SON OF VENICE
Son of Venice continues to story begun in Daughter of Xanadu, set in 13th century China. Emmajin begins her journey to the West, assigned by her grandfather, Khubilai Khan, to carry a letter to establish peace and cooperation between her homeland and Marco Polo’s. Marco is to travel in the same caravan. But a shaman’s warning of traitors and danger casts a shadow over their journey.
Emmajin wants to win respect as an ambassador of the Great Khan and also to enjoy her newfound love for Marco Polo. But her Mongol Army guards insist on keeping them apart. Plus, as she travels west with a huge army, she begins to doubt the Khan’s intentions. Does he really want her to make peace with the West?
Told in alternating points of view, this book follows the adventures of Emmajin and Marco Polo as they head west along the Silk Road. They face battles, intrigue, sinister plots, and unexpected challenges to their unconventional love.
THE SECRET VOICE OF GINA ZHANG
Jinna has always been shy, but when her family moves to America from China, she vows to be the new “Gina”—brave, confident, and quick to learn English. If only her throat would cooperate. Every time she tries to speak at school, no words come out. What is wrong with her?
Everyone is frustrated by Gina’s silence except Priscilla, a girl with her own need for understanding. Priscilla is as talkative as Gina is quiet. Gina wants to trust her, but can she let Priscilla in on her biggest secret, the private fairy-tale world inside her head?
Winner of the 2000 Pleasant T. Rowland Prize for Fiction for Girls.
Skping Stones Honor Away for multicultural books, 2001.
To read author’s comments and review excerpts, click here.
This is a 2011 reprint of a book published in 2000 by Pleasant Company Publications, the American Girl press. Ages 10 and up.
VOICES OF THE SECOND WAVE
In the 1800s, the “first wave” of Chinese immigrants came to the U.S. to search for gold and to build railroads, later forming Chinatowns and working in low-wage jobs. They braved the high seas to earn money to send back home to their families in poor rural areas of southern China.
The “second wave” of Chinese immigrants differs markedly from that first wave, and much less has been written about them. After the 1949 Communist victory, many Chinese students came to the U.S. seeking an education. Men and women, they came from all parts of China.
Most came to the U.S. for graduate school, and many studied science or engineering, the academic fields most valued back home in China. Their education and skills were badly needed in their homeland, and normally most would have returned home to help modernize China.
These Chinese students were cut off from the land of their birth, a lost generation. Since the U.S. offered attractive opportunities for employment, most stayed and became U.S. citizens. This was a windfall for America, a huge loss for China.
This ground-breaking book, Voice of the Second Wave: Chinese Americans in Seattle, is a compilation of first-person stories from 35 Chinese immigrants who came to the U.S. as part of this “second wave.” Honored by the Library of Congress, it has found a wide audience in Chinese-American communities and academic libraries.