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Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress is anything but the typical American classic.Written by Dai Sijie, a survivor of China's infamous Cultural Revolution, thenovel is about two boys who are sent to a re-mote mountain village forre-education. The boys struggle against the slim odds of returning to the cityand the physical pains of manual labor they are forced to endure. In theirsuffering, however, there are bright spots. When they meet and befriend a young,uneducated seamstress from the mountains, the story begins to take off.

Their discovery of Balzac in a forbidden stash of Western classicstranslated to Chinese, greatly influences the tone of the novel. The unique styleof Sijie's Chinese-influenced writing makes for an interesting break fromAmerican symbolism and often overdone plots.

This piece has also been published in Teen Ink's monthly magazine.

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Copyright 2009 by Teen Ink, The 21st Century and The Young Authors Foundation, Inc. All rights reserved. This publication may not be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the written permission of the publisher: The Young Authors Foundation, Inc.

Teen Ink is a national teen magazine, book and website featuring teen writing, information, art, photos, poetry, teen issues and more. All articles are written by teen authors who are students at schools. The monthly print magazine is appropriate for any teenager -- teenagers age 13 to 19 attending secondary school: junior high school, middle school and high school. This publication is used by professional people including English teachers, writing teachers, language arts instructors, journalism teachers, school newspaper advisors, librarians, guidance counselors, K-12 principals in addition to the PTA or PTO. Each issue of Teen Ink magazine contains a wide variety of student work: we publish nonfiction, fiction, poems, community service, sports, heroes, interviews, college essays, college reviews, book reviews, concert reviews, movie reviews, music reviews, video reviews, video game reviews, the environment, opinion, sports, pets, cars, automobiles, travel and culture, jobs and money, health issues, artwork, photographs, cartoons, short stories, essays, writing contests, a college directory and the website also has a bulletin board and resources for teens and educators. Subjects include racism, eating disorders, depression, death, suicide, family, relationships, jobs, grandparents, violence, the college process, college information, colleges, driving, self esteem, the arts, movies and more. Teen Ink is also a book series published by HCI Teens. Subjects covered in the book include Friends, Fitting In, Love, Challenges, Family, Heroes, Loss and Memories. Teen Ink was established in 1989 as The 21st Century magazine by The Young Authors Foundation, a nonprofit organization. More than 25,000 teens have been published in the magazine and its companion Poetry Journal. Teen Ink runs a London Summer Program for teenage writers.