Did you want to go to America?

Pop: Sure. I didnÕt have a choice. My father said I had to go. So I went.

Were you sad when you left your village?

Pop: Maybe a little . . . well, maybe a lot.

Ten-year-old Gim Lew Yep knows that he must leave his home in China and travel to America with the father who is a stranger to him. Gim Lew doesnÕt want to leave behind everything that heÕs ever known. But he is even more scared of disappointing his father. He uses his left hand, rather than the ÒcorrectÓ right hand; he stutters; and most of all, he worries about not passing the strict immigration test administered at Angel Island.

The DragonÕs Child is a touching portrait of a father and son and their unforgettable journey from China to the land of the Golden Mountain. It is based on actual conversations between two-time Newbery Honor author Laurence Yep and his father and on research on his familyÕs immigration history by his niece, Dr. Kathleen Yep.