The Dragon's Child: A Story of Angel Island

by Laurence Yep, Kathleen S. Yep Dr.

Did you want to go to America?
Sure. I didn't have a choice. My father said I had to go. So I went. Were you sad when you left your village?
Maybe a little . . . well, maybe a lot. Ten-year-old Gim Lew Yep knows that he must leave his home in China and travel to America with the father who is a stranger to him. Gim Lew doesn't want to leave behind everything that he's ever known. But he is even more scared of disappointing his father. He uses his left hand, rather than the "correct" right hand; he stutters; and most of all, he worries about not passing the strict immigration test administered at Angel Island. The Dragon's Child is a touching portrait of a father and son and their unforgettable journey from China to the land of the Golden Mountain. It is based on actual conversations between two-time Newbery Honor author Laurence Yep and his father and on research on his family's immigration history by his niece, Dr. Kathleen S. Yep.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Middle Grade, China, Asian American, Childrens, Realistic Fiction, Cultural

144 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2008

About the author

Born June 14, 1948 in San Francisco, California, Yep was the son of Thomas Gim Yep and Franche Lee Yep. Franche Lee, her family's youngest child, was born in Ohio and raised in West Virginia where her family owned a Chinese laundry. Yep's father, Thomas, was born in China and came to America at the age of ten where he lived, not in Chinatown, but with an Irish friend in a white neighborhood. After troubling times during the Depression, he was able to open a grocery store in an African-American neighborhood. Growing up in San Francisco, Yep felt alienated. He was in his own words his neighborhood's "all-purpose Asian" and did not feel he had a culture of his own. Joanne Ryder, a children's book author, and Yep met and became friends during college while she was his editor. They later married and now live in San Francisco.

Although not living in Chinatown, Yep commuted to a parochial bilingual school there. Other students at the school, according to Yep, labeled him a "dumbbell Chinese" because he spoke only English. During high school he faced the white American culture for the first time. However, it was while attending high school that he started writing for a science fiction magazine, being paid one cent a word for his efforts. After two years at Marquette University, Yep transferred to the University of California at Santa Cruz where he graduated in 1970 with a B.A. He continued on to earn a Ph.D. in English from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1975. Today as well as writing, he has taught writing and Asian American Studies at the University of California, Berkeley and Santa Barbara.

Reviews

[Danielle T · Rating 5 out of 5]

Laurence Yep and his niece Dr. Kathleen S. Yep tell the tale of their ancestor, Laurence's father as a ten year old boy immigrating to America and being detained at Angel Island for a few months. First person and based on transcripts from the interviews, this is a good middle grade look at what that journey was like (and thanks to immigration officials, the interviews are chock full of information...) My paternal great-grandparents went through this process (I've seen the transcripts and they are exactly like that: how many stairs are in your house? Who is your neighbor two doors down, and what is their occupation? What's your teacher's name? etc.), so I'll definitely seek out a copy for potential future children.

[Tanja · Rating 4 out of 5]

You don't just recognize well-researched historical fiction like this book by the additional information provided, the authentic photographs and extensive bibliography - you just feel it when you are reading it. Everything makes complete sense, the characters and setting are easily visible in one's mind and at the end of the book you know you have learned so much about people and events of a different time. I don't think I need to elaborate much further that I absolutely enjoyed this book. I read it basically in one go, with little interruption, and can only warmly recommend it to anyone interested in emigration and migration. Even though historical fiction, I wonder how many of the challenges faced by these early immigrants are still very much a reality for present-day migrants. Surely an interesting title for literature circles/book groups.

[Masha · Rating 5 out of 5]

it was interesting

[Pamela Hatch · Rating 3 out of 5]

SUMMARY: The Dragon's Child: A Story of Angel Island by Laurence Yep (2008) -- In 1922, ten-year-old Gim Lew is leaving his home and mother in China to join his American born father as a Guest of the Golden Mountain. The journey to America is tough with leaving the only home he has known, dealing with the rough ship voyage, struggling with his stuttering, and studying relentlessly for the grueling test that he must pass to enter California. But the hardest struggle is getting to know his estranged father and finding a way to make his father proud of him.

NOTE: This story is based on the detailed immigration records, which includes personal information about the Yep family. The book includes an author's note on Chinese-American Immigration, family photos, and bibliography. The co-author is Laurence Yep's niece.

REVIEW: Lawrence Yep is a well-known name in the annuals of juvenile literature. However, this was the first book that I have read by this author. I enjoyed the story and was touched by the interaction of the father and the son. It was interesting to read about Angel Island since what most people know about is Ellis Island. The measures that the American government implement to track the lives of Chinese-American have provided a wealth of information for researchers. NOTE: It would have been nice to have learned more about the poems etched into the walls at Angel Island. And a guide to he Chinese characters at the beginning of each chapter would have been welcomed.

Favorite Part: The chapter called "Hopeless" pages 66-79 when father and son make a connection.

NOTE: The Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation is doing its best to save this neglected but significant part of U.S. History (www.aiisf.org).

[✮Octjillery✮ · Rating 4 out of 5]

*Four stars because it was a solid, interesting read, but I wasn't like "OH WOW" over it.

This is labelled as fiction by the author, but the characters within are based on interviews with his father and tons of research done by himself and his family, and they have his father's and grandfather's names.

This was a very quick read, and it mostly just details how Yep's father felt when his turn came to go over to America to work with his father, as his brothers had all done before him. The book ends upon his arrival, so it's really just a chronicle of the preparation before the journey, and the immigration process, which was difficult despite him being an American citizen by proxy of his father being one by birth.

This book is obviously geared for the younger readers, but it was still an informative read, and not excessively sugar-coated.

[Teresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is memorable--the stress of having to study to pass the interrogation by the Immigration officials. They kept lengthy files on people traveling back and forth to China to assure that it was always the same person coming back. The author's grandfather was born in the US, so his children, though they were born in China, were also US citizens, and they had to prove they were actually his children when they came here. His father had to learn all about a person he barely knew. He stutters and is left-handed (and that's not allowed)--so stressful!

Relatively short (133 p) , with easy language, short chapters, that make this approachable and compelling

[Shelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent story of the experience of a Guest of the Golden Mountain, and of a child's experience of becoming a person between cultures.
I want to read what happened next, as father and son learn to know each other and as the son learns to navigate his new world.

The background pressure of the test Chinese immigrants received and the looming Chinese exclusion act gives an inside view of the experience.

[Drew Jameson · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a good story, and I'm planning to use it as a main text for an immigration unit, but it will need a lot of supplemental materials to fill in context and background. While some historical fiction tries to only give "just the facts", this is almost the opposite. It gives just the personal experience of immigrating. But every step in the story raises multiple questions that go unanswered.

[AJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book, and its about a boy named Yep.Yep was a young boy who lived with his mom and sister,and his father was in America. His father wanted to take to America. Yep went to school in America

[Harry · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Dragons Child was a good book, because is about a 8 year old kid that is kinda forced to travel to to the USA, were he needs to go in a boat with a bunch of rich chainese people, but to stay in the Usa with his father they need to take a test that determines if they are citizens.

[Cindy Ingrid Lima · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was some difficult to read at first; it has too many unknown words, but finally, I liked it. The child was a good and determinated guy; as a result, it was very helpful.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Covers emigrating from China (based on his grandfather's immigration file) and the interrogation process at Angel Island. Short chapters, accessible language and helpful context section

[Christine Turner]

Reading Level: 8-12.
Audience: 8-12.

[RinTinTin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well-researched, age-appropriate historical fiction that exposes children to the history of Angel Island and the people who passed through there, through the eyes of a Chinese-American child.

[Holly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really interesting to learn about the absurd questioning of Chinese immigrants at Angel Island. A winner of a book!

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Based on true events and informative but rather boring.. more of a book a teacher would list for students to read than it is exciting to read.

[Joslyn Janeczek · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very average 5th grade book

[Krista · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a wonderful children's book that takes a child back to a very sad point in American History and shows the discrimination Americans had for Chinese immigrants in contrast to how the Chinese felt about America. Here ten-year-old Yep Gim Lew narrates his life in a rural Chinese village where his father is absent because he works in America and sends money home. When his father returns, it is to bring Gim Lew to America, like his brothers before him. Only in 1921 this means passing an interrogation to prove he is who he says. There is a stark contrast between the perception of America by the villagers and the reality. The book abruptly ends after the interrogation, leaving the reader wanting more.

As an adult reader I wanted more from this book; however, if I was ten, this read would have been meaningful enough. I know my children do not truly understand discrimination, and this book keeps alive something we cannot forget. In meeting Gim Lew first, feeling anxiety and pressure with him as he studies for an interrogation that could mean both he and his family could be ruined, and then realizing what he will be doing in America in contrast to what his family believes, you can feel through Gim Lew what it feels like to be treated as less than human. This is a part of history that too many Americans do not know.

This book is an excellent example of historical fiction. The author used the interrogation records of his father, Gim Lew, grandfather, and uncles to piece together this story. In the back of the book is an excellent recount of the history within this book and actual photos from the family. It feels like an accurate retelling of what likely happened.

This is definitely a book I would use in the classroom. I would love to discuss this book in small groups and as a class. The writing is suitable to a fourth or fifth grader, but as MN standards for 5th grade include government, this would be an excellent book in 5th grade. I would love to have children find when someone in their family immigrated to America and have them write a letter home in that person's perspective or tell a story like this one (though obviously shorter). This book showed how we can connect with the past.

[Maureen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a new work of historical fiction based on the interviews of Laurence Yep's father conducted by his niece, Dr. Kathleen Yep when she was researching their family's immigration history.Ten year old Gim Lew Yep is told that he must leave China (in 1922) and travel to America with his father, who lives there but comes home to visit every seven or eight years. Gim Lew stutters and is afraid he will not pass the strict immigration test at Angel Island. He is tutored by his father during the arduous crossing of the Pacific as he prepares for his new life in the land of the Golden Mountain.

In the Author's Notes, Laurence Yep states..."historical fiction is more a record than a record of dates and statisitcs: it should be a dialogue with the dead. And so this novel is a conversation with my father about his long journey to Angel Island and America." Each chapter begins with a question and answer that occurred during the interview that previews the content of the chapter. This book is an essential component of any immigration unit that is often found in a fourth or fifth grade curriculum. There is so much emphasis on the Ellis Island experience, and now students can access this beautifully written piece of historical fiction in order to try to understand the experience of the Chinese immigrants who entered America on the western shores. The final chapter,"More About Chinese American Immigration," provides a wealth of factual information about this topic including facts about immigration during the Gold Rush, when many Chinese came to work on the transcontinental railroad, the Chinese Exclusion Acts, and other legislation that specifically restricted Chimese Immigration. The references to the poems carved on the walls of Angel Island is a fascinating aspect of this book, and can lead to powerful enrichment activities during which students can explore the emotions felt by these victimized people by hearing their eloquent voice, expressing pain, despair, disappointment, and anger.

[Roxanne Hsu Feldman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although it is of important historical value, this fictionalized family history does not have the emotional impact that it could potentially inspire. Maybe because Yep was too faithful to the family history where his father did not meet that tremendous a hardship, coming into America -- and the peripheral characters' less fortunate fates were merely mentioned and quickly passed. The extended back matter also is merely "reporting" facts. Not the best book by far!

Some of historical/factual questions:

p. 5: "that the Manchus had been driven away..." : inaccuracy -- the Manchus was not driven away -- the entire emperial system of China was overthrown by the Republic. It's a change of regime, rather than a racial/ethnic conflict at the beginning of the 20th century.

p. 9: Interesting how America is desribed as "That barbarian land lay to the east --" since the Chinese view the West as the West... unless I'm grossly mistaken. -- and right on the next page, his father is wearing a "gray Western hat"...

p. 12: why would father bring back from America embroidered slippers (Chinese) as a present?

I like the chapter numbers being done in Chinese calligraphy in gray, underlaying the chapter titles.

Chap. 4: Ching Ming, attending the graves of the departed -- how come they didn't burn incense??

p. 36: wolfing down sugar cane? that is not possible -- sugarcanes can only be sucked and chewed on -- the fiber is inedible

[Adrienne]

Gim Lew Yep is 10 years old, and he is seeing his father for only the second time in his life. That's because his father is a Guest of the Golden Mountain: a Chinese man living and working in America to support his family in China. Gim Lew notices that his father isn't comfortable with the family in the small Chinese village and is shocked to learn that he will be joining his father on the journey back to San Francisco. Will Gim Lew be able to pass the difficult oral examination given by the American government at Angel Island? Will he be able to master his stutter? Will he be able to get along with his father?

This was a fascinating book. I thought it was too short, as it ends just as Gim Lew has passed the test and is allowed to enter the United States. I wanted to know more about Gim Lew and his father, and how their life in San Francisco together was. Aside from that (small) criticism, I found this to be an interesting read. Gim Lew is a realistic character whom I grew to like quickly. This is a great book for Chinese American children to gain an idea of what their ancestors or countrymen went through in coming to the US, but more than that, it's a great book for any child who wants to learn more about the history of immigration.

[Miss Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

GR 3-6 106 pgs

1922, Lung Hing Village, Southern China/San Franscisco. 10 year old Gim Lew doesn't know how to act around his father, a virtual stranger. Since his father is a "guest of the Golden Mountain" (he works in America and sends money home), Gim Lew barely knows him. Being around his father, such an important man, makes Gim Lew nervous which makes his stuttering problem worse! When he learns that this time he will be accompanying his father back to America to work, Gim Lew is excited and frightened. As they travel together, Gim Lew's father explains how Gim Lew must pass a series of difficult tests (they may even ask him how many doors his house has!) and if he makes one mistake or if they think he is lying, he and his father will be sent back. Gim Lew is determined not to make a mistake.

Great story with a lot of information about how difficult it was to pass through Angel Island.

[Natalie Waddell-Rutter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, the U.S. worked pretty hard to keep Chinese immigration to a minimum. I knew that women weren’t usually allowed to enter the U.S., but I didn’t know about the immigration test the men had to pass. Ostensibly to make sure the same person who left was re-entering the U.S., the immigration officials asked so many questions about their lives in China. Now, it’s a wealth of family history. Then, it was a major source of worry. If you didn’t answer the questions the same every time, you could be sent back to China and then what money would the family live on? The story isn’t that exciting, but it made for some interesting discussions for our American History book club. We also answered some of the current U.S. naturalization questions (like you can find at USCIS website) to see how we’d do at passing the current test.

[Lin Lin]

This book vividly captures the feelings of a child who had to leave home to come through the Angel Island for San Francisco to join his father, a descent of an early Chinese immigrant coming during the Gold Rush. Known as Guests of the Golden Mountain, early immigrants from China faced extreme restrictions and prejudice orchestrated by the government through its discriminatory immigration laws. The 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act aimed particularly at the Chinese immigrants and prevented both men and women from settling permanently in America or creating families in the states. Besides this 1882 Act, there were other laws and acts that were purposefully designed to restrict Chinese immigration. I cannot wait to read other books by Dr. Yep.

[M Pike · Rating 3 out of 5]

Melanie_MKP
Book Review #1
Gim Lew Yep is a 10 year old boy who takes a journey
to America to start a new life with a father he hardly knows.
For many years Yep’s father lived in America and supported his
family by working for a wealth family over seas.
In the story Dad and son board a ship in China that is bound for America. On the
journey the two get to know each other and learn to trust and
depend on one another.

For me this story was sad in that the family was split up.
Although this took place in the early 1900's I still see immigrant
families living like this today, where the Dad is in another country
earning a living for his family back home.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a well-written children's book that tells the story of a young Chinese boy forced by his father to immigrate to San Francisco in the early 1920's. The boy happens to be the author's father and much of the information is garnered from actual immigration files. These files contain massive amounts of information because Chinese were subjected to strict interrogations to ensure they were really who they said they were. It was fascinating and interesting to see the boy come to grips with his father and his motivation for making him leave his home. This would be a great introduction for kids to immigration issues.

[eLLen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a must read for all those who want to understand the hardship of Chinese immigrants and American-born Chinese citizens as they were processed at Angel Island. My great-grandfather, grandparents and father were all processed there and what an ordeal. Well written, and again, love the way true facts are woven into a memorable story to help understand the motivations and feelings of the times and people. Helpful references in the back of the book lead you to find further information on Chinese immigrants. Also a great lead into finding your Chinese ancestors who came through Angel Island. Excellent book!!! Great author!

[Terry]

Gim Lew Yep (10) is getting ready to move to the United States. He is worried, because life is not going to be easy. Gim Lew is left handed and stutters when excited or afraid. If Gim Lew cannot pass the rigorous tests given to all immigrants, he will be sent back to China. This is a middle-grade chapter book that gives readers a very personal story and one that will resonate even today.

To read our full review, go to the Reading Tub.

[Sherrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful story told by the author of his family's immigration to America, The land of the Golden Mountain. Gim Lew is 10 years old, stutters and writes with his left hand. Which isn't allowed in his family. He tries to correct the stutter and left handiness. But it doesn't always work. Then his father comes back to China to get him and take him to America. But Gim Lew doesn't want to go and then he is scared he won't pass the immigration test and disappoint his father. Does Gim Lew pass the test? You'll have to read the book to find out.

[Virginia Walter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yep builds on his own family history, supplemented by research done by his niece, a Professor of Asian American Studies, to tell the story of his father's journey from his Chinese village to San Francisco. The author's introductory note and afterword about Chinese immigration to the U.S. are actually more compelling than the slight story of a ten-year-old boy's fears that he will fail the rigorous immigration interview on Angel Island.