Wednesday 9 May 2012

Tales from Gold Mountain: stories of the Chinese in the New World

Yee, Paul. Tales from Gold Mountain: stories of the Chinese in the New World, New York: Macmillan, 1989.
A collection of eight original unforgettable folktales is based on the real background of the Chinese immigration’s role in the gold rush and is accompanied with brilliant and dramatic illustrations by Simon. It reflects the gritty spirit of the Chinese, despite the bitterness of daily toils to overcome prejudice and adversity to build a unique place for themselves in North America. Each story is relatively short; only two or three pages, but each one discusses some important themes such as prejudice, racism, and dishonesty. These unpleasant topics don’t  look good for children’s stories, but the nature of the book is aimed to stimulate children’s courage to face  a variety of difficulties in their life. It combines an attention-grabbing and a descriptive writing style with a suspenseful tone. This is an excellent children’s book, which is suited to talking about and reading out loud, so that children can learn from the past.

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