roshk99's review against another edition
2.0
Historical fiction about a Chinese boy during the Industrial Revolution/Railroad Building time period, not impressive
zeydejd's review against another edition
3.0
altogether an okay book. the writing itself was a bit amateur, or at least middle school-level, especially the dialogue. that was almost painful. the story itself though is what really matters in this novel, as it takes the history of the transcontinental railroad, one of the greatest american achievements, often connected in american history classes with the concept of manifest destiny, and tells the story of the many chinese immigrants who suffered brutal conditions to make it happen.
dctigue's review against another edition
4.0
This is a book that a student would not pick up, but I could recommend. Good historical fiction.
redraven01's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
serberr's review against another edition
5.0
This book will always hold a special place in my heart as the first 100+ page book I ever read. It introduced my 8 year old self to a completely unfamiliar area of history, and I absorbed the entire thing in only a day. Must re-read.
izzieee's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
maddie_c's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I read this with my middle school students as a literature tutor. Highly recommend as a historical and literary fiction! We had plenty of great discussions about themes like “follower vs leader”, “us vs them”, “loss”, and “rising to the occasion”.
jshettel's review against another edition
4.0
I'm going with four stars mostly because I didn't read the other books in the series. (Didn't even realize it WAS a series until I had to read this one for a class.) A strong choice for multicultural literature - themes of social justice, race, power, but also friendship and a bit of "hero's journey" to round it all out. Learned a bit about the building of the railroad as well.
lizziekam's review against another edition
3.0
I read this because it was a choice on my son's required-reading list. I can't say I enjoyed it much or could really recommend it but it was informative. The main character is Otter, who lives in the mid-1800s in China. His father and uncle have emigrated to America to work on the railroads, and are the richest men in the village, treated like kings when they come home occasionally to visit. However, when events conspire to send Otter to America, he find that conditions for Chinese working on the railroads are awful. The book then spends many, many claustrophobic pages locked inside a mountain in the Sierras as the Chinese chip out a tunnel.
This book must have been assigned reading because it is an award-winning YA historical fiction. However, it is smack in the middle of a series, so I think this reader missed quite a bit of the development of the characters and setting. While the plot of the novel is stand-alone, I think this might have been a more rewarding reading experience if readers were more immersed in the story of generations of Chinese that Yep is building in this series.
This book must have been assigned reading because it is an award-winning YA historical fiction. However, it is smack in the middle of a series, so I think this reader missed quite a bit of the development of the characters and setting. While the plot of the novel is stand-alone, I think this might have been a more rewarding reading experience if readers were more immersed in the story of generations of Chinese that Yep is building in this series.
elizabethreads98's review against another edition
3.0
*read for class
Such an important story, but it's meant for a much younger reading level and I found it quite hard to get into.
Such an important story, but it's meant for a much younger reading level and I found it quite hard to get into.