This entire series is a wonderful way to learn history or teach it to adolescents. I find today's generations seem to recall more when they learn through other people (pop songs, celebrity gossip, etc.), so what better way to teach history than through someone else's perspective? Yes, "authentic" diaries would be "better", but would the language really hold the modern student's attention? Did the diary writer know what WOULD be important in the context of history? Probably not. ( )

"What kind of place can reach across a whole ocean and change someone that way?" muses Bright Intelligence, (normally referred to as Runt) about Gold Mountain-the Chinese name for California. Author Laurence Yep writes a compelling story of Chinese immigration in this "My Name is America" book. The reader finds out about the push factors (droughts, taxes, wars) that forced the Chinese to risk their lives on dangerous voyages to California and the discrimination and physical hardships which faced them at the gold mines. Though small, Runt (he's not called Wong Ming-Chung in the book) is smart and a survivor. He's also literate and the reader gets to discover his exciting story in his diary. This historical fiction book will inform students not only about how Gold Mountain changed the Chinese immigrants, but how California was changed by them as well. There are historical notes, photographs, drawings, and an author's note in the back of the book. ( )

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