Ling is a nine-year-old Chinese girl whose parents are both dedicated doctors. She lives a comfortable life in the city of Wuhan, but as the Cultural Revolution in China swings into gear, Ling's comfortable life begins to change. Little by little, Ling's life disintegrates to the point where it becomes a mere shadow of her former life. As intellectuals, her parents are persecuted and criticized and at school, Ling suffers the wrath of the militant communist Young Pioneers to criticize and attempt to break Ling of her bourgeoisie family ties.
In some ways, Revolution Is Not a Dinner Party strikes one as yet another story of the life of a young girl coming of age during the Cultural Revolution. Compestine's young LIng, however, is brought to life with such nice skill that in spite of the fact that I have read numerous variations of this now familiar tale, there were sections of the read where I was moved to tears.
A very nice read for the right younger reader.
Ambookgeek's Blog 
Hey there! So what age group do you think this book is for? We're in the midst of reviewing a handful of books that deal with the Cultural Revolution for our freshmen (some who are quite 'literal' in their approach to reading). What do you think?