Sea Glass

Golden Mountain Chronicles #8

by Laurence Yep

When Craig Chin's family moves from San Francisco to small-town Concepcion, California, he thinks he'll never fit in. And his father won't stop pushing him to succeed in sports -- a hopeless goal. But his life begins to change when odd old Uncle Quail shows him a secret sea garden. This new entry in the Golden Mountain Chronicles features the same stunning design as the previous books in the series, including Newbery Honor Books Dragonwings and Dragon's Gate. Award-winning author Laurence Yep has written a highly readable historical novel that hints at the complex experience of the children and grandchildren of the Chinese immigrant generation.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Childrens, Middle Grade, Juvenile, Novels

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1979

About the author

Born 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.

Reviews

[Lisa Montgomery · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the tale of a Chinese youth who does not measure up to his father's expectations because he is too fat to be an All-American sports hero.
His size earns him the ridicule of others. He is also considered a "white demon" by the older Chinese in the neighborhood in which he lives.
Only with the sensitivity and the insights of his "Uncle" Quail, does the youth find his own self-esteem.
The author does an excellent joy of mixing up the themes of generations, ethnicity and family expectations with self-worth.

[Audrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5, kind of felt thin on character development for Yep

[Sarah Sammis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Over the summer I read a pair of novels by Laurence Yep: Child of the Owl and Sea Glass. Both deal with the Asian-American experience from the point of view of second generation children.

Craig Chin was happy living in San Francisco's China town. Now that his family has moved to Conception, California he's having a hard time fitting in. His father thinks sports are the way for him to prove himself to the other kids but he's just not good enough or interested enough. Chin finds an unlikely mentor with Uncle Quail who has a sea shack.

Although I enjoyed the scenes with Uncle Quail, the scenes between Craig and his father seemed forced. The narrative gets hung up on the endless scenes of Craig failing at yet another athletic endeavor. The heart of the story: Craig's swim lessons at the cove and his awkward truce with the bohemian bully come too late in the novel to make as compelling a story as Child of the Owl.

[Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a touching story of a boy who doesn't fit in anywhere. He's too American to be Chinese and too Chinese to be American so he doesn't have friends. He can't be the sports star his father wants him to be so that he can fit in, and he ends up feeling like there is no place for him anywhere. He finds some peace and solace with an elderly Chinese man who shows him the wonders of the ocean and tide pools. Having said all that, I didn't love it because the language was bad. I've noticed that the books in this series written in the 1970's have language and the books written later (that fit into earlier time periods in the series) don't have language. What is with that? Was there a gritty realism phase running through children's lit during the 70's that required many authors I can think of to add language? It was jarring in this story that was otherwise deep and thought-provoking.

[Nathan · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Sea Glass" has realism down cold. These characters are authentic, their actions are authentic, their speech is authentic. I wish Laurence Yep had placed them in a more interesting and consequential plot. Nothing happens in this book. Nice try, but this could have used a rewrite.

[Alfredo Pineda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book can inspire people of what they can accomplish on.