Presenting Laurence Yep
Laurence Yep is noted for creating vivid and complex characters based on his own experiences.
Yep’s most famous work is Dragonwings. It has won several awards, including the Newbery Honor for 1976, the International Reading Association’s Children’s Book Award for 1976, and the American Library Association’s Notable Children’s Book Award for 1975 (Johnson-Feelings 353). The story starts at the turn of the century when Moon Shadow moves to America to live with his father who he has never met. Moon Shadow's father, Windrider, is an expert kite maker, but he works in a laundry in San Francisco's Chinatown. The men there are a close group. None of them has been allowed to bring his wife over to the U.S. and so they have become a family in themselves. The first night Moon Shadow is in America, Windrider tells him of a dream he had several years before that told him he must learn to fly in this lifetime. Windrider explains that this is his main goal in life, second only to bringing his wife to the U.S. Moon Shadow and Windrider live as happily as can be expected in a highly racist city for a while, but when Uncle's opium-addicted son beats Moon Shadow until he's unconscious, things get tense. Windrider confronts Uncle's son and a group of his friends and in the fight kills a man. The two must leave Chinatown until the trouble has passed. They move into a white area, where Windrider gets a job as a handyman. It is dangerous for them to live in this area because Chinese-Americans are often killed in San Francisco at this time with no repercussions. Moon Shadow has to stay in the house when his father is away to avoid being hurt by the neighborhood boys. There are happy times though. The father and son become good friends with their landlord, Mrs. Whitlaw and her niece Robin. Moon Shadow often sits with them and exchanges stories of China for their stories of American life. Also, Windrider begins to experiment with models of airplanes so that he can master the basics of flight. When the 1906 earthquake hits, the family's world is shattered. Their home is destroyed and they must move to Golden Gate Park and camp out there until they can build a place to live. They reunite with the men from the laundry and together they all rebuild their business, but when the construction is finished, Moon Shadow and Windrider move across the Bay to Oakland so ...
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...d Sean is a sympathetic victim who matures over the course of the story”
E. Also, “Each of the three main characters is marked by a strong personality, so that dramatic tension stays high and general interaction between Skimmer and Thorn is lively”
F. Donald Kao says of Sea Glass, “Craig is not a star, yet he is a full human being who strives only for those things that make sense” and “Yep effectively counters many of the rigid race, sex and age biases that exist in other books”
G. Jack Forman stated about Sea Glass, “The first person narrative is sensitive and perceptive”
H. Donna E. Norton stated, “The characters [of Dragonwings] are strong people who retain their values and respect for their heritage while adjusting to a new country”
V. Conclusion
A. Has overcome many hardships and has used his experiences to create vivid and complex characters
B. Many critics have given praise to Yep for his uncanny ability to create excellent characters
C. Yep gained much insight from his surroundings because his childhood was in a society that was nothing like his culture
D. Yep’s creation of many emotional and distinct characters can be attributed to his childhood explorations of alienation
...glass' tumultuous Atlantic crossing on a ship full of slave-owners, his exploits as a traveling lecturer in England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, and the "many dear friends" abroad who collaborate to purchase Douglass's freedom from Thomas Auld in 1846 [21]. I understand he does not want to publish his escape for fear others will get caught but it was still very disappointing and ended the book blandly.
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a.) “He was two years younger than I was, but he was about fifty more times intelligent” (38).
person than he does about the actual personality of the person. In the story a
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Through all of his courage, he found what he was looking for. He dug deep and went to the extremes that were not normal to himself. All of his work leads to his dynamic characteristics.
A. At the beginning the boy’s believe that if they have rules and follow them that they will be okay and get rescued.
D. it is very difficult to lead people to construct memories of events that never happened.
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A. Listening to their story might give you a better understanding of what kind of lives these people endure.
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a. What he or she intended to write should not be part of the formula that critics