This lesson provides a summary and analysis of how laurence yeps 1975 novel dragonwings, a work of historical fiction about a chineseamerican father and son living in san francisco in the. Dragonwings novel elements chart by cline creations tpt. Aimed at newly independent readers ages 57, this book series is full of fun and adventure and will boost reader confidence and stamina with the pastpaced plot and highinterest content. The rising action is moon shadow and his father, windrider facing challenges while surviving san francisco. There is a poignant section in the novel where moon shadow must pass inspection on angel. He specifies what he means by tang as the dynasty that ruled from 618 to 907 a. Laurence yep closes the book with an afterword that speaks of the true story of fung joe guey on which dragonwings is based. They face racism and a strong earthquake that shatters the progress they made while in the city.
It inaugurated the golden mountain chronicles below and it is the fifth chronicle in narrative sequence among ten published as of 2012. It is a historical fiction, and based very loosely on the true life a chinese inventor and aviator who lived in san francisco in the early 1900s. When moon shadow is 9 years old he goes to america with an uncle and meets his father who gives him a beautiful gift, a kite. He lives with his mother and grandmother in china, while his father works in the land of the demons, which is really the land of the americans. Dragonwings is a childrens historical novel by chineseamerican author laurence yep, first. What is the rising action in the book dragonwings answers.
The dragonwings chapter summaries chapter of this dragonwings study guide course is the most efficient way to study the plot arcs and character developments from each chapter in the book. The book is filled with wonderful characters, dialog, and life lessons. He tells the story of the cowherd and the spinning maid and misses his wife terribly. Windrider, his father, sends for moon shadow to come to america and live with him. I homeschool my kids and they did not like the book and neither did i. Moon shadow, for example, is an extremely disciplined kid who consistently looks out for his dads best interest over his own. Dragonwings printables, classroom activities, teacher. Analyze and explain how the author developed the theme over the course of the novel through the characters and plot. This novel tells the story of moon shadows decision to leave the. When moon shadow leaves his mother in china to come live in the united states with his previously unknown. We readers follow the travels of moon shadow from his family farm in the middle kingdom to the companys building in the tang peoples village in san francisco and finally to miss whitlaws stable. Main characters the main characters in dragonwings is moon shadow, his father windrider, uncle brightstar, the chef white deer, lefty the poet, and hand clap who was known as the exaggerator of their household.
Throughout the novel we see characters acting in generous ways. Moon shadow accompanies a relative to america when he is nine and is reunited with his father, receiving a gift from him. Supersummary, a modern alternative to sparknotes and cliffsnotes, offers highquality study guides that feature detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, quotes, and essay topics. Newbery honor book dragonwings by lawrence yep takes readers on an adventurefilled journey across the world. Dragonwings is a novel of the asian community of the early 1900s and the spirit that kept them from giving up their dreams. Using the text to cite some support, write a compare. In this lesson, you will learn about the major events that take place in the tenth chapter of laurence yeps dragonwings. The main characters are moon shadow a young tang child, his father windrider, and black dog shows up throughout the story. The story of moon shadow who grows up in china having never known his father. Eventually moon sends a letter to the wright brothers and gets a response and a diagram to make a plane and winders dream is made real. Most is fictional as very little is known about the real fung joe guey. Uncle bright star gave moon shadow a gift, it was a small wood craving of a monkey, it took a long time and effort to create and meant a great deal to moon shadow as it would have taken uncle a long time to make.
It made the community come together and help each other. The book is used in school classrooms and has been adapted as a play under its original title. Dragonwings is interesting to those students who have chinese heritage. Moon shadow has never met his father, who left to work in america, and he constantly pesters mother to tell stories about his dad, the master kitemaker. The first settlers of pern, how it is that man has come to pern, the reason and meaning of many of the names of the places of pern.
This set of lesson plans consists of approximately 120 pages of tests, essay questions, lessons, and other teaching materials. Also when the company comes back and pays their rent and help get dragonwings up the hill. Dragonwings is a historical novel by author laurence yep who won the newberry award. Literature lesson for dragonwings, by laurence yepchina. Though the narrator is afraid of what demons might say or do, he boards a ship with hand clap to san francisco. It inaugurated the golden mountain chronicles and it is the fifth chronicle in narrative sequence among ten published as of 2012. Moon shadow has never met his father who is currently working overseas in the land of the golden mountain. The san francisco earthquake of 1906, and the dragons child. Distribute the kwl chart printable to students or groups and ask students to list information about yep or dragonwings that they already know in the first column. He and moon shadow find hope in each other and the thought that they can build another dragonwings. In the beginning, all is strangeness to moon shadow as he leaves the middle kingdom to join his father in the land of the golden mountain. This chart is used in conjunction with the reading and teaching of the book dragonwings. Unlike black dog who has no dream, has nothing to look forward two, and is depressed, moon shadows dream keeps him going in the book. In this novel, moon shadow comes to america to be with his father, windrider, from their home in the middle kingdom.
Moon shadow announces to mother, grandmother, and hand clap that he wishes to go to father in america. Chapter 3 is dedicated to telling the story of how windrider got his name. Throughout the novel, there are various conflicts, some mild and some dangerous. This father and son have a dream of building a flying machine. Dec 17, 2010 the dragonwings study guide includes the following sections.
Laurence yeps most notable collection of works is the golden mountain chronicles, documenting the fictional young family from 1849 in china to 1995 in america. Moon shadow is eight years old by tang traditions and lives with his mother and grandmother in china. Plot summary chapters characters objectsplaces themes style quotes. Plot summary the story of moon shadow lee, a chinese immigrant who travels to san francisco to meet and live with his father. Be sure to use evidence from the beginning, middle, and end of the story to support your ideas. Quest, historical fiction, comingofage, childrens literature. Yep ends the book twice, really first in chapter 12 within the narrative of moon shadow, and second, from an outsidethestory level in the afterword. The dragonwings study guide includes the following sections. Asked in books and literature, authors, poets, and playwrights. Inspired by the story of a chinese immigrant who created a flying machine in 1909. Laurence yeps dragonwings is the story of a young chinese boy who travels to the united states to meet his father for the first time, exploring themes of race, family, and fear.
This onepage guide includes a plot summary and brief analysis of dragonwings by laurence yep. Laurence yep, the author of dragonwings, intervenes here to clarify some points. Moon shadows father meets the dragon king and learns that he was a dragon with healing powers in another. Distribute the plot sheet and conflict list printable. Moon shadow and windier are always getting their money stolen by black dog.
The plot of the book, dragonwings, by laurence yep is about a boy named moon shadow coming to america and struggling to live peacefully there while helping their family overseas. Identify a theme in dragonwings analyze and explain how the. This middle grade novel is an excellent choice for tween readers in grades 5 to 6, especially during homeschooling. Side 2 of the chart is a matching list of character descriptions for the characters listed in the book.
The author shares that the book was based on accounts of a young chinese flier, fung joe guey. The story revolves around a young tang chinese boy named moon shadow. Yep suggests that tang might be more accurately written tang afterword. Explore classroom activities, puzzles, teacher resources and enrichment pdfs for this book. Inspired by the account of a chinese immigrant who made a flying machine in 1909, laurence yeps historical novel beautifully portrays the rich traditions of the chinese. List some important ideas that dragonwings includes. Windrider reads aeronautical books to moon shadow every day for half an hour. Yep and dragonwings won the phoenix award from the childrens literature.
Evaluate chapters 1012 lesson plan, students will work in groups to write pages from a 1906 newspaper. With moon shadows help, windrider is willing to endure the mockery of the other chinese, the poverty, and longing for his own country to make his dream come true. Eventually handclap a friend of windrider is sent to bring moon to america the land of golden mountain so moon goes and meets his father and the other people that own the business with windrider. The first page will include information about the san francisco earthquake. The novel is dragonwings by laurence yep, but i simply didnt have time to read all of the book, so my answer so far is. In the book dragonwings the earth quack changed a few things. To save his son, windrider throws their savings at black dog.
One important question the book puts forth is, how can a person find a sense of belonging. My expectations were that it would have a good storyline and that it would be educational. Sevenyearold moon shadow lee lives and works on his family farm in china in 1903. Dragonwings by laurence yep scholastic books for kids. Moon shadow makes the decision himself to go to the united states. Jungle book the similarities between these books are that there kids who go live in a strange place like moon shadow, he went to go live with his father. Identify a theme in dragonwings analyze and explain how the author develops the theme over the course of the novel through the characters and plot be sure to use evidence from the beginning middle and end of the story to support your ideas. Plot the plot of the book, dragonwings, by laurence yep is about a boy named moon shadow coming to america and struggling to live peacefully there while helping their family overseas. He has won numerous awards for his work including the newbery medal honor book, the boston globehorn book award, jane addams childrens book award.
Two of the series are newbery honor books, or runnersup for the annual newbery medal. The main characters are moon shadow a young tang child, his father windrider, and black dog shows up. Dragonwings is the story of moon shadow, a chinese boy who comes to california in. Dragonwings is set in 1903 and follows the story of a boy named moon shadow lee who grows up in china without his father, who has gone to america to earn money.
This study guide consists of approximately 25 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of dragonwings. The book in which this essay is about is called dragonwings. Windrider is ready to fully commit to building his dream and creating a flying machine that works. Bright star and windrider are two very similar people, and yet they have some very notable and important differences. The characters in dragonwingsdemonstrate their sense of principles by helping others. While one group is reading the first two chapters of dragonwings independently, have the other group explore the asian pacific american heritage student activity. Part of the story is based on an actual event that took place in 1909 involving a young chinese flier named fung joe guey. But following his dream will not be easy for windrider or for moon shadow, and they will face many.
As moon shadow and his father struggle to survive in a hostile country, they somehow find time to focus on their dreams. Our storefront is currently closed, however, the turner family has generously offered to sell some dragonwings items on their beautiful, new online store. From april to may 1906, the novel follows the major changes after the san. Its the story of a chinese boy in the early 1900s who comes to america to live with his father. It was a good plot but hard to want to read consistency.
The story gives a fascinating look at the chinese culture both in the homeland of middle china, and the culture of families, groups, gangs and religion in chinatown. I used the books with older english language learners who have been in the american school system since the early grades. As the story progresses moon starts to learn about his father through his mother and the kites his father made. Boris is a warthog that lives with his parents and finds adventure in everyday life. With the semisuccessful flight of dragonwings, windriders dream and moon shadows dream for his father of flying is quenched.
His other books include dragonwings, dragons gate, shadow lord, child of the owl, the earth dragon awakes. Ask students to share what they know about laurence yep and other books he has written. Moon shadow talks with grandmother about the land of the golden mountain, learning about the murder of grandfather. The main setting is in america during the early 1900. Make sure students spend a majority of time on the information about angel island. It gives a vivid account of the chinese immigration to san francisco in the late nineteenth century couched in a narrative of hope and determination. This historical fiction is a heartwarming, entertaining, an informative story of a young boy who comes to america to live with the father he doesnt remember, during the early 1900s. Have students work in groups of four to complete the worksheet, answering question one as is, but changing question two by crossing out the phrase at the end. On a basic level, dragonwings is the story of moon shadows multiple moves.
As moon shadow and his father struggle to survive in a. The story begins when a man named hand clap comes to china to visit moon shadows family and then brings moon shadow back to america with him to meet. Those people are handclap, uncle brightstar, black dog, and white deer. Together, they embark on a mission to build an airplane, inspired by the true story of chinese immigrant fung joe guey in 1909. Its a fun way to keep your child entertained and engaged while not in the classroom. Without the rent and wagon money, windrider knows they must move, without dragonwings.
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