This book was a great book that truly showed the reality of immigration, and the hard transitions of it. I think that this book would be a great informational book for children in grades 3-5. The book was really good, and I really enjoyed the illustrations as well as the message of the book. ( )

In this story, Jo Lee's family had fallen on hard times and he was being sent to live with his uncle on Golden Mountain in California. He was very upset to have to leave his mother and sister and go all alone to live with an unknown relative. He made the best of it for he knew if he saved enough money he could send for his mother an sister to join him. Throughout the book, Jo Lee sends messages to his mother by way of his dream spirit called Hun. The book ends with Jo Lee finally accepting and loving his new life and writing his mother to let her know how wonderful it will be when she is able to come. ( )

The story follows a young boy on his journey from china to California. The young boy travels with his uncle by boat and the journey begins to sadden the boy as he misses his mother. Yet, she gave him an orange branch to take with him and plant once he gets to his final destination. The story's central message is about cultural identity and that no matter how far you are from home you will never loose it. ( )

After the Gold Rush and the building of the transcontinental railroad, but before The Chinese Exclusion Act, many Chinese were still emigrating to California-Golden Mountain-to find work in agriculture or fishing. Elizabeth Partridge tells the story of a young Jo Lee whose village is suffering a second year of drought. In desperation, his mother dug up a hidden sack of gold coins that Jo Lee's dead father had sent from California years before. She had come to the difficult decision to send Jo Lee to San Francisco to live with his uncle and learn how to become a fisherman. Jo Lee does not want to leave his mother and sister, but if he goes there will be more rice for the others. Jo Lee receives two gifts from his mother that help him find solace and comfort on the voyage to San Francisco and the horrible homesickness he encounters there: branches of the family's orange trees and the reminder that Jo Lee's dream spirit would keep him connected to his family in China. Illustrator Aki Sogabe created beautiful freehand paper cuttings to accompany this story of the pioneers who came to California from China. ( )