Life on Golden Mountain
Written: Dec 16 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: useful and different look at history
Cons: none
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| pambo's Full Review: Laurence Yep - The Journal of Wong Ming-Chung: A C... |
Those old enough to have read some of the "We Were There" series of historical fiction books will appreciate the Dear America series.
The publishers of the Dear America/My Name Is America series have made a serious effort to diversify its authors and topics, which seems fitting, given our social history, but many of the same general historical events from "We Were There" can also be found in this series.
The Journal of Wong Ming-Chung, written by Laurence Yep, is the story of the dutiful younger son of Chinese peasants, finds himself propelled into a new life after his Uncle travels to America to join in the Gold Rush.
Life in China in the 1840s and 1850s could be rough. Ming-Chung, also known as Runt, and his clan own some land but find themselves frequently on the brink of starvation as the tax collector regularly cleans them out. At times, they are reduced to eating weed soup for days; meat is a serious and rare luxury. With their poverty comes a certain amount of social injustice even within the classroom because the handful of boys who have relatives in America thrive while the majority of the students have to struggle.
The emigrants to America are considered "guests of Golden Mountain" as America is known; the usual false expectations of immigrants expecting to find the streets paved with gold are rewarded somewhat when money starts coming home.
Runt is unusually perceptive for a boy of 12, and shows a great deal of empathy toward his Uncle, the eldest in the family and therefore its nominal head, but who suffers from a great deal of bad luck. When he announces his intention to go to Golden Mountain, his family resists and insults him; when he sells a piece of land to pay for his journey, the family is frightened for him and their future. After a few months, they are thrilled and relieved to learn that Uncle has not only survived the perilous journey to America, but has become, in their eyes, rich. He begins sending money to his family but then requests that Runt's older brother be sent to America to help him. Instead, his parents, realizing Runt's ability to learn and adapt, send him though he is crushed because he thinks his parents don't love him.
Throughout the book, we learn a great deal about the many nationalities who rushed to join the search for gold and therefore prosperity. We also get a good taste of Chinese culture before emigration, the possibilities of cross-cultural friendship and the animosities of some Americans toward successful immigrants from another ethnic background. We also are reminded of historical fact, such as the legal bar on Chinese and other non-whites to testify in court, taxes imposed on Chinese that were not leveled on others and so on. While these nuggets about prejudice form a part of the book, it is by no means the only story to be told, and therefore it is a valuable addition to the growing number of books that help round out and give a fuller account of our history. We get a good look at the rough life miners and other workers experienced in their determination to become rich.
Suffice it to say, both he and his Uncle not only survive but thrive even as others struggle.
This is a very useful book for teachers who want to discuss a piece of history, students in need of a good historical fiction book, and parents who want their children to understand cultural issues. It occasionally tries a little too hard to impart information; at one point, boys who speak not a world of the other's language are quickly able to discern not only how they got there but their countries of origin and some of the other's personal histories. At another, modern sensitivities creep in, with references to a "two-person" saw that the miners are using, language that is highly suspect. But these are minor flaws in an otherwise extremely educational book.
This book is one of the Dear America/My Name Is America series published by Scholastic. The only complaint or confusion I have is in how the book itself and Scholastic's Web site explain the series. The book lists several other titles in the series, all featuring male characters. But when I checked the Web site to see if, indeed, all the books were about boys, it heavily emphasizes its girls' books, linking to its Mother-Daughter book clubs, talking about dolls and so on.
In fact, the only way I could get confirmation on the web site was to search the author's name and come up with references to it on a question-and-answer format. I don't know if they're trying to separate out the girls and the boys' books but I sure hope not.
Some of the other boys' books in this series are The Journal of Scott Pendleton Collins, a World War II soldier, Sean Sullivan, transcontinental railroad worker, Joshua Loper, a black cowboy, and William Thomas Emerson, a Revolutionary War Patriot.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
pambo
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Member: Pam
Location: Long Island
Reviews written: 372
Trusted by: 219 members
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