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Month > May 2006
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May 2006
Dragonwings
by Laurence Yep
“It was thirteen days after the Feast of Pure Brightness
that the earthquake hit. Just a little after five A.M., demon
time, I had gotten dressed and gone out to the pump to get some
water. The morning was filled with that soft, gentle twilight
of spring, when everything is filled with soft, dreamy colors
and shapes; so when the earthquake hit, I did not believe it at
first. It seemed like a nightmare where everything you take to
be the rock-hard, solid basis for reality becomes unreal.”
Wood and stone and brick and the very earth became fluidlike.
The pail beneath the pump jumped and rattled like a spider dancing
on a hot stove. The ground deliberately seemed to slide right
out from under me. I landed on my back hard enough to drive the
wind from my lungs. The whole world had become unglued. Our stable
and Miss Whitlaw’s house and the tenements to either side
heaved and bobbed up and down, riding the ground like ships on
a heavy sea. Down the alley mouth, I could see the cobblestone
street undulate and twist like a red-backed snake.
On that terrifying morning, April 18, 1906 when San Francisco
began to mightily heave and shake, Moon Shadow’s world was
turned upside down. Three years earlier, eight-year-old Moon Shadow
made the arduous Pacific crossing from China to California to be
with his father, Windrider. “The Land of Gold Mountains,”
the term the Chinese used to describe California, was a place of
great opportunity and potential riches - especially for the lucky
ones. Moon Shadow’s dad was a hardworking and an ingenious
person. He owned a successful laundry but he had a big dream …
he wanted to build a flying machine. Moon Shadow recounts their
problems with prejudice and racism from the white majority as well
as the kindness and encouragement of uncles and cousins. After the
devastating earthquake, Windrider and Moon Shadow are forced to
move from the safety and protection of Chinatown to relocate across
the bay in the city of Oakland. They find support and friendship
from their new landlady, Miss Whitlaw. Getting financial support
from a wealthy Chinese businessman, Windrider and his son get their
repair business established. With their business up and running,
they turn their attention to pursuit their shared dream –
the making of a flying machine.
This synopsis was written by a San José Public Library
librarian
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This page last updated June 11, 2008 by the Web Team
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