Dragonwings: 25th Anniversary Edition

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Summary: A book of the Chinese Americans, through a young boy's eyes
Review: This book has an amazing amount of information about what the Chinese went throught to get to the USA and then how they were treated once they arrived. Lawence Yep really brings the charectors alive and makes you feel their pains and thier happieness. The fact that this book is told from the point of view of a young boy, it really gives you a different perspective, then if the book was told as an adult had seen it. I also really enjoyed the ending. There is no clear cut ending, and the reader doesn't know or feel just what will happen to the charectors. Instead the reader is left wtith a sence of hope and wonder. I recomend this book for anyone who is interested in, or studying Chinese immigration to the United States.

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Summary: Does Newberry "honor" profanity?
Review: My 6th grader son was assigned this book to read for a book report. When he said he didn't like it, and why, I thought I would read it for myself. What I found was that I was surprised that a book with profanity won the Newberry Award. The story itself was okay. Although I am totally unfamiliar with the Chinese culture, it did open my eyes to how Chinese immigrants in the early 1900s might have (and probably did) look upon their American counterparts. I did, however, think the characters could have used a little more background, especially in the book's beginning. My main disappointment was with the profanity: it's not what I want my sixth grader reading. Also the mention of prostitution and opium usage was not to my liking - for a 6th grader, mind you - although I know it was factual. Maybe I am "behind the times" in what schools require our children to read, but Dragonwings would not be on my list if I were a Middle School teacher. So my critique? Good story line, weak characters, weaker language! Average rating at best!

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Summary: Dragonwings is a story about Chinatown told from a boy.
Review: The characters are a strong part. With the eclectic group, Lawrence Yep is able to crack into the crazy mind of any human. The chartacters are spoken about from the main characters point of view (the kid). It's interesting to read an adult writing a novel through a child's eyes when in a foreign land. Since the Chinatown in San Francisco is so vast, the exploration of it is very good. Also when the characters venture out of Chinatown, the obstacles they encounterare quite interesting. The time periods are very odd. Each chapter up till the end is a series of months. While engrossed in the book, you have not a clue of time flying by.This makes it is hard to follow sometimes. Boredom occurs sometimes. Rambling on about a topic leads to mid-chapter naps. Although a good rest, it happens a little to often. Additionally, te dialogues in some spots sound awkward. For the most part,the book Dragonwings, was a good piece of literature with infromation on San Francisco. The weak interchanges are few which makes this a valuable addition to the literature world.

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Summary: powerful, yet weak
Review: I believe the book was written beautifully by the talented, Laurence Yep, but I know it could've been better. A bit more plot and thought into this book would've made this a classic.

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Summary: good
Review: Dragonwings is a powerful book, that I had to do for a novel study. I, at first thought it was ridiculous, but once I got into it, the characters develloped and the plot thickened. It is well written and well discribed. I liked it!

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Summary: Dragonwings is a excellent Middle Level Read
Review: This book was well written and Yep kept using previous information to help you think about what was going on in the present. A very good read for Middle Graders

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Summary: A book that is sure to open your eyes.
Review: Although I was required to read it, I found this book interesting and educating. The author portrays the feelings of the characters so that you yourself can feel what they are going through. I learned a lot from the book about how the Chinese were treated when they first came to America. I did not, however, find it a tedious way to learn. The Chinese, brought to America and made to build the railroads, were treated much like slaves. The book centers around a young boy whose father, whom he has never met, works and lives in America. The boy travels across the ocean, trusting his father's judgement. I learned much about the devasting earthquake in San Francisco, where on that day houses were shaken from their positions, and fires raged through the town. The book shows how badly and rudely the Chinese were treated, and how inconsiderate the Americans were at that time. I really felt for the characters in the book, who were just trying to get along in a strange new land. I really recommend the book for those who either have an interest in history and the Chinese, or those who just want to read a good book

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Summary: I recomend to read this book
Review: I really enjoyed reading "Dragonwings", the Laurence Yep novel, even though he use a lot of Chinese stereotypes, and some themes are related to opium consume, and prostitution. It is still a very good book for every age, because these themes are touching just by the side. And he doesn't encourage anybody to consume drugs or to be a prostitute in his book. It is amazing how Yep made up a fantastic story based on one fact about a Chinese immigrant who build a biplane, fact that he had read in a newspaper. It is very interesting to know how a child from China had seeing America and American People. In my opinion the most important thing in this novel is the worth that the author concedes to the family issue, because he states that the family values are very important. Family is always present from the beginning to the end. Family is the opening, the body, and the end of this novel

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Summary: I am oppressed by horrible literature.
Review: This book's storyline appeared interesting when I looked at the back of the book and I was eager to read it for the class assignment. Since I am Asian, I know how hard it is to find Asians as the hero/heroine. As I was reading it, many racial comments in the book disturbed me. For example, the words " Ching-Chong Chinaman " came up a few times in the book, provoking my classmates to start staring at me and grin. Of course, I was too busy trying to understand the details, to tell them what they deserved at the time. Details are what make a story a story, but too many details just confuse the reader. Laurence Yep probably wrote this book, imagining what it would be like to be read by a non-asian reader. Even the 1000 times that the word "demon" popped up, seemed to bother me.

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Summary: A Good Book with too many details
Review: To be nice, I'll say Dragonwings was a very touching story. But I was forced to read it, because it was a class assignment. The problem is the : beginning, middle, and end. The beginning made no sense. THe middle just bored me. THe ending left me a few questions... " WHAT? ITS ENDING LIKE THAT? BUT WHAT ABOUT.... " If there was supposed to be a point in this book, either I missed it, or there isnt any except for the fact that Laurence YEp read an article and was so touched by it, he decided to make an horrible, FAKE story out of an INCREDIBLE story about an Asian individual ( Im Asian and I know how hard it is to find stories with Asians as the hero/heroine ) As for the excrutiatingly painfully LONG details, I would bet all my money that Laurence Yep only wrote them to make up for the bad storyline.