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Ribbons #3
Angelfish
Robin, a young ballet dancer who is half Chinese and half white, works in a fish store for Mr. Tsow, a brusque Chinese who accuses her of being a half-person and who harbors a bitter secret. Robin and her grandmother decide to help and end Mr. Tsow's nightmare.
216 pages, Hardcover
First published June 25, 2001
1 person is currently reading
126 people want to read
About the author
Laurence Yep
119 books295 followersBorn June 14, 1948 in San Francisco, California, Yep was the son of Thomas Gim Yep and Franche Lee Yep. Franche Lee, her family's youngest child, was born in Ohio and raised in West Virginia where her family owned a Chinese laundry. Yep's father, Thomas, was born in China and came to America at the age of ten where he lived, not in Chinatown, but with an Irish friend in a white neighborhood. After troubling times during the Depression, he was able to open a grocery store in an African-American neighborhood. Growing up in San Francisco, Yep felt alienated. He was in his own words his neighborhood's "all-purpose Asian" and did not feel he had a culture of his own. Joanne Ryder, a children's book author, and Yep met and became friends during college while she was his editor. They later married and now live in San Francisco.
Although not living in Chinatown, Yep commuted to a parochial bilingual school there. Other students at the school, according to Yep, labeled him a "dumbbell Chinese" because he spoke only English. During high school he faced the white American culture for the first time. However, it was while attending high school that he started writing for a science fiction magazine, being paid one cent a word for his efforts. After two years at Marquette University, Yep transferred to the University of California at Santa Cruz where he graduated in 1970 with a B.A. He continued on to earn a Ph.D. in English from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1975. Today as well as writing, he has taught writing and Asian American Studies at the University of California, Berkeley and Santa Barbara.
Although not living in Chinatown, Yep commuted to a parochial bilingual school there. Other students at the school, according to Yep, labeled him a "dumbbell Chinese" because he spoke only English. During high school he faced the white American culture for the first time. However, it was while attending high school that he started writing for a science fiction magazine, being paid one cent a word for his efforts. After two years at Marquette University, Yep transferred to the University of California at Santa Cruz where he graduated in 1970 with a B.A. He continued on to earn a Ph.D. in English from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1975. Today as well as writing, he has taught writing and Asian American Studies at the University of California, Berkeley and Santa Barbara.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
June 2, 2022
4.3
This one crept up on me. From page 1, I knew it was going to be good enough to continue reading, but I didn't realize that I'd want to keep reading and not put it down.
Lots of positive messages -- dedication, friendship & family, Chinese culture, fish as pets, ... all good people.
Comparisons with Beauty & the Beast were effective.
To date, my favorite of Yep's books.
This one crept up on me. From page 1, I knew it was going to be good enough to continue reading, but I didn't realize that I'd want to keep reading and not put it down.
Lots of positive messages -- dedication, friendship & family, Chinese culture, fish as pets, ... all good people.
Comparisons with Beauty & the Beast were effective.
To date, my favorite of Yep's books.
May 30, 2017
This book was written by one of my longtime favorite authors, Laurence Yep. It centers around the main character, a young girl that is half-Chinese and half-White. Like Yep's other books, this was another fun read that correlates ties between Chinese and American culture with the use of a multitude of analogies. This is a book for those that are fascinated by stories told from a youth's perspective or interested in understanding the life of someone growing up as a Chinese-American.
September 2, 2019
A cute story about an intergenerational friendship. Yep addresses some interesting themes like the conflict between duty to family and one's own desires through a likeable and authentically Chinese-American heroine.
August 12, 2011
The young teen-aged* Robin would seem a prime target for having an unsavory boyfriend who needs saving, mama! but for the character of Mr. Tsow. His cryptic statements, his unrepentant bigotry and certainty is intriguing; and he isn’t easily dismissed as not worth her trouble. That Robin’s maternal grandmother has come to America and provokes a desire in Robin to learn about her Chinese heritage is another. Part of understanding where Mr. Tsow is coming from is to understand his past. The grandmother would help Robin navigate these waters, providing a story of her own and physical evidence that old wounds still haunt the present.
Angelfish is Juvenile Fiction and has its audience in mind. The prose are not looking for the literateur, just clean straightforward storytelling. I cannot guess on the transparency in some of the plot, but I am guessing that most Young Readers will figure out pretty early on that when the limping Mr. Tsow talks about his friend the dancer, he is actually speaking about himself. Robin stays one step denser and another step clumsier to allow for revelation, or does the author have a surprise in mind? Near the end of the jacket copy, it reads, “To their horror, they discover that he was a victim of the Chinese Cultural Revolution.” When the Chinese Cultural Revolution is mentioned for the first time, Robin doesn’t truly understand the implications, and I am guessing most readers won’t either. It is to their’s and the Reader’s horror when you discover Mr. Tsow’s victimization.
Robin is driven by curiosity at first, but she has a tender heart and great compassion for Mr. Tsow. By then we already known that she is a very loving individual. She is brave and determined, very focused on her craft; but still very much a growing up girl navigating the world. She is a strong female protagonist of not the most usual sort; in ways that Belle is. Laurence does a beautiful job with his use of Beauty and the Beast. And then there is his lovely metaphoric use of the Angelfish.
Set in San Francisco, Yep takes around the Richmond neighborhood and the Chinese-American cultural landscape. The feel is less educational as much as incidentally informational. You learn as Robin learns, of course, she is still discovering her heritage and how to negotiate her double culture. Two halves, a hybrid, Robin has to deal with bigotry and self-acceptance; with antiquated notions and contemporary ignorance.
For all the drama, there is humor. Robin’s ballet partner Thomas is comedic, as well as the caricatures of Auntie Ruby, and even Madame to some extent. Yep keeps a lighthearted and determinedly optimistic tone to off-set the dark intrigue surrounding Mr. Tsow; buoying the story in the kindness of the human heart and the hope of new beginnings, and families who fight to save their own.
I had thought to at least make it half-way before bed last night and ended up forcing myself to put the book down only a few chapters from the end for the sake of an early morning–Tsow was that compelling. 216 pages is a quick read and the writing isn’t hard, but the emotional content may be—Yep employs the perfect amount of gravity. I would recommend Angelfish to any Juvenile Fiction audience member, especially those interested in a not wholly-white protagonist, a diverse cast, and in cultural information and revelation. Yep is adept in writing about the world of Ballet, so do hand this to your resident ballerina as well. [was gratified to find those few years of N's ballet lessons came in handy.]
L @ omphaloskepsis
http://contemplatrix.wordpress.com/20...
Angelfish is Juvenile Fiction and has its audience in mind. The prose are not looking for the literateur, just clean straightforward storytelling. I cannot guess on the transparency in some of the plot, but I am guessing that most Young Readers will figure out pretty early on that when the limping Mr. Tsow talks about his friend the dancer, he is actually speaking about himself. Robin stays one step denser and another step clumsier to allow for revelation, or does the author have a surprise in mind? Near the end of the jacket copy, it reads, “To their horror, they discover that he was a victim of the Chinese Cultural Revolution.” When the Chinese Cultural Revolution is mentioned for the first time, Robin doesn’t truly understand the implications, and I am guessing most readers won’t either. It is to their’s and the Reader’s horror when you discover Mr. Tsow’s victimization.
Robin is driven by curiosity at first, but she has a tender heart and great compassion for Mr. Tsow. By then we already known that she is a very loving individual. She is brave and determined, very focused on her craft; but still very much a growing up girl navigating the world. She is a strong female protagonist of not the most usual sort; in ways that Belle is. Laurence does a beautiful job with his use of Beauty and the Beast. And then there is his lovely metaphoric use of the Angelfish.
Set in San Francisco, Yep takes around the Richmond neighborhood and the Chinese-American cultural landscape. The feel is less educational as much as incidentally informational. You learn as Robin learns, of course, she is still discovering her heritage and how to negotiate her double culture. Two halves, a hybrid, Robin has to deal with bigotry and self-acceptance; with antiquated notions and contemporary ignorance.
For all the drama, there is humor. Robin’s ballet partner Thomas is comedic, as well as the caricatures of Auntie Ruby, and even Madame to some extent. Yep keeps a lighthearted and determinedly optimistic tone to off-set the dark intrigue surrounding Mr. Tsow; buoying the story in the kindness of the human heart and the hope of new beginnings, and families who fight to save their own.
I had thought to at least make it half-way before bed last night and ended up forcing myself to put the book down only a few chapters from the end for the sake of an early morning–Tsow was that compelling. 216 pages is a quick read and the writing isn’t hard, but the emotional content may be—Yep employs the perfect amount of gravity. I would recommend Angelfish to any Juvenile Fiction audience member, especially those interested in a not wholly-white protagonist, a diverse cast, and in cultural information and revelation. Yep is adept in writing about the world of Ballet, so do hand this to your resident ballerina as well. [was gratified to find those few years of N's ballet lessons came in handy.]
L @ omphaloskepsis
http://contemplatrix.wordpress.com/20...
May 7, 2013
Yep, L. (2001). Angelfish. New York, New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons.
Robin is a tween/teen (I don’t think Yep states how old she is), who is a half-Chinese, half-White ballerina. After leaving practice one day, she swings her bag around to hit her partner Thomas, misses, and breaks the window of the Dragon King fish store. The owner, Mr. Tsow, tells her that she can work off the amount it would take to replace the window. He’s not just grumpy, but insulting and condescending to Robin, calling her names like “bun head” and saying that she is only a half person because she is not full Chinese nor full White. She knows she must bite her tongue because she has to pay off her debt and she doesn’t want her parents to know about it, nor ask her grandmother for the money. She wonders why he acts so mean; she has seen him act nice to some customers. She then asks around and with her grandmother’s help, discovers that Mr. Cao (his name was transliterated incorrectly from the Chinese character) was a famous ballet dancer in China during the Cultural Revolution. Because dancing was known as a frivolous pursuit, he was condemned to “reeducation” on a country farm, and his toes were cut off. He has since been become bitter because he used to love ballet, but now he can’t practice it. Robin asks for his help in putting on her troupe’s stage production of Beauty and the Beast. He finally consents to do it, and the production is successful.
I liked the theme of Beauty and the Beast in the novel. I thought it was a nice parallel to draw upon as the story arcs of Robin and Mr. Cao grow. It seemed pretty apparent at the beginning that the reason for Mr. Cao being mean was because he was bitter at not being able to dance. I just was wondering how the story would unfold like the story of Beauty and the Beast. I also liked the parallel between the angelfish that Mr. Cao bred and loved, and Robin. Even though he made fun of Robin because she was half-Chinese and half-White, he had determined ways to breed his angelfish so that they’d be the most beautiful hybrids that they could possibly be. This would be a good story for tweens who are half and half, so to speak, so that they realize that being half is not a bad thing. It can be advantageous even, in navigating between two worlds.
Genre: realistic fiction
Reading level/interest level: Tween, Young Adult
Similar books/materials:
Reader’s advisory notes:
i. personal thoughts: I liked that the story revolves around the Beauty and the Beast theme, and that is set in San Francisco. It’s very contemporary, and I think a lot of tweens can relate to it.
ii. subjects/themes: identity, family, self-determination, dancing, art, Chinese Cultural Revolution, Chinese culture
iii. awards:
iv. series information: this is the third book in the series called Ribbons.
v. character names/description: Robin, teenaged girl, half-Chinese, half-White, who is a ballerina and earned the spot of Beauty in her troupe’s production of Beauty and the Beast; Mr. Tsow, owner of the Dragon King, was a famous ballet dancer; Robin’s grandmother, knows her Chinatown and Richmond District connections to help Robin find out Mr. Tsow’s past
vi. annotation: Robin must work with a certain Mr. Tsow to pay off her debt when she broke his storefront window. He is callous and condescending, and Robin must get to the bottom of why he acts that way.
Robin is a tween/teen (I don’t think Yep states how old she is), who is a half-Chinese, half-White ballerina. After leaving practice one day, she swings her bag around to hit her partner Thomas, misses, and breaks the window of the Dragon King fish store. The owner, Mr. Tsow, tells her that she can work off the amount it would take to replace the window. He’s not just grumpy, but insulting and condescending to Robin, calling her names like “bun head” and saying that she is only a half person because she is not full Chinese nor full White. She knows she must bite her tongue because she has to pay off her debt and she doesn’t want her parents to know about it, nor ask her grandmother for the money. She wonders why he acts so mean; she has seen him act nice to some customers. She then asks around and with her grandmother’s help, discovers that Mr. Cao (his name was transliterated incorrectly from the Chinese character) was a famous ballet dancer in China during the Cultural Revolution. Because dancing was known as a frivolous pursuit, he was condemned to “reeducation” on a country farm, and his toes were cut off. He has since been become bitter because he used to love ballet, but now he can’t practice it. Robin asks for his help in putting on her troupe’s stage production of Beauty and the Beast. He finally consents to do it, and the production is successful.
I liked the theme of Beauty and the Beast in the novel. I thought it was a nice parallel to draw upon as the story arcs of Robin and Mr. Cao grow. It seemed pretty apparent at the beginning that the reason for Mr. Cao being mean was because he was bitter at not being able to dance. I just was wondering how the story would unfold like the story of Beauty and the Beast. I also liked the parallel between the angelfish that Mr. Cao bred and loved, and Robin. Even though he made fun of Robin because she was half-Chinese and half-White, he had determined ways to breed his angelfish so that they’d be the most beautiful hybrids that they could possibly be. This would be a good story for tweens who are half and half, so to speak, so that they realize that being half is not a bad thing. It can be advantageous even, in navigating between two worlds.
Genre: realistic fiction
Reading level/interest level: Tween, Young Adult
Similar books/materials:
Reader’s advisory notes:
i. personal thoughts: I liked that the story revolves around the Beauty and the Beast theme, and that is set in San Francisco. It’s very contemporary, and I think a lot of tweens can relate to it.
ii. subjects/themes: identity, family, self-determination, dancing, art, Chinese Cultural Revolution, Chinese culture
iii. awards:
iv. series information: this is the third book in the series called Ribbons.
v. character names/description: Robin, teenaged girl, half-Chinese, half-White, who is a ballerina and earned the spot of Beauty in her troupe’s production of Beauty and the Beast; Mr. Tsow, owner of the Dragon King, was a famous ballet dancer; Robin’s grandmother, knows her Chinatown and Richmond District connections to help Robin find out Mr. Tsow’s past
vi. annotation: Robin must work with a certain Mr. Tsow to pay off her debt when she broke his storefront window. He is callous and condescending, and Robin must get to the bottom of why he acts that way.
January 21, 2014
Angelfish, by Lauren Yep is a book that everyone should read because you have to take the chance to learn all of the shocking news that is told throughout the book. Robin, one of the ballet dancers, got the role of “Beauty” from “Beauty and the Beast”, but just after getting this role, she encounters a big problem. After swinging her bag at her friend who insulted her, she accidentally broke the window of a fish store, named the Dragon King fish store and needed to pay the consequences by working in that store for three months to pay the fines. Mr. Tsow, also known later as Mr. Cao, the manager reluctantly takes her in and sets her to work. Even though Mr. Cao was very bitter and ignorant to Robin, such as calling her a half person, he did show love and consideration of his growing angelfish. Robin soon found out that he has a secret that kept him and still keeping him to be ignorant about ballet and music, Robin and her grandmother are searching to find out that secret and they soon do. When he was younger, Robin finds out that he was successful, but then, after a big incident, it changed his way of thinking for anything with dance, so Robin decides to help him find his “Beauty” not his “Beast”. I rated this book with 5 stars because the action and the story’s message really showed a lot about what to do and how to feel towards others. This book really stresses how people may feel about many hard things in their lives and maybe even how to overcome them. I would recommend this book to anyone, especially people who enjoy solving mysteries and reading about realistic fiction. This is one of the books that everyone must read and if you do read it, you will really enjoy every part of the book!
August 19, 2011
In Angelfish by Laurence Yep, Robin is half Chinese and feels out of place. She loves to dance ballet but she's going to spend her summer working a tropical fish store after she accidentally breaks the shops's front window. The biggest problem though, is the shop's owner is grumpy, old and fiercely traditional. He doesn't see a place in the world for a girl like Robin.
As with so many of Yep's novel, the central theme is the coming together of different generations. As they learn from each other a friendship grows hesitantly that benefits not just Robin and Mr. Tsow but the rest of the neighborhood.
Mr. Tsow has hidden, unused artist talents that he has given up to run the shop. His friendship with Robin gives him a chance to express himself by helping out at the dance studio and in other ways.
It took a little while to get into the book because of all the prejudice both on Robin's part and on Mr. Tsow's part. But as the novel unfolds the reasons behind these preconceived notions come to light. These are problems across not only generations and cultures but regions and languages (Cantonese vs Mandarin).
Despite the rough start where I wasn't sure I'd like or understand either Robin or Mr. Tsow, I ended up loving the book.
As with so many of Yep's novel, the central theme is the coming together of different generations. As they learn from each other a friendship grows hesitantly that benefits not just Robin and Mr. Tsow but the rest of the neighborhood.
Mr. Tsow has hidden, unused artist talents that he has given up to run the shop. His friendship with Robin gives him a chance to express himself by helping out at the dance studio and in other ways.
It took a little while to get into the book because of all the prejudice both on Robin's part and on Mr. Tsow's part. But as the novel unfolds the reasons behind these preconceived notions come to light. These are problems across not only generations and cultures but regions and languages (Cantonese vs Mandarin).
Despite the rough start where I wasn't sure I'd like or understand either Robin or Mr. Tsow, I ended up loving the book.
March 25, 2009
Robin is the main characters name in this book. I enjoyed reading this book because Robin is a ballet dancer and dance is something I like to do. The main idea of this story is that a young girl named Robin, accidently threw her book bag at a store window. This store just happend to belong to a retired ballet dancer, Mr. Cho. Nobody knows he was a famous ballet dancer though. Mr. Cho made Robin work at his store for three months to pay off the window.Robin and Mr. Cho didn't get along so good at the begging. As she spend every day with him she starts to learn more and more about him. For example, she learns that he is only kind to children and his baby angelfish. Later on she finds out that when he lived in china when he was a young boy, the red guard had threw him in the street and posted crimes on a sign and made him wear it. When in relality all he did was dance. They also cut off his toes so he couldn't dance any more.Robin also found out that he was a famous ballet dancer. Toward the end, Robin's ballet teacher, Madame, gets hurt. Robin asked Mr.cho to design the coustumes for the showcase they were gonna do. At first he didn't want to but then he agreed and he took on the whole prouduction.
October 23, 2012
RIght after being cast in the school play Beauty and the beast, a young girl breaks a pet shop window. The owner an old chinese man, makes her work off her debt through the store. The old crochety Chinese man calls her half a person because she is only half chinese. She soon discovers the reason for his bitterness towards life- his immigration from China to America.
This book was good because it incorporates the international aspects young adult lit rarely has. I learned a lot about the Asian culture and their take on China vs. America. This book drug on at some points but overall it was a good read.
This book was good because it incorporates the international aspects young adult lit rarely has. I learned a lot about the Asian culture and their take on China vs. America. This book drug on at some points but overall it was a good read.
February 1, 2016
This book is indescribably wonderful and will always have a special place in my heart. I read it while I was being simultaneously left out and bullied/picked on at a summer house in New York when I was 12.
It just transported me; it was the perfect book for that age group. It's about a girl who dances ballet and, after accidentally breaking a neighbour's window, has to become his pseudo-apprentice at a fish shop. It is *beautiful*. The kind of book that says "perfection".
It just transported me; it was the perfect book for that age group. It's about a girl who dances ballet and, after accidentally breaking a neighbour's window, has to become his pseudo-apprentice at a fish shop. It is *beautiful*. The kind of book that says "perfection".
March 6, 2013
This is an engaging illustration of Chinese American culture. The character's are described around the analogy of Beauty and the Beast and the historical context of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. I loved the character's interactions and the lessons learned about family, dreams and hope. Angelfish is a children's book, but well worth the read to anyone.
February 17, 2009
I love this book. i recommend it to people who like fast paced books. it shows never to judge a book by its cover. the main chratcer has to look deep through the fish shop's owners body to pull out his tue heart and soul which ebcomes helpful to her and her friends.
May 9, 2015
I read this because I was bored at the library today. It's actually the sequel to a book I enjoyed as a child, Ribbons. It's nothing remarkable. It's short, it's entertaining, it's a good and simple story. It's not bad, but I guess I'm not in the target audience anymore!
June 5, 2011
Some random book I checked out at my school's library...mostly because ballerinas are involved...it was acually pretty decent, though!
January 9, 2022
Wow. I did not think this book was this good. I really liked this. It was very interesting, and I also used to be a ballerina, so it connected to me very well.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews