The following review is from amazon.com: Chua (Day of Empire) imparts the secret behind the stereotypical Asian child's phenomenal success: the Chinese mother. Chua promotes what has traditionally worked very well in raising children: strict, Old World, uncompromising values--and the parents don't have to be Chinese. What they are, however, are different from what she sees as indulgent and permissive Western parents: stressing academic performance above all, never accepting a mediocre grade, insisting on drilling and practice, and instilling respect for authority. Chua and her Jewish husband (both are professors at Yale Law) raised two girls, and her account of their formative years achieving amazing success in school and music performance proves both a model and a cautionary tale. Sophia, the eldest, was dutiful and diligent, leapfrogging over her peers in academics and as a Suzuki piano student; Lulu was also gifted, but defiant, who excelled at the violin but eventually balked at her mother's pushing. Chua's efforts "not to raise a soft, entitled child" will strike American readers as a little scary--removing her children from school for extra practice, public shaming and insults, equating Western parenting with failure--but the results, she claims somewhat glibly in this frank, unapologetic report card, "were hard to quarrel with."
I will be ordering this book from amazon.com on Wednesday, Jun 29. I have had several people say they would like to order a book as well. The book is $15.57 with free shipping if you order through my account. As this is a fairly new book, the only used copies available through Amazon started at $10 plus $4 shipping. You have to order these on an individual basis and I didn't want to get into paying a different price for each book. Trying to figure out who owed me what would be too confusing. If you want to order a new book through my account let me know ASAP. I will be placing the order on Wednesday, June 29.
We will meet at Johanna's house on Thursday, July 21st, at 7:00 PM. Note that this date is different from our usual forth Thursday night.
This looks to be a great read! I am exited to get my hands on this one. Let me know if you have any questions. I will see you all in July!
