"The Dragon's Child"--a book by Laurence Yep

     This is a fictional book about the real life immigration of the author's father who entered the United States through Angel Island in 1922.  Gim Lew Yep is a ten-year-old boy living in China with is mother, sister, and sister-in-law.  His father is a Chinese American that lives and works in America and comes back every few years to see his family.  China at this time is in political turmoil and is a poor country where many families have starved.  Gim Lew Yep's family is considered rich in their village because his father's American money can buy them everything they need and more.  When Gim Lew is ten-years-old his father decides it's time for Gim Lew to come to America to live and work with him.  Gim Lew is frightened and sad because he knows that it will be years before he'll be able to come back to China and see his mother and the only home he has ever known.  On the perilous journey across the ocean, Gim Lew learns that his father is not the same respected man in America that he is in his Chinese village.  Gim Lew finds out that his father is the cook and servant for a wealthy American family.  The image he has of his father is shattered and replaced by the realization that his father is not a wealthy man with a business and a big house of his own.  Also on the crammed, sweltering ride on the ship to America Gim Lew must memorize details about his family's life and his village. The government created files on each person traveling back and forth to China and to be able to re-enter into America, Chinese Americans were quizzed on their Chinese life.  If they could not answer detailed questions about previous given information entered into the file, they were not allowed back into America.  Gim Lew must pass the quiz based on his father's file.  He knows that his family's survival is dependant upon his father's work and that they both will be denied access if he cannot control his stuttering and stay calm and focused to pass the test. 
     This is an enlightening book on Chinese immigration.  Before reading this book, I had not heard of Angel Island or the interrogations that had gone on there.  Many Chinese Americans were rejected access back into the country because they answered a single question wrong.  It also gave insight to the life of Chinese Americans of this time period.  Apparently, it was not uncommon for men to marry and have a family in China, but live most of their lives in America. 
     Laurence Yep has written many books with Asian characters.  Some of his other books include:  Hiroshima, The Starmaker, Ribbons, The Lost Garden, and The Magic Paintbrush.  He also has several books in a series such as The Golden Mountain Chronicles, The City Trilogy, and Tiger's Apprentice.