.
However, the life of a dance student is not glamorous and full of challenges: a teacher who seemingly hates you, bullying, long hours of study and practice;
It is a fascinating read. I'm surprised this was shelved in our juvenile collection. There's nothing too "mature" or anything about it, but this was a very long memoir. I shelve it as teen non-fiction.
The book felt a bit whiney, though the subject, Lei herself and the idea fascinated me, I couldn't get into it. I may come back to this at a later date.
For any girl who dances, wants to dance professionally....this is a book to check out.
Also YAY for diversity in Books!
However, the life of a dance student is not glamorous and full of challenges: a teacher who seemingly hates you, bullying, long hours of study and practice;
It is a fascinating read. I'm surprised this was shelved in our juvenile collection. There's nothing too "mature" or anything about it, but this was a very long memoir. I shelve it as teen non-fiction.
The book felt a bit whiney, though the subject, Lei herself and the idea fascinated me, I couldn't get into it. I may come back to this at a later date.
For any girl who dances, wants to dance professionally....this is a book to check out.
Also YAY for diversity in Books!
March 2, 2021
Perhaps my expectations were too high. My daughter is a dancer, so naturally, I hoped to love this book. The story is interesting, but the writing was a bit mundane. I never felt truly drawn into her story. I enjoyed the inclusion of letters periodically, which helped drive the story along. Some of the audition and try-outs rang especially true. There were great moments, certainly, but overall I just felt let down. There are many other excellent movies and books about becoming a dancer to choose from.
June 20, 2017
Very good.
August 26, 2019
Excellent, true story!
August 18, 2021
really inspiring..
July 31, 2013
Non-Fiction A Girl Named Faithful Plum: The True Story of a Dancer from China and How She Achieved Her Dream
By: Richard Bernstein
Pairing I paired the book “A Girl Named Faithful Plum” with the TeenNick show Dance Academy because they both relate to a passion for dance.
Audience I would recommend this book to any middle or high school student interested in dance. It also has a common theme of working hard to achieve your dreams. The main character is from a small town in China during the Cultural Revolution and communism.
SOL WHII.13 The student will demonstrate knowledge of major events in the second half of the twentieth century by
c) describing conflicts and revolutionary movements in eastern Asia, including those in China and Vietnam, and their major leaders, i.e., Mao Tse-tung (Zedong), Chiang Kai-shek, and Ho Chi Minh;
Review Source School Library Journal; November 2011, Vol. 57 Issue 11, p145-145, 1p
Awards, Honors A Junior Library Guild Selection
Selection Criteria Accuracy: This book accurately depicts what life was like during the Cultural Revolution in China for a small farm family. The book is a nonfiction account of Li Zhongmei’s struggle to become a successful dancer in the Beijing Dance Company.
Authority: This book is published by Alfred A. Knopf a division of Random House Inc. This nonfiction story was written by Richard Bernstein. He was a foreign correspondent for Time Magazine and the New York Times which allowed him to visit China. A Girl Named Faithful Plum is his first book for young readers. He is married to the main character in the story, Zhongmei.
Relevance to Curriculum: This story is a personal account of a girl trying to achieve her dreams during a cultural revolution. The book addresses issues of communism, socialism, and prejudice.
Appropriateness: The reading level of this book is sixth through eighth grade. This book would interest dancers and students who have to overcome obstacles to achieve their dreams. I think intellectually middle school students could understand the struggle the main character endures. I think middle school students could also emotionally handle this story, although it would be difficult for most of them to imagine how challenging the economic situation was for her parents.
Scope: This book not only covers the topic of dance and the differences between Western ballet and Chinese ballet, but it shares the experience of a girl attending a dance school in Beijing during the cultural revolution.
Literary Merit: The book is not only well written, but it includes five pages of photographs. The pictures show important milestones in Zhongmei’s life as a dancer.
Value to the Collection: This book would be a great selection for any dancer. It would also make the topic of communism relatable to a middle school girl.
Ordering Info $15.99 (Hardcover), $18.99 (Library Binding)
ISBN: 9780375869600
Knopf Books for Young Readers
By: Richard Bernstein
Pairing I paired the book “A Girl Named Faithful Plum” with the TeenNick show Dance Academy because they both relate to a passion for dance.
Audience I would recommend this book to any middle or high school student interested in dance. It also has a common theme of working hard to achieve your dreams. The main character is from a small town in China during the Cultural Revolution and communism.
SOL WHII.13 The student will demonstrate knowledge of major events in the second half of the twentieth century by
c) describing conflicts and revolutionary movements in eastern Asia, including those in China and Vietnam, and their major leaders, i.e., Mao Tse-tung (Zedong), Chiang Kai-shek, and Ho Chi Minh;
Review Source School Library Journal; November 2011, Vol. 57 Issue 11, p145-145, 1p
Awards, Honors A Junior Library Guild Selection
Selection Criteria Accuracy: This book accurately depicts what life was like during the Cultural Revolution in China for a small farm family. The book is a nonfiction account of Li Zhongmei’s struggle to become a successful dancer in the Beijing Dance Company.
Authority: This book is published by Alfred A. Knopf a division of Random House Inc. This nonfiction story was written by Richard Bernstein. He was a foreign correspondent for Time Magazine and the New York Times which allowed him to visit China. A Girl Named Faithful Plum is his first book for young readers. He is married to the main character in the story, Zhongmei.
Relevance to Curriculum: This story is a personal account of a girl trying to achieve her dreams during a cultural revolution. The book addresses issues of communism, socialism, and prejudice.
Appropriateness: The reading level of this book is sixth through eighth grade. This book would interest dancers and students who have to overcome obstacles to achieve their dreams. I think intellectually middle school students could understand the struggle the main character endures. I think middle school students could also emotionally handle this story, although it would be difficult for most of them to imagine how challenging the economic situation was for her parents.
Scope: This book not only covers the topic of dance and the differences between Western ballet and Chinese ballet, but it shares the experience of a girl attending a dance school in Beijing during the cultural revolution.
Literary Merit: The book is not only well written, but it includes five pages of photographs. The pictures show important milestones in Zhongmei’s life as a dancer.
Value to the Collection: This book would be a great selection for any dancer. It would also make the topic of communism relatable to a middle school girl.
Ordering Info $15.99 (Hardcover), $18.99 (Library Binding)
ISBN: 9780375869600
Knopf Books for Young Readers
February 6, 2012
True story of an impoverished 11 year old girl from northern China (Siberia being the town's back fence) in the 1970s who travels to Beijing and tries out for the Beijing Dance Academy (She and 30,000 other kids). Her difficulties in getting to Beijing and then the prejudices she faces at the school make for a wonderful tale. She’s an amazing girl and I liked the story.
But…
It read like a 40 year-old man was ‘telling’ us about and 11 year old girl. It was REALLY dry. Biographical dry. Lacking in everything I usually love about YA. I wanted this girl’s emotional journey. I wanted to connect with her, to live her successes, failures, and fears. She’s an amazing character and it’s all that more amazing because it was real. I want to BE her, not read ABOUT her.
I got facts instead of personalities. And that’s too bad. Nothing came to life to me. Not the characters, the setting (It’s 2 years after Mao’s death. China is a MESS, and we only get a reporter-like view of its pieces being put back together), the conflict, the plot. In truth, I think the story was just written by the wrong person (a journalist).
(It occurs to me that written as a futuristic fantasy, this story (with very little change other than a deeper POV) would do really well in the current YA Dystopian craze.)
In total, I enjoyed it. I’m glad I read it. It lacked punch. I wouldn’t read anything else YA by this author.
But…
It read like a 40 year-old man was ‘telling’ us about and 11 year old girl. It was REALLY dry. Biographical dry. Lacking in everything I usually love about YA. I wanted this girl’s emotional journey. I wanted to connect with her, to live her successes, failures, and fears. She’s an amazing character and it’s all that more amazing because it was real. I want to BE her, not read ABOUT her.
I got facts instead of personalities. And that’s too bad. Nothing came to life to me. Not the characters, the setting (It’s 2 years after Mao’s death. China is a MESS, and we only get a reporter-like view of its pieces being put back together), the conflict, the plot. In truth, I think the story was just written by the wrong person (a journalist).
(It occurs to me that written as a futuristic fantasy, this story (with very little change other than a deeper POV) would do really well in the current YA Dystopian craze.)
In total, I enjoyed it. I’m glad I read it. It lacked punch. I wouldn’t read anything else YA by this author.
March 6, 2012
3.5
This is an amazing story of perseverance and dedication to art. Even though it meant three days and two nights of torturous travel on filthy trains crammed with people, eleven-year-old Li Zhongmei was determined to get to Beijing to audition for the prestigious Beijing Dance Academy. She knew she had a very small chance of getting in - the school accepted only 12 girls and 12 boys from the whole country. And once she reached Beijing she realized that many people looked down on her for being a country girl. Even when she had gained entry to the school, some of her teachers thought that such an education was a waste on a country girl who would never amount to anything.
Li Zhongmei proved them wrong.
This is an inspiring true story of how one girl's love for ballet propelled her through an agonizing first year at the Beijing Dance Academy. She went on to become the best at the school and eventually became a professional dancer, touring Asia and settling in the United States. Although the writing is stilted and awkward in places, the plucky protagonist and the rags-to-riches story more than make up for it. Hand this to your young dancers and thespians.
This is a story likely to have wide appeal among the performance-minded and I'd recommend it to middle grade readers and teens both.
This is an amazing story of perseverance and dedication to art. Even though it meant three days and two nights of torturous travel on filthy trains crammed with people, eleven-year-old Li Zhongmei was determined to get to Beijing to audition for the prestigious Beijing Dance Academy. She knew she had a very small chance of getting in - the school accepted only 12 girls and 12 boys from the whole country. And once she reached Beijing she realized that many people looked down on her for being a country girl. Even when she had gained entry to the school, some of her teachers thought that such an education was a waste on a country girl who would never amount to anything.
Li Zhongmei proved them wrong.
This is an inspiring true story of how one girl's love for ballet propelled her through an agonizing first year at the Beijing Dance Academy. She went on to become the best at the school and eventually became a professional dancer, touring Asia and settling in the United States. Although the writing is stilted and awkward in places, the plucky protagonist and the rags-to-riches story more than make up for it. Hand this to your young dancers and thespians.
This is a story likely to have wide appeal among the performance-minded and I'd recommend it to middle grade readers and teens both.
August 27, 2016
I was torn between three and four stars, so I rounded up to four. I liked this book a lot, but I thought it also had some problems. It's a biography of a young girl and supposedly covers a single year of her life, yet, the disclosure at the very beginning states two years were condensed into one. The writing was fairly simplified, which may be a result of it being for a younger, non adult, audience. I would have enjoyed getting more than just one (or two) years of Li Zhongmei's life. She persevered through a lot and a longer biography wouldn't have detracted from the book. Unlike many biographies, this one read more as a memoir. All the negatives aside, Li Zhongmei's story was one of perseverance, determination, and hard work. In addition, I learned about the life of rural Chinese people in the late 1970s, something I had never read about before.
March 16, 2012
I loved this book, but had a few reservations about it. It was a very compelling story, with a very good amount of detail, but the ending was rushed and I was left wanting more. I wanted to walk with Zonghmei through all eight of her years at the Dance Academy, because while it was nice to be told things got better for her, I would have rather read the how instead.
The author writes from experience here but I won't tell the reason why because it was fun to discover it by accident as the book wrapped up. A great book for any future prima ballerinas out there.
The author writes from experience here but I won't tell the reason why because it was fun to discover it by accident as the book wrapped up. A great book for any future prima ballerinas out there.
March 25, 2012
Zhongmei's story was amazing. Her battle to overcome the adversaries life set against her was incredible. The fact that she persevered through it all is incredible.
HOWEVER.....the writing leaves MUCH to be desired. It's extremely dry and rather boring really. The tale itself is interesting, but the teller of the tale made me want to shoot him. There were too many details added that could have been left out.
Personally, I think the author should have stuck to being a foreign correspondant.
THat's all I have to say.
HOWEVER.....the writing leaves MUCH to be desired. It's extremely dry and rather boring really. The tale itself is interesting, but the teller of the tale made me want to shoot him. There were too many details added that could have been left out.
Personally, I think the author should have stuck to being a foreign correspondant.
THat's all I have to say.
April 2, 2013
The author relates how 11-year-old Li Zhongmei traveled from a remote village in rural China
to become one of only a dozen girls selected to study ballet at the Beijing Dance Academy in
1978.
This is a really well-written narrative that encourages readers to believe in their dreams and
pursue their passions. It is also very detailed and descriptive: Bernstein devotes almost half the book to Zhongmei’s journey to her audition in Beijing. While I enjoyed learning about Zhongmei’s pre-Academy experiences, some readers might grow impatient with this pacing.
to become one of only a dozen girls selected to study ballet at the Beijing Dance Academy in
1978.
This is a really well-written narrative that encourages readers to believe in their dreams and
pursue their passions. It is also very detailed and descriptive: Bernstein devotes almost half the book to Zhongmei’s journey to her audition in Beijing. While I enjoyed learning about Zhongmei’s pre-Academy experiences, some readers might grow impatient with this pacing.
February 25, 2014
An experienced girl dancer named Zhongmei dreams to get in the Beijing dance academy. Nobody was on her side they all thought that a poor girl would never get into dance academy. The name Zhongmei means faithful plum. No matter how many people said she couldn't do it she still tried. Her teacher said it would be the hardest thing she will ever do. In the end she ends up beating thousands of dancers and she was only at a young age. Faithful plum became a famous dancer who made her dream come true by never giving up.
January 23, 2017
This book is an exquisite book for 5-8th grade readers who have a passion or a dream. But what the wonderful thing about this book is adults can read this, but the vocabulary would be easy for them. So I recommend this book for a book talk. It is amazing how this poor little girl can rely on where her dream takes her at age 11. It was one of the best books I ever read. And if a child has to read a biography for school, but does not like biography´s, this book is written as a story. I can´t say one bad thing about this book!
April 8, 2015
This Junior Library Guild selection is a fascinating biography of Li Zhongmei who was a farmgirl in China, and went on to become one of its most famous dancers. The opposition she faced, and her sheet gutsy perseverance make for a compelling tale that is hard to put down. Readers cheer for her successes and grumble at the injustices she faces. I'm not a big dance enthusiast, but I found this book very hard to put down.
November 11, 2021
I think this book was very boring. I think that the story was good but the way the author wrote it made it boring. I think the author could have used words more in depth, to be honest the vocabulary in this was very mundane and this book had the vocabulary of a 8th-9th grader. I also think the very small amount of insight the reader gets about Chinese culture is not needed because I think that if they were not going to elaborate on it then is shouldn't of been in there at all.
March 19, 2012
I loved the premise of the book, the details about life as a dancer in china, and the story in general. I did not love the writing. There were so many times where I thought I should be emotionally invested but was not, where the author could have done more to pull me in and immerse me. I liked the information but this book did not make me feel at all.
February 16, 2015
This was an uplifting and inspiring book about a young Chinese dancer from the country who managed to succeed despite the fact that the odds were stacked against her. As someone who dances and knows how hard the dance world can be, I found this book to be a different perspective on the world of dance.
May 10, 2016
Great book. As someone who was very involved in ballet until I was about 14 and someone who has studied Chinese for the last 6 years and lived in Beijing for a year this book was a really fun read. For some reason I just love reading kids books about China and this one fell right into that category. I would highly recommend for late elementary/early middle school kids.
May 21, 2022
I loved this story when I read it as an eleven-year-old, and I still love it now, having reread it as a 22-year-old. I don't have the same dreams I did when I was eleven, but Zhongmei's story is still so relatable and inspiring.
November 10, 2013
I loved this book! That is so cool that the author is married to the girl Li Zhongmei. This book had a lot of information about Zhongmei and how worked hard to be an amazing dancer at the Beijing Dance Academy. I would recommend this book to anyone.
April 22, 2017
What a wondeful book! I enjoyed learning about Zhongmei's journey from a farm girl into the best dancer in her class. This book played with my emotions and really had me rooting for Zhongmei. I am glad I picked this book for my reading challenge.
June 5, 2016
Loved this book and it's beautiful story that was true of a dancer from china. I encourage any young dancers to read this book and anyone that wants to accomplish something that seems out of their reach.
February 8, 2013
Read my review at Let's Talk Books
March 26, 2013
A truly wonderful book that I enjoyed reading to my daughter. This is an inspiring story that can be enjoyed by young or old alike and you do not need to be a dancer to enjoy it.
May 28, 2013
Really enjoyed the thoughtful writing of Chinese culture. My library shelved this as an adult book, but I think it'd be fantastic for a young teen as well. Great coming of age story.
June 25, 2015
You will succed if you determine to achieve! Opportuniy only knocks once!
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September 1, 2021I loved this book.
I highly recommend for dancers.
I highly recommend for dancers.
November 3, 2011
The style was a little stilted; the story is amazing.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews