Jim Ugly, by Sid Fleischman; HarperTrophy (reprint edition): New York, 2oo3; $6.99 If you like mysteries and suspense/adventure books, then Jim Ugly is the book for you! Twelve-year-old Jake Bannock’s father, Sam, is dead. He was buried in a pine wood coffin with ice inside to keep him cool and comfortable. But Jake has heard about a fortune in diamonds and begins to wonder if his father is really dead or just hiding out somewhere. So Jake sets out with his only inheritance, a wolf-like tracking dog named Jim Ugly, to find his father and finally learn the secrets his father had kept hidden for so long. As Jake makes his way through the barren California desert on a locomotive train, he meets many helpful and some hindering characters. Some of these characters are: the prim, prissy and emotional Wilhelmina, Sam’s secret fiancée, D.D. Skeats, the self-proclaimed assassin who almost always misses his target, the traveling, boisterous “Arizona girl” performer, and the nasty Cornelius, the man who hired D.D. Skeats to kill Sam Bannock. One exciting part of Jim Ugly is when Jake goes to the doctor who supposedly took the bullet out of his father’s shoulder, but only found a bullet D.D. Skeats had fired at his foot while aiming for his father. This made Jake’s suspicions about his father not being dead even more likely After Jim Ugly sniffs a shirt of Sam Bannock’s, he tears across town to the railroad, Jake sprinting behind the whole way, thinking to himself, “Dad’s not dead! Dad’s not dead!” Thus begins a quest across miles and miles of dry, dusty terrain, over tall mountains and through many perilous areas of California, dodging an old Confederate assassin the whole way. The big idea of this book is that people may change their opinion about others in time, like Jake did after his travels and getting to know Wilhelmina. After his father says, “She’s not much like your mother, is she, Jake?” Jake answers by saying, “Nope, but I like her.” Another big idea in the book is, never give up hope. Jake demonstrates this by never giving up in the search for his father. This quality is great in a human. This book triggered many emotions in me. I was angry toward Jake’s father for not telling Jake that he was getting remarried. I felt sympathetic toward Jake because he was the victim of the story So many secrets were kept from him, even the one about his father! Also, he was constantly being tailed by D.D. Skeats, and to top it all off he was getting a new mother, and he didn’t know! This book would be great for people ages nine and up who like looking for clues and solving mysteries. I hope you, like me, find this book interesting and lots of fun. Alec Ahrens, 11Terrace Park, Ohio
Book-Reviews
Good Fortune, My Journey to Gold Mountain
Good Fortune, My Journey to Gold Mountain, by Li Keng Wong; Peachtree Publishers: Atlanta, Georgia, 2006; $14.95 Have you ever read a book that grasps you from the first page and won’t let go until you have finished reading it? Good Fortune, My journey to Gold Mountain, is one of them. You will feel like you are not in this world. You will feel as if you are experiencing Li Keng’s world, and that you are part of the story you read at that moment. I stayed up late to read and was enchanted by what I read. Li Keng Gee, who’s seven years old in the beginning, and who tells the story, is also the author—she is now Li Keng Wong. Mama, Li Hong (Li Keng’s older sister), Lai Wah (their youngest sister) and Li Keng herself, all go to Gold Mountain, what the Chinese called America, on board the SS Hoover to live with Baba. But before they, and the other women as well, are allowed to enter America, they are interrogated by the officials. They are questioned because the American government doesn’t want tons of poor people coming to America, taking up space, and not having enough money to support themselves. If you don’t get all the answers right, you are deported back to China. Also, a Chinese laborer isn’t allowed to bring his wife into the states, so what does Mama do to get to California? She pretends to be Baba’s sister, and so her three daughters start calling Mama “Yee.” Yee means Aunt in Chinese. Once they are in America, they join Baba in his store —an illegal lottery business. Since gambling is against the law, the owners disguise their stores by making them look like clothing stores for example. But every so often, the police find out about a lottery store, and they arrest the owner. This happens to Baba a few times, but he is out of jail soon. Baba’s store is large-ish, so he plans to have the family live there instead of renting another place. Mama gives birth to Nellie, their first child born in America. Then Leslie and Florence come into the family as well. All times, the whole family prays to Quan Yin, the Chinese goddess of Mercy, that she will grant their family a boy Giving birth to a boy means two things: one, the son will carry the family name, and two, he and his wife will take care of his parents when they grow old. So it is good to have a son, and the Chinese culture still believes in it. When Mama gives birth to William, they are all happy to finally have a boy. The tradition of wanting a boy is still important in China because of the one-child policy I was born in China, and I don’t like the policy Even though China’s one-child policy is supposed to prevent overpopulation, I hate it that parents have to abandon their babies. This is common: if Chinese families give birth to a girl, they keep the girl and try for a son. If the next child is a girl (probably me), they abandon the newest baby in some busy place, and try again for a son. Some of the baby girls who are abandoned are adopted and come to America. Li Keng and I both came to America for a better life. Good Fortune is a great book! The words are beautifully woven together, and the way Wong shares her childhood in this book is amazing. I highly recommend it to all who are ages eight and up. I loved this book, and I hope you all do too. Mallory Xiaohe McFarland, 10New York, New York
Project Mulberry
Project Mulberry, by Linda Sue Park; Clarion Books: New York, 2oog; $16 “That’s great but what about here?” That’s the question I used to ask myself whenever my mom bragged about how well developed and strong and powerful Korea was. My parents were born and raised in Korea; I have lived in L.A. all my life. Often I wished that my parents would brag about America instead because that would be more useful to me. This past October, my mom borrowed books from the library, just as she does every two weeks or so. I left Project Mulberry at the bottom of the pile because it didn’t sound interesting and the cover looked dull. I didn’t even know what Mulberry meant. Finally, after I had read through the other books, I picked up Project Mulberry and started to read it. I read five pages the first day and the rest of the book the second day I was so fascinated by the story that even my mom and dad’s favorite Korean soap opera, blaring on the TV with its characters always crying and shouting and fighting, didn’t distract me. The main character of Project Mulberry, Julia Song, was in almost the exact same cultural situation as I was. I really wanted to figure out how she solved the problem of juggling two cultures. Julia Song, a seventh-grader who has just recently moved to Plainfield, Illinois, needs to find a project for the state fair. Julia’s Korean-born mom, whose own mom worked with silkworms, suggests a silkworm project. Patrick, Julia’s best friend, loves the idea but Julia thinks it is too Korean. She instead wants a more American project. Julia eventually gives in and throughout the book she gradually changes her attitude about the project, caring for it more and more. At the climax of the novel, Julia realizes she loves the silkworms and finds herself protecting them from being killed; the final step of the process requires the silkworms to be killed. Later, Patrick and Julia compromise and she allows Patrick and Julia’s mom to kill some of the silkworms for the project. Julia learns much more from this adventure than how to raise silkworms and make silk. When Julia decides to do the silkworm project, she accepts her heritage and stops fighting it. By the end of the story, Julia starts to ask questions about her family’s past and appreciates her background. I realized it was useless to deny my background because I can’t change it. When Julia finds herself unexpectedly enjoying the project, I thought, I can do that too. Now I understand that being Korean adds to instead of detracts from my American identity. Finally, I am proud of my parents’ bragging about Korea. Finally I have stopped asking myself rhetorical questions and have really started listening to learn about the land of my ancestors. For anyone who is struggling as I was to bridge more than one culture, Project Mulberry provides unique insights and an enjoyable read. Richard Chung, 13Los Angeles, California
