[Fifth Chinese Daughter] is an enchanting record of Chinese customs and celebrations as well as the gradually unfolding talents of young Jade…. Her happy adjustment to the dual demands of her Chinese-American life makes this an unusually significant book. (p. 228)

May Hill Arbuthnot, "Transitions from Juvenile to Adult Reading," in her Children's Reading in the Home (copyright © 1969 by Scott, Foresman and Company; reprinted by permission), Scott, Foresman, 1969, pp. 211-41.∗

Fifth Chinese Daughter—still in print after 25 years—was a deceptively simple memoir of childhood and adolescence in San Francisco's Chinatown during the '30's and '40's. The sequel [No Chinese Stranger], which takes Jade Snow Wong and her husband through four children, a satisfying joint career and extensive travels, shows only intermittent flashes of the old charm. The first part is narrated like Fifth Chinese Daughter in the third person; the death of Jade Snow's father effects...