Double Luck: Memoirs of a Chinese Orphan

by Chi Fa Lu, Becky White, Lu Chi Fa

Book Overview

When Lu Chi Fa's parents died in 1944, he was only three years old. The timing of the tragedy could not have been worse-- it was a time of political turmoil and severe hardship in China. Few people willingly took in orphans, and Chi Fa's extended family was no exception. The young boy was shuffled from one house to another as his relatives turned him away, one by one. Even his loving sister was forbidden by her husband to take him under her roof...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0823415600
• ISBN13: 9780823415601
• Release Date: March 2001
• Publisher: Holiday House
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.7" x 8.3"
• Age Range: 10 to 13 years
• Grade Range: Grades 5 to 8

Customer Reviews

LuChiFa Remembers

DOUBLE LUCK is an exciting story for teens and preteens. It is the true tale of a child who had to find his own way in a hostile world and who made his dream come true. Little LuChiFa was born in Eastern China in the Kangsu Province in 1941, the Year of the Snake. After his parents died, he was shuffled among relatives and friends until he became one mouth too many to feed and he was sold for 500 pounds of rice to a Communist Chief as a slave. LuChiFa was five years old. Among the tortures he bore was being hung upside down by his pigtail. The pain was excruciating. Ironically it was the Communist Chief who gave him his nickname of Double Luck. Thecruel man was not to know that one day his jest would truly become Double Luck and the little Chinese boy's dream of coming to America where he could live an independent life would come true. The preparation of this book was a three-way undertaking. A literary agent, Karen Grencik, and Rebecca White, an established author of children's books and editor of themagazine A NEW DAY, collaborated with LuChiFa and the result isthis true story of double luck.collaborated with LuChiFa

a must read for children and adults

This book is a real eye opener, especially to a generation of children in the United States who do not appreciate being born in a country that is prosperous and has opportunities afforded to all. My husband read this book one night and his remarks were "this is a MUST READ for the kids". I think about the abundance in our society and how our communities consider this a "given". I will always look at a bowl of rice differently, and be grateful to have a full stomach. I say a prayer of gratitude in the evenings as I cover up under a down comforter and am thankful for warmth and safety. I have met Gordon and he is a true gentleman and someone we are all fortunate to be touched by in this book. Thank you for the opportunity to be reminded of how blessed we are.

Double Luck: Memoirs of a Chinese Orphan

I loved Double Luck: Memoirs of a Chinese Orphan because the boy, Chi Fa, was so brave and he never stopped believing in his lifelong dream. Chi Fa and all the people in the book were so real I felt I knew them well. After his parents died, Chi Fa's life was one hard adventure after another. He endured being cold and nearly starving, having to move every time he found a place to sleep, and risking his life to flee the Communist takeover of China. Through everything, he remained a kind person who remembered the people who had loved him. When Chi Fa wished on the Orphan Star in the sky, I very much wanted his dream to come true. It was exciting for me to read from one chapter to the next and I didn't want to put the book down. I intend to lend the book to my teacher and I hope she will ask our librarian to get a copy for my school.

My favorite book

Double Luck is the best book I've ever read. I loved Chi Fa. He was so brave. I want all my friends to read this book.

A Sky Full of Hope

Lu Chi Fa and Becky White have collaborated on an incredible piece of juvenile literature that will bring hope and inspiration to any child who has ever felt victimized by a cruel adult world. In this biographical saga that takes the reader from the turbulent times of the Communist takeover in the China of the 1940's to the present day, Double Luck, as the author is known throughout his childhood, tells his simple, honest story through the eyes of a starving orphan. This work is replete with lush imagery laced with a love of nature and oriental culture and tradition. Lu Chi Fa's eyes seem to be focused ever upward in a world where he is surrounded by those who want him to be invisible, enslaved, or suppressed; and as he looks skyward, he finds cloud dragons of hope that take him away to a future full of dreams, starlit skies of night that comfort him with his ancestors, and radiant colors of every hue that paint a canvas of a bright and hopeful future he knows one day will come to pass. The language is simple, yet rich in texture and imagery, filled with allegorical lessons on character virtues that come to Chi Fa as he faces each new challenge or crisis. This format lends itself well to oral reading to primary age children as well as being thoroughly enjoyable reading for older juvenile readers. Although some of the imagery is at times repetitive (e.g. "dragon clouds" and "sliver of moon"), the frequent use of such images underscores the importance of nature in oriental thinking and culture, and consequently will not be lost on the young reader. Chi Fa's indomitable spirit, as so tenderly and skillfully portrayed in this moving story, will serve as an inspiration to anyone who has ever felt victimized, regardless of circumstance or situation. I highly recommend this book to juvenile and adult reader alike.