Prairie Lotus by Linda Sue Park is a book about a girl named Hanna who left her home in the late 1880s to move to a little town on the prairie. She is with her father, she is an only child, and her mother is not with them. She is half Chinese and half American (her father is from Tennessee). In the little town, she finds out there is a school. Hanna is very excited to go! But the people there are not used to having a half Chinese half American girl in their town. In fact heavily prejudiced against it. So when she goes to school, she covers up her hair -which is her only Chinese trait- with a bonnet. As soon as she takes it down, she is treated much differently. Not as much of the class shows up to school after she takes her bonnet off, people write mean notes about her and ruin her work. Eventually, her teacher decides to stop the problems by making her graduate. Hannah does not like this. She has to graduate so that the rest of the class can get an education.  Hanna is always thinking about other people, making sacrifices for them, just like her mom had. After she graduates, Hanna works for her father as a dressmaker. When she makes a dress to bring business to her father’s new shop, she realizes that she needs a helper. Hanna gets the one girl who dared to talk to her to help. They become friends and through a trial they help bring her father’s shop to be accepted in the town. Hanna finds that she is very happy with her life. 

I really like the part where Hanna finishes the dress. She works all night and finally finishes the dress just in time for the opening! It shows she has grit. I didn’t have a least favorite part of the book!

This book is perfect for people who enjoy historical fiction. If you enjoyed Little House on the Prairie, you will like Prairie Lotus! The only difference between these two books are the challenges the characters faced. In Little House on the Prairie the main character didn’t face as much prejudice as Hannah did. 

The quote that will stick with me from Prairie Lotus is: “sometimes beautiful things aren’t for buying. They’re for dreaming.” I think this means that sometimes, when you have something beautiful, its value is not in money. It is a very personal value.