Bibliography: Yep, Laurence. 1975. DRAGONWINGS. New York: Harper & Row. ISBN 006440859
Summary
Moon Shadow, the young protagonist, arrives in San Francisco in 1903 to join his father, whom he has never seen, and leaves his mother and grandmother behind in China. The story follows the live of Moon Shadow, his father, Windrider, and other male relatives of the Tang family. The family earns a living laundering clothes for the white people whom they refer to as “demons”. His father dreams of building a flying machine which he calls Dragonwings. Eventually Moon Shadow and Windrider leave the family to live among the demons. This occasionally puts the two of them in perilous situations as their kind is not accepted within the general population. After many struggles Windrider finally accomplishes his goal of building Dragonwings, but crashes it after only a few minutes. Fortunately his injuries are non-life threatening. Windrider finally realizes that the most important thing in his life is his family and he loses his desire to build another aeroplane.
Critical Analysis
DRAGONWINGS is a 1976 Newbery Honor Book and is written by Laurence Yep, an Asian-American well known for his work in children’s literature. The cover illustration of the book represents Moon Shadow and Windrider as they fly one of his kites. The facial features of Moon Shadow show the detail of the Chinese face and with his father’s back featured, the traditional queue is noted in his hairstyle. The clothing they are wearing is the authentic clothing of the Chinese in early 20th century America. The book gives some background of the Tang people and the Chinese dynasty and how that history caused the arrival of so many Chinese to America in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Historically most of the men traveled to America without their families and sent money back home to their wives. The cost of the trip to bring families over, as well as the danger to the women and children kept them in China. There were stories of the Golden Mountain in America where the sun shines on the mountain and men can scoop buckets of gold, but it is the “demons” that get the gold. The title of the book is significant as the Chinese culture gives much honor to the dragon, unlike the Americans, the demons, who consider the dragon to be full of firebreathing rage. Uncle Bright Star had come to America originally and worked on the railroads as so many of the Chinese immigrants of the time did. Among the family, he was the traditional leader. Lefty, a member of the family, had cut off his right hand because he gambled so much and Black Dog had a big problem with drugs (opium). All of these problems were those that the Chinese of the time encountered in their lives in America. In Dr.Vardell’s discussion she addresses the fact that Laurence Yep chooses the names of his characters from some of the nicknames he hears in Chinatown. The Chinese Americans used colorful nicknames and he has authentically chosen nicknames that add meaning to the character. The book addresses the differences in the Chinese calendar and that of the Americans. The demon’s calendar is based on the movement of the sun with a certain number of days and months and seven day weeks. Moon Shadow then describes the calendar of his people which is based on the movement of the moon and the first day of the New Year changed each year as did many of their holidays. The Chinese week was ten days. All of this confused Moon Shadow. As Moon Shadow begins to learn the language of the demons his speech is choppy and sentences are short as is typical of those learning the English language. Please. I drink lot. Too much. You take tea. Moon Shadow also found the alphabet of the American language to be confusing as well with only twenty-six letters as the Chinese language has many different symbols. A historical event that was an important part of the history of early San Francisco was addressed in this book, the great earthquake of 1906. The reaction of the people from their can do attitude, to zombie appearance, to hysteria and greed and looting was all addressed in this book. Mrs. Whitlaw had a stained glass window that featured a dragon spewing fire and it was one of the few items that was saved from the ravages of the earthquake. Kites and flying have historically been a part of the Chinese tradition and this book takes us into the passion for this art even taking the reader into the world of the first aeroplanes. Finally; however, this book addresses families that work together, forgive each other and find that above all else family is most important. It shows the characteristic Chinese values of respecting and honoring the elders in the family.
The afterword explains that Mr. Yep considers this book to be a historical fantasy after reading about a young Chinese flyer Fung Joe Guey who flew the hills of Oakland in 1909 for twenty minutes before his plane went down. This is all the information he found about Fung Joe Guey, but it set him to thinking about all the Chinese that came to America with fears and hopes as others who came. To so many they were a dull, faceless mass, but he makes their story come to life.
Reviews
School Library Journal: Laurence Yep's Newbery Honor book (HarperCollins, 1975) offers insights into the lives of Chinese-Americans in early 20th century California. The story begins as eight-year-old Moon Shadow Lee journeys across the Pacific to join his proud and clever father at the family-owned laundry in San Francisco. The boy recounts their problems with prejudice, as well as the kindness of uncles and cousins. Father and son must leave the protection of the family to move out of Chinatown, but they find refuge with a generous and friendly landlady. Once they have successfully established a repair business, they turn their attention to making a flying machine. Though it's a modern invention, part of their motivation is the elder's belief in his own previous dragon existence. Yep draws heavily on his own heritage, but also includes figures such as Teddy Roosevelt and the Wright Brothers, and historic events such as the San Francisco Earthquake. The result is a heartwarming story set in a familiar time and place, but told from a new perspective. The quiet intensity of B. D. Wong's narration enriches the text as he creates memorable voices for a large cast of characters. Wafting, ethereal music signals the end of each side of the cassette, and the cover art is attractive. The only problem is the lightweight cardboard package, which is not sturdy enough for heavy circulation. That shouldn't deter libraries from purchasing this fine recording which will provide upper elementary and middle school listeners with lessons in history, and a gentle reminder of the value of a loving family and loyal friends.
Booklist: In this sensitive immigration novel, Moon Shadow leaves his mother in China and sails to America in 1903 to join his father, who lives in San Francisco's Chinatown, works in a laundry, and dares to dream of flying a biplane.
Connections:
Have students design a kite or bring a kite from home and have a “kite flying day”
Check your library for some of the many books about the invention of the air plane and the Wright brothers.
Other books by this Laurence Yep:
THE EARTH DRAGON AWAKES: THE SAN FRANCISCO EARTHQUAKE OF 1906
THE TRAITOR: GOLDEN MOUNTAIN CHRONICLES: 1885
DRAGON’S GATE…
And many others
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