Dragonwings

Written by: Laurence Yep

First line: Ever since I can remember, I had wanted to know about the Land of the Golden Mountain, but my mother never wanted to talk about it.

Why you should read this book: Yep set out to revise the American narrative of Chinese-American in the earliest part of the twentieth century, and did so by creating an intelligent, thoughtful, and realistic narrator, giving him an interesting family, and setting him down in an exciting time and place. Moon Shadow comes to America to meet the father he has never known, and to work for the company comprised of his male relatives, everything he's always wanted to do. Meanwhile, his father has his own dream, one that inspires the imagination but sets him apart from the rest of the world, and Moon Shadow's adolescence takes place against a backdrop of impossible innovation.

Why you shouldn't read this book: Your dreams are so much more important to you than your family.