Common Sense Media Review
By Lucinda Dyer
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Chinese American girl fights bias in compelling 1906 tale.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 12+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Read
What's the Story?
In OUTRUN THE MOON, 15-year-old Mercy Wong is determined to get the best education available to girls in 1906 San Francisco -- a seemingly impossible dream when you live in Chinatown and are the daughter of a impoverished laundry owner and a fortune teller. Mercy sets her sights on St. Clare's School for Girls, which prides itself on admitting only white young ladies from the best families. She crafts a plan -- part fast-talking and part bribery -- and secures a spot at the school and a new identity as an heiress from mainland China. While a few girls befriend her, she struggles to fit in and must constantly be on her guard lest her true identity be discovered. But after an earthquake destroys their school, it's Mercy who steps up and and takes charge of her frightened classmates as they camp in a city park and wait for help to arrive.
Is It Any Good?
This compelling story, set against the catastrophic 1906 San Francisco earthquake and its spirited stereotype-busting Chinese American heroine should prove irresistible to readers. While the terror and destruction of the earthquake provide a dramatic backdrop, the core of the story is the evolving friendship between Mercy and her classmates and how they learn to see both themselves and the people in the world around them beyond surface appearances.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about prejudice. What kinds of prejudice do you see in your school or community? Do you think it's possible for attitudes to change so that everyone is treated equally?
Mercy and her friends have no way to contact their families after the earthquake. If you couldn't use your cell phone or the internet after a natural disaster, how would you reconnect with your family and friends?
Mercy schemes to get a place at St. Clare's and then lies when she becomes a student. If being deceptive would allow you to better yourself and the life of your family, would you do it?
Book Details
- Author :
- Genre : Historical Fiction
- Topics : Friendship , History
- Book type : Fiction
- Publisher : G.P. Putnam's Sons
- Publication date : June 8, 2016
- Number of pages : 391
- Available on : Nook, Audiobook (unabridged), Hardback, Apple Books, Kindle
- Last updated : September 30, 2025
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