Forbidden City

 

From the Publisher

Seventeen-year-old Alex Jackson comes home from school to find that his father, a CBC news cameraman, wants to take him to China's capital, Beijing. Once there, Alex finds himself on his own in Tian An Men Square as desperate students fight the Chinese army for their freedom. Separated from his father and carrying illegal videotapes, Alex must trust the students to help him escape.

Closely based on eyewitness accounts of the massacre in Beijing, Forbidden City is a powerful and frightening story.

From The Critics

Publishers Weekly
Despite certain shortcomings, this fictionalized account of the tragedy of Tiananmen Square is as engrossing as it is appalling. When Alex's father, a news cameraman, is assigned to Beijing, Alex leaps at the chance to join him. At loose ends in the alien metropolis, the teenager studies Chinese and explores the city on his bike, filming with a makeshift hidden camera. Not surprisingly, these skills come in handy during both the student protests and the subsequent crackdown. In fact, Alex's avocation, along with his father's profession, seem to have been chosen solely to provide the reader with a bird's-eye view of the events of that brutal spring. Even Alex's obsession with military history seems tacked on in order to facilitate the lumbering symbolism of the novel's conclusion. By contrast, Bell's descriptions of the action in and around the Square are vivid and heartbreaking--there are moments when the searing force of this fragment of recent history shines through the thin characters and eclipses the contrived plot. Ages 12-up. (Nov.)
School Library Journal
Gr 6-12-- Alex, 17-year-old war aficionado and son of a Canadian cameraman, accompanies his father to China and becomes enmeshed in the Tiananmen incident of 1989. He gets separated from his father, is befriended by some students, witnesses a good deal of the massacre, and is finally smuggled out by a student who pays for his liberation with her life. This is a blood-and-thunder story, and Bell tells it with gusto. Incidents are piled on one another, background descriptions are very convincing, and at times readers will almost feel they are there. All this amounts to an incredibly compelling novel. Curiously, when the protagonist is not in China, he becomes somewhat one-dimensional. The beginning is a tad contrived to lead to the real meat of the novel, and the ending is pat beyond common decency (in a grand, melodramatic scene, Alex destroys all his war toys back in comfy surburban Toronto). Yet the preponderant part of this novel is marvelously realized, partially from the immediacy of using first-person narration, partially from telling vignettes that really bring the time, place, and situation to life in a most memorable way. There is also a certain ring of truth about some elements of the story that resonates long after putting this novel down. In spite of the flaws, this is an excellent tale, well told, and a historical novel of note. --John Philbrook, San Francisco Public Library

From the Novel Study Guide

Learning Outcomes

At the end of this novel study, students will be able to:

examine others’ ideas in discussion to extend their own understanding.

articulate, advocate and justify points of view, presenting viewpoints in a convincing manner.

listen critically to assess the adequacy of the evidence speakers give to evaluate the integrity of information presented.

participate constructively in small and large group discussions and debates, using a range of strategies that contribute to effective talk.

demonstrate an awareness that spoken language has different conventions in different situations and cultures and use language appropriate to the situations.

use cueing systems and a variety of strategies to construct meaning in reading and viewing in increasingly complex print and media texts.

independently assess, select and evaluate specific information to meet their learning needs.

use the electronic network for research purposes.

develop strategies and approaches to conduct research.

respond to the text by moving beyond initial understanding to more thoughtful interpretations.

express points of view about the text citing appropriate evidence.

describe how culture and realities are portrayed in the text.

use the stages of the writing process and other forms of representing to develop published pieces of writing and media texts.

analyze and assess responses to their writing and media texts.

consistently use the conventions of written language in final products.

 

June 8

1. What are Alex’s instructions if they get stopped?

2. Why would it be pointless for Alex to help Xin-hua get up the hill?

3. What did the square and the streets look like?

4. How do you feel as you read about the shooting of the young man with the apples?

5. Why did the woman frown at them as she passed?

6. Why did Xin-hua change her plan when she reached the Exhibition Hall?

7. Where did she take them? Why?

8. Why didn’t Alex interrupt her when she wasn’t answering his question?

9. Why did she think the government had turned on the students?

10. Where had the rubble come from at this monument?

11. How did Alex think he would feel if he ever got home? Why do you think he would feel this way?

Creative Writing

Activity 2

Pretend that you are a reporter covering the student demonstration

in Beijing.

Write the story you would send to your editor about the events which

you have witnessed.

Work through the stages of the writing process to prepare a

published piece.

 

Literary Studies

Activity 1

Would you say that heroism is a theme of the novel, Forbidden

City? Why or why not?

Write an essay which discusses the theme of heroism in the novel.

Discuss any characters whom you believe to be heroes or heroines.

Give examples from the novel to support your answer.

 

 

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