Dragon's Gate

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Yep, Laurence. 1993. DRAGON’S GATE. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN 9780064404891

2. PLOT SUMMARY
Dragon’s Gate is about a young teenage Chinese boy named Otter who dreams about going to America. Otter wants to join his father and uncle who have been working with other Chinese workers to build a tunnel for the transcontinental railroad through the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Otter’s mother will not agree to Otter leaving China until he accidentally kills a Manchu. Otter does join his father, uncle and other Chinese workers and experiences the many hardships that come with it. The Chinese are treated harshly by the American bosses. They are made to work long days while suffering in the cold from hunger and exhaustion. Through these hardships, Otter becomes a strong young man and decides not to return to China. Instead he decides to stay in American and carry on the “Great Work.”

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Dragon’s Gate is set in China during 1867. Yep helps to lay the background by describing the Chinese Culture in the late 1800’s so the reader can have a better understanding of what has happened by saying, “Some two centuries ago, a barbarian tribe called the Manchus came thundering down from the north to conquer the Middle Kingdom, or China, as it’s called in the Land of the Golden Mountain. For two hundred years, our family has been trying to drive them off the dragon throne; and we have paid the price with our blood and our souls.” (Yep 5) This novel is a fast-paced and action packed. The characters are fully developed and interesting. The main theme is about Chinese immigrant’s adjustment to life in America. Readers will find that there are cross culture conflicts throughout. These conflicts include the conflict between the Chinese immigrants and the American bosses and between the Chinese immigrants themselves.
Readers will find there are symbols, dragons and demons talked about and seen through myths and folklores throughout the story. Readers also get a feel for the Chinese culture when Otter’s uncle tells him, “You listen to your parents and your parents listen to the clan elders and the clan elders obeyed the wishes of the dead- as tradition requires.” (Yep 35)
This is a book that anyone would enjoy reading. Even though this is a historical fiction it is based on the Chinese immigrants that did help build the transcontinental railroad in America. It is known that the working conditions were bad and the work was dangerous. Laurence Yep does include an Afterword at the back to show where he got his research information.

4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S)
Booklist: “This is an engaging survival-adventure story, a social history, a heroic quest.”

School Library Journal: “Yep uses the lively storytelling techniques of his ``Dragon'' fantasy-adventure novels to re-create a stirring historical event-here, the construction of the transcontinental railroad.”

Kirkus Review: “In a story enlivened with humor and heroism, Yep pays tribute to the immigrants who played such a vital role in our country's history.”

5. CONNECTION
Yep, Laurence. DRAGONWINGS. ISBN 9780064400855
Yep, Laurence. THE DRAGON’S CHILD. ISBN 9780060276928
Yep, Laurence. CHILD OF THE OWL. ISBN 9780064403368