Life in rural China is excruciatingly painful for Jade Moon.  Without her mother and under the Zodiac sign of the Fire Horse, she is a quick to speak, hot tempered, feisty young woman in a society that would never let her be true to her spirit.  She yearns for freedom — that which America could bring if she follows the aptly named Sterling Promise, her adopted cousin, to the United States.  Dreams of Jello and unbridled opportunity give strength to this Fire Horse as her new world does not match up that of her imagination.  The realities of how Americans treated Chinese immigrants coming into Angel Island in the 1920’s as well as the underground gang-like world of San Francisco’s Chinatown come from Kay Honeyman’s fastidious research.  This research also provided the thread for the Romantic narrative woven into the storyline through the Chinese oral tradition of storytelling that Nushi, Jade Moon, and Spring Blossom share with the reader.  The Fire Horse Girl is an excellent piece of literature that blends multiple worlds, has action that both male and female readers will enjoy, and will allow for rich classroom discussion.  Highly recommended for 8th – 10th grade humanities classrooms to adopt into their curriculum as well as for classroom, school and public libraries to promote.