Shadow of the Dragon by Sherry Garland, John Hanley (Illustrator), Lisa Peters (Designed by)

Product Details

Synopsis

Sixteen-year-old Danny Vo is caught between two cultures-the American world of his Houston high school and his Vietnamese home life. Life gets even more complicated when Danny’s cousin Sang Le comes to live with them after spending years in a reeducation camp in Vietnam. Failing school and unable to get a job, Sang Le joins a Vietnamese gang. Danny must also contend with another dangerous gang-the white supremacist skinheads that his new girlfriend’s brother belongs to. “Excellent characterizations and a complex, believable plot are blended into a moving story of the immigrant experience.”—Booklist

Annotation

High school sophomore Danny Vo tries to resolve the conflict between the values of his Vietnamese refugee family and his new American way of life.

The ALAN Review

Readers will find interesting descriptions of customs and attitudes of Vietnamese Americans throughout this contemporary multicultural story. Unfortunately, this novel tries to deal with too many issues. The sixteen-year-old main character, Danny Vo, has a difficult life in Houston, trying to balance school work, a job, and family obligations. Then his cousin Sang Le, recently arrived from Vietnam after years in a communist re-education center, gets involved with a Vietnamese gang that has been terrorizing local businesses. Meanwhile, Danny starts dating Tiffany Schultz, whose younger brother is confined to a wheelchair and whose older brother Frank is a Nazi skinhead who hates "gooks." Danny also has a black best friend and a younger sister who misbehaves a lot and then runs away, neither of which make any difference in the outcome of the novel. Good conflicts, but fewer would have been better.

Biography

SHERRY GARLAND is the author of many award-winning novels and picture books, including Indio and The Last Rainmaker. She lives in central Texas.
www.sherrygarland.com