China's Bravest Girl: The Legened of Hua Mu Lan by Charlie Chin; Illustrated by Tomie Arai

Chin, C. (1993). China’s bravest girl:The legend of Hua Mu Lan (T. Arai, Illustrator, W. X. Chu, Trans.). San Francisco, CA: Children’s Book Press.

Summary: This is the story of Hua Mu Lan, the warrior who pretended to be a man and was a hero in the war protecting China against her invaders. Here it is written in verse.

Review: Beautiful pictures and verse makes this story come alive.

Diversity: This is a Chinese folktale.

Suggestions for Teachers: This book could be a read aloud when discussing verse or heroes. It would do nicely to contrast with the princess phenomenon.

Reading Level:

1. Quantitative: Lexile 420-820L, ATOS Book Level 2.75-5.14, Flesh-Kincaid 1.98-5.34, 3.53-6.13RMM
2. Qualitative: This text is moderately complex. It is told chronologically. It is written in verse with an ABCB pattern that students will enjoy hearing. Many students will have background of this story from the Disney film version Mulan.  
3. Content Areas: English Language Arts, History

Common Core State Standards:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.2
Recount stories, including fables and folktales from diverse cultures, and determine their central message, lesson, or moral.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.3
Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.5
Describe the overall structure of a story, including describing how the beginning introduces the story and the ending concludes the action.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.6
Acknowledge differences in the points of view of characters, including by speaking in a different voice for each character when reading dialogue aloud.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.9
Compare and contrast two or more versions of the same story (e.g., Cinderella stories) by different authors or from different cultures.

Relevant Links: Interview with Charlie Chin

Subjects/Themes: women, China, legends

Awards: N/A

Series Information: N/A

Dragon's Gate by Laurence Yep

    

Yep, L. (1993). Golden mountain chronicles (1867): Dragon's gate. New York, NY: Harper Collins.

Summary: Fourteen-year-old Otter has to leave his home in China fast to avoid danger. He joins his Uncle Foxfire in America working on the transcontinental railroad. He realizes the visions of America, the land of golden mountains, were false as he, like the rest of the Chinese including Uncle Foxfire who is renowned like a king in China, are treated like slaves. Yep details the hard work and horrendous working conditions of chiseling a tunnel through the Sierra Nevada during the snowy winter. This is a story of friendship, family and action under oppression.

Review: Yep fills a void that is often skimmed over in elementary classrooms. He is honoring the hard work of Chinese Americans and this tale, similar to Paulsen's Hatchet, has the suspense and drama to keep students hooked, especially our boys.

Suggestions for Teachers: Have students read this book with a CA history unit. Compare it with expository texts and primary source documents about the construction of the transcontinental railroad. Or use this text with a unit on immigration and immigrant experiences in America.

Reading Level:

1. Quantitative: Lexile 730L, ATOS Book Level 6.1, Flesh-Kincaid 5.4, Readability Grade Level 6.1, RMM 6.9
2. Qualitative: The text structure is slightly complex, but overall the plot line is chronological. Language conventions are moderately complex as they are largely explicit and easy to understand. Vocabulary is mostly familiar and conversational and sentence structure has some complex constructions but is primarily simple. The theme is very complex as it is slowly revealed over the course of the work. Knowledge of China and California in the 1860's would be helpful as well as some knowledge of Chinese traditions and cultural customs, but overall Yep makes Chinese cultural practices come alive for the reader.

Content Areas: English, Social Studies

Common Core State Standards:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.1
Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.2
Determine a theme or central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through particular details; provide a summary of the text distinct from personal opinions or judgments.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.3
Describe how a particular story's or drama's plot unfolds in a series of episodes as well as how the characters respond or change as the plot moves toward a resolution.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.4
Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of a specific word choice on meaning and tone

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.5
Analyze how a particular sentence, chapter, scene, or stanza fits into the overall structure of a text and contributes to the development of the theme, setting, or plot.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.6
Explain how an author develops the point of view of the narrator or speaker in a text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.9
Compare and contrast texts in different forms or genres (e.g., stories and poems; historical novels and fantasy stories) in terms of their approaches to similar themes and topics.

Relevant links: Scholastic, Harper Collins study guide, Teaching Books, Teaching Multicultural Literature

Subjects/Themes: survival, transcontinental railroad, California history, Chinese immigration, family, friendship, legacy

Awards: Newbery Honor

Series Information: Gold Mountain Chronicles