Dragonwings by Laurence Yep

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Yep, Laurence. 1975. Dragonwings. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN 0060267372

SUMMARY
Seven-year-old Moon Shadow Lee lives and works on his family farm in China in 1903. He's never met his father, Windrider, who left to work in San Francisco in America. His father sends for Moon Shadow to come to America to live and work with him and the Company, a group of fellow Chinese American men who all work together in a laundromat.  Moon Shadow is afraid of the demons (Americans) and is nervous when he and his father leave to rent a room owned by Miss Whitelaw, a demoness, and her niece.  However, as time goes by, each learn and respect each other's culture.  After living through the earthquake of 1906, Moon Shadow decides to help Windrider build his dream - a flying machine called "dragonwing." 

 CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Dragonwings was nominated a 1976 Newbery Honor book, an ALA Notable Children's Book of 1971-1975, a 1976 Boston Globe/Horn Book Award Honor book, a 1975 The New York Times Outstanding Children's Books, and a School Library Journal Best of the Best 1966-1978.  In 1995, it won the CLA Phoenix Award which is given to the best children's book published twenty years earlier that did not win a major award that the committee has determined to be of lasting value. 

Dragonwings is the fifth book in a larger series of ten called the Golden Mountain Chronicles, which also includes the Newbery Honor Book Dragon's Gate. Yep describes the book as "historical fantasy" and has created a beautifully written and touching story about a young Chinese boy growing up in a new land with different customs and traditions.  When first seeing a white woman (a demoness), Moon Shadow is shocked that she's petite with friendly twinkly eyes because he "...expected her to be 10 foot tall with blue skin and to have a face covered with warts and ear lobes that hung all the way down to her knees..." 

Yep's novel discounts Chinese stereotypes found in the media as they exist in the American mind and lead us to a better understanding of the Chinese American experience in the early 20th century in San Francisco, California. He shows us what a young Chinese boy might think of America upon arrival and what Americans thought of the Chinese. When discussing their different constellations, Miss Whitlaw wisely states, "We see the same thing and yet find different truths." 

This book is partly based upon a true story about Fung Joe Guey, a Chinese flyer who improved the Wright's brother original design for an airplanes. His own father, a kite maker, was the model for the character of Windrider. Yep sees his book as “a way of stepping into the shoes of members of my family.” This novel established Yep as a powerful voice for Chinese Americans.

Recommended for grades 5-9. 


REVIEWS
[A]n unusual historical novel, unique in its perspective of the Chinese in America and its portrayal of early 20th century San Francisco, including the Earthquake, from an immigrants viewpoint." -- School Library Journal 

"A fine, sensitive novel written with grace in a way that conveys the Chinese American's cultural heritage."  --Booklist 

"A triumph..." --The New York Times

CONNECTIONS
*Moon Shadow offers jasmine tea to Miss Whitlaw who loves the smell and surprised to see flowers in the tea.  There is also mention of roast duck, dumplings and other Chinese foods. Have a Chinese Food Day at school and have students research popular Chinese foods and their meanings. 

*Miss Whitlaw believes that dragons are all mean and evil.  Yet Moon Shadow knows dragons to be both good and bad.  Have students research Chinese myths and compare/contrast to Western myths.  

*There are many characters in Dragonwings. Have students complete a character web for the main characters. Here is an example of a character chart. 
http://www.dailyteachingtools.com/free-graphic-organizers.html#2

*Watch this interview with students in which Laurence Yep describes his Chinese American background and how he creates stories. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USRnvomwZ30

*Here is a novel guide for Dragonwings. Some research topics discussed in the guide are: immigration, gangs (the brotherhood), the earthquake of 1906, and the Wright Brothers.
http://www.classzone.com/novelguides/litcons/dragwing/guide.cfm

*The University of Missouri has gathered a variety of resources for Dragonwings. They include lesson plans, activities, author interviews, and information regarding Chinese immigrants in the early 1900s, early airplanes, kite making, and earthquakes. There are links to eTheme Resources on the Wright Brothers, aircraft, China, Ancient China, immigration, and Chinatown. 
http://ethemes.missouri.edu/themes/1972?locale=en

*Glencoe offers an excellent study guide for teachers.     http://www.glencoe.com/sec/literature/litlibrary/pdf/dragonwings.pdf