Did you want to go to America?
Pop: 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?
Pop: 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 Yep.