THE STAR FISHER

A. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Yep, Laurence. 1991. THE STARFISHER. New York: Scholastic, Inc. ISBN 0590462431

B. PLOT SUMMARY
In 1927 Joan and her family move from Ohio to West Virginia. As the first Chinese-Americans in a West Virginia town, fifteen year old Joan struggles with growing up, realizing and accepting her mother as a regular person, and the prejudice of the town’s people. Acceptance of the fact that her Chinese culture makes her different complicates these struggles.

C. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Yep creates a book that is unique to the Chinese struggle for acceptance in America and universal in a daughter’s growth to maturity. Yep develops a cast of individually strong characters through which he tells his story. The story is told through fifteen year old Joan who is strong beyond her years. As the oldest child she cares for her two younger siblings as well helping her parents in the family laundry business. Often she is called upon to be the primary translator for her parents due to their very limited English speaking skills. This strength is exhibited the second day in West Virginia when she is sent to the store for bread with a very limited budget. The conversation with her mother before this excursion and the resulting interaction with an unfamiliar merchant show that although she really does not want to do this, she will obey her mother and she refuses to be intimidated by the merchant. Mrs. Lee stands alone and appears somewhat removed until the reader understands she is the backbone of the family. Her Chinese upbringing is a guiding force that creates great friction when raising children in America. Change is difficult for her, but for her children she tries.
Two themes weave through this story. One is the struggle between mother and daughter that occurs when the daughter is becoming independent. The other theme is the blending of the Chinese culture into American living. Both struggles create support and conflict with the other.
Many cultural markers are evident throughout this book. Early in the book Joan tells her little sister, Emily, a story to get her to go to sleep. It is a story about a starfisher, a traditional Chinese story. This story is referred to throughout the book as Joan draws comparisons to it. Another cultural marker is the respect and obedience the children show their parents in the book. This is realistically portrayed because they (the children) sometimes argue, they know which parent to ask permission to do things, and sometimes they find ways around strictly following parental directions. An example is Joan’s translations of English for her mother. The cultural marker of language was used in an interesting format. Readers are to note that words in italics are spoken in English while the remaining text is occurring is Chinese. This was a unique manner of including a language that many do not read. Traditional Chinese values are evident in the struggle Mrs. Lee has dealing with living in modern America. She has a hard time accepting the changes that have been thrust upon her in this new country that shows no respect for what she thinks is proper and right. Yep shows a realistic struggle between being Chinese and living in America using characters with both positive and negative traits.

D. REVIEW EXCERPTS
Publishers Weekly, 05/10/1991

Fifteen-year-old Joan Lee tells of her family's hard-won acceptance as the first Chinese-Americans in a small West Virginia town. It is 1927, and few in Clarksburg have the breadth of experience or spirit to offer foreigners their friendship. The Lees are greeted instead by verbal jibes and threats painted on their fence, until their remarkable landlady becomes a catalyst for change. Beneath Joan's direct, deceptively simple narrative voice lies an emotionally complex tale. Drawing on his mother's immigrant experience as the basis for this moving story, Newbery Honor author Yep ( Drag on wings ; The Rainbow People ) skillfully avoids pat or reductive explanations. He gives his heroine, for example, the maturity to recognize the biases her own family holds as well as the courage to stand up to the more blatant and violent prejudices of her neighbors. A traditional Chinese myth about the starfisher--half-bird, half-human, confined to the earth but yearning for the stars--weaves through the story, a poetic but insistent metaphor for Joan's own hopes and dreams. Ages 8-up. (May)
School Library Journal, 05/01/1991
Gr 6-8-- On the first night in their new home in a small West Virginia town, 15-year-old Joan Lee lulls her little sister to sleep with the story of a magical kingfisher who is held captive in human form by her mortal husband, but who is later helped by her daughter. She soon joins her mother in the stars, but is sometimes seen, cometlike, attempting to bridge heaven and Earth. Joan, the oldest daughter of the only Chinese family in 1927 Clarksburg, at first sees only herself in the story's symbols: caught between two worlds. As she braves the curiosity and prejudice of the townspeople, helps bridge a friendship between her mother and an elderly neighbor, and gets acquainted with an enigmatic classmate, she realizes that she is not the only one struggling to find a niche. Joan's story will appeal to any reader who has ever felt excluded, but she and her family seem to hold many more stories begging to be shared. Based on tales Yep gleaned from his mother and her family, whose resilience and humor shine through, The Star Fisher offers tantalizing glimpses of interesting characters, but abruptly shifts focus from a family story with the younger sister as a strong character to a relationship between mother and daughter. Basically, there is too much depth and complexity here to be confined to one book. --Carla Kozak, San Francisco Public Library
Kirkus Reviews, 04/15/1991
The author of Dragonwings (Newbery Honor, 1976) draws on his mother's childhood to depict a Chinese family's experiences when they arrive from Ohio to open a West Virginia laundry in 1927. Eldest child Joan Lee is 15; unlike their parents, she and her siblings were born in the US and speak English. Their first two encounters set up the difficulties they will face and how they will be countered: when they step off the train in Clarksburg, ne'er-do-well bigots greet them with cruel taunts; but their landlady, a retired schoolmistress, warmly welcomes and befriends them. Still, ""The Star Fisher,"" a Chinese folk tale Joan shares with her little sister, symbolizes Joan's position even after she gains acceptance: like the child of the selkie-like bird-wife in the story, she sees through two sets of eyes. Yep has shaped his family's stories into a rather old-fashioned novel of small-town prejudice bowing to good will and some humorously applied ingenuity. Joan is provided with another spunky outcast as a friend; pungent family interaction and abundant period details help to complete a vivid picture. While learning to cook, Mrs. Lee bakes a series of inedible apple pies that strain credulity, but they do serve the plot well when she finally bakes a good one and makes a hit at a church social. A likable, thoughtful story about a young woman learning to value her own differences. Copyright 2003, VNU Business Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Publishers Weekly, 08/03/1992
Based on the author's own experiences, this Christopher Award winner movingly describes a Chinese American family's adjustment to their new home in West Virginia in 1927 and the prejudice they encounter there. Ages 10-14. (Aug.)

E. Connections
Have students brainstorm several important events in the story, and then have them write about why they think that event was important to the story.

Other books about Chinese immigration include these titles:
Engler, Mary. I. M. PEI. ISBN 1410910563
Thornton, Jeremy. THE GOLD RUSH: CHINESE IMMIGRANTS COME TO AMERICA (1848-1882) ISBN 0823968332
Yep, Laurence. THE DRAGON’S CHILD; A STORY OF ANGEL ISLAND ISBN 0060276924