- 2006 Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young people by the National Council of Social Studies(NCSS) and the Children's Book Council (CBC).
- 2006 Society of School Librarians International (SSLI) Book Award Honor Book in the category of Social Studies.
- 2006 New York Public Library Book for the Teenage
- 2005 Parents' Choice Award for nonfiction
- 2005 YOVA's Poetry Picks
review from Boston Globe:
''Little Green," by Chun Yu, is an exquisitely moving memoir in free verse, about a childhood during the Cultural Revolution. Growing up in a little country town, her father sent off to be re-educated and her mother always under suspicion as a teacher, Chun narrates stories with pathos, lyricism, exactitude, sweetness, even a touch of humor, as when in the middle of the night her mother is recruited to a ''parade" celebrating Chairman Mao:
''They had marched through the rice fields in the darkness /
to the nearby town, / where there was a single street -- /
the only street around that they could march on, /
and so it would be called a parade. /
Their slogans echoed on the empty dark street, /
where everyone was asleep
and no lights were on. / They went back and forth on
the same street for a whole hour. / Nobody came out to
watch the 'parade.' / 'People,' each time Mama told
the story / she would sigh and laugh, 'all must be
crazy then.' "
Chun's verse is consciously prosaic and
conversational. She captures the sense of wonder,
delight, occasional terror, and sadness that marked
her growing-up years. The natural world is
ever-present: ''Rice fields around our house turned /
from green to golden yellow, / rose bushes along the
river bloomed and withered, / months of spring and
summer passed. / At these times, for us children, /
the revolution seemed to be far away." Black
dragonflies hover by a graveyard ''with wings like
half-transparent black veils." ''Little Green" is
bursting with life, and no library in America should
be without it.