The Amah (Novel)

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Summary: Another great book by Laurence Yep
Review: As with many of Yep's books, THE AMAH takes place in the San Francisco China Town. It is about a girl name Amy. Amy's mother has found work as an "Amah" for an American girl named Stephanie. Amy gets jealous of her mother's love for Stephanie. Amy also needs to sacrifice some of her ballet lessons for her mom to work. This book is a companion to Ribbon

Rating:
Summary: The Amah
Review: I read The Amah as a school project. In The Amah Amy's mom becomes an amah, a special kind of babysitter, for a girl named Stephanie. Since Mama spends so much time with Stephanie, twelve-year-old Amy has to take care of her four brothers and sisters in the afternoons. But this means skipping ballet classes, which are VERY important to Amy. And on top of that, Mama and Amy's siblings seem to love staphanie more than her! Amy feels cheated. But she learns that you should try to change yourself, and not only your peers.
Even though The Amah is a good book, I felt that it was a little un-fair to Amy. Everybody expected so much from her! That's why I only gave it three stars. (But i would've given it three and a half stars if I could've.)

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Summary: Amy and Stephanie
Review: The Amah
By: Laurance Yep
Reviewed by: J. ...
Period: 6
This book is about a girl named Amy Chin and how her family doesn't have enough money until her mom gets a new job as a amah. Amy has to baby sit her sisters and brothers, which cause her to have to miss her ballet classes. The girl Mrs. Chin watches over is Miss Stephanie. Miss Stephanie seems to be taking away Amy's family and Amy starts to get jealous. But the worst thing is that Stephanie is going to move in with the Chin's while her dad is away at a business trip. Later, Amy and Stephanie start to get along and Amy finds out why Stephanie is so kind to her family.
I liked this book because it shows how friendships shouldn't be based on what the person look or acts on the outside but how the person is on the inside. In the beginning, when Amy first hears about Stephanie, she is already starting to hate her because she takes away her family, especially her mom, and also her time for ballet practices. Then when Amy is asked to go to a ballet performance with Stephanie, Amy questions about it because it's a performance that she really wants to see but doesn't want Stephanie thinking that she likes her. Then when Amy finds out that Stephanie is going to live with her and she has to clean the whole house for Stephanie, Amy becomes furious. "And I'm looking forward to staying with you," Stephanie said. When Stephanie comes to live with Amy, Amy finds out that Stephanie isn't the way she thinks she is. Stephanie is actually a really nice person that tries to get people to like her so that was why she always gave her things to Amy's family, So Amy and Stephanie become good friends.
I also liked this book because it shows how a family has to work together. Since Amy found out that her mom got a new job and that she had to give up her ballet practices to baby sit her brothers and sisters she was not happy about it but listened to her mother anyway. After the first day of her mom's job Amy was already feeling sick of Miss Stephanie. Amy's mom always said good things about Miss Stephanie and it made Amy look bad. Amy soon started to question her mother's love towards her. Finally, I had a name for the ache inside. "Mama, don't you love me?" In the end, Amy and her mom started to work things out between them and everything got better.
My favorite part of the book is when Amy stands up for Stephanie against Stephanie's father. After Stephanie's father found out about the things that Stephanie was taking from him to give to the Chin's, he was furious. He fired Mrs. Chin but Stephanie didn't think that was right. So Amy took charge and stepped in front of Stephanie's father and started to question him about Stephanie and he didn't know the answers. Amy finally got Stephanie's father to admit that he needed Mrs. Chin and that he needed to spend more time with is daughter. So in the end, Stephanie and her father start to get to know each other better and Amy and her mom also do the same.