Forbidden City

Joan McGrath is a Toronto Board of Education library consultant.

Alex Jackson, a 17-year-old Canadian student, has the once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity to accompany his father, a cbc news cameraman, on an
assignment to China. The trip proves to be every bit as exciting as Alex
had hoped, and he makes good use of his time in China: he begins to
learn Chinese; he explores Beijing, especially its inner area, the
Forbidden City; and he becomes acquainted with Chinese students his own
age. Many of these students are involved in the demonstrations in Tian
An Men Square; and on the fateful day of June 4, 1989, Alex is there
with his friends when the pla—the people’s own revered liberation
army—fires on the student demonstrators, with tremendous loss of life.
The massacre and its aftermath change Alex’s life forever.

Young North American readers will readily identify with Alex. Through
his terrifying first-hand experience of a shocking moment in history,
Bell brings the powerful memories and searing headlines of 1989 vividly
to life, and persuasively punches home his anti-war message.