The Chinese American Family Album (American Family Albums) - Hardcover

Hoobler, Dorothy; Hoobler, Thomas

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 019509123X ISBN 13: 9780195091236

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1994

Synopsis

The Chinese American Family Album is a scrapbook of family letters and diary entries, official documents, newspaper articles, and excerpts from literature of the past and present--a personal remembrance of an extended family of Chinese immigrants and their descendants. As we read, we begin to know this family almost as well as our own. The letters written by the new immigrants to the folks left behind in China allow us to feel the ache of leaving home and family behind. Clippings from newspapers and personal memories tell of the pain and fear and prejudice in the new country. We learn about the building of the transcontinental railroad and how Chinese immigrants were the backbone of the work force, tailing long hours under the worst conditions. We see Chinatowns spring up wherever the immigrants landed, and we see how the traditions and culture of China were both preserved and altered as the immigrants became Americanized.
But we also share the joy of first sighting the new homeland. We follow families through the generations and see how they are living now and what they have brought to our country. We read about famous Chinese Americans who have risen to the top of their fields, such as athlete Michael Chang, author Amy Tan, musician Yo-Yo Ma, and Senator Hiram Fong. And we see wonderful faces--husbands alone in the new world, families reunited, new babies, grandparents. The unique, carefully researched photographs make the participants in the Chinese American experience real people who have an impact on our lives.
Thomas and Dorothy Hoobler's The Chinese American Family Album makes the past experiences of these immigrants--and those of their sons and daughters in all the generations since--as real and immediate as the stories told by a favorite grandmother. They bring us in, like an embrace, to the all-encompassing, ever-growing, multicultural family of Americans.

About this title

About the Author

About the Authors:
Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler have published more than 50 books for children and young adults. Their works have been honored by the Library of Congress, the New York Public Library, the National Council for the Social Studies, and the Society for School Librarians International. The live in New York City.

From School Library Journal

Grade 5 Up-This sourcebook on the Chinese immigrant experience is divided into six topics: the homeland, the voyage to America, arrival in America, first-generation life, the integration of successing generations, and Chinese Americans today. The authors introduce each chapter with a summary essay, then let the immigrants and their descendents speak for themselves in excerpts from oral reminiscences, written histories, and fiction spanning the years from the Gold Rush to the 1980s. Period photographs and drawings, maps, and sidebars enhance the text. The result resembles a well-organized, handsomely designed scrapbook. Many of the sidebars are devoted to famous Chinese Americans, from Anna May Wong to An Wang and Yo-Yo Ma. While the Hooblers are forthright in their description of the discrimination against Chinese Americans, past and present, they do not depict helpless victims, but vibrant and passionate human beings, devoted to their ancient civilization while trying to make their way in an alien and often hostile new world. Because it offers original source material, this title will complement and update Milton Meltzer's well-written The Chinese Americans (Crowell, 1980). A valuable resource for studies of immigration in general, and the Chinese Americans in particular.
Margaret A. Chang, North Adams State College, MA
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 019509123X
• ISBN 13: 9780195091236
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 128