Milly Lee

Chinatown, San Francisco, In 1906.A big Earthquake of 8.2. in the Richter Scale shook the city. In this book, we see a girl's testimony of what the earthquake was for her. We see the confusion, the shelves flying away and grandma and grandpa running up and down to gather everything they need. I think it's really interesting to see how we react and what we reach for in emergencies like this. When I was in sixth grade, I remember we had a an earthquake while we were in school. We were doing a show more group activity sitting on the floor and when the quake started, we all looked at the substitute teacher running out of the class in fear with her wedding planning binder (she was new in the city and it was her first quake). In page 13, there's the first aftershock. Two of the people in the illustrations break the fourth wall and I can feel them looking at me scared like waiting for me to jump in and help
."The earth shook again,. We stopped, and watched in fear as buildings crumbled around us"
I went back to this page several times throughout the book.
Like the girl in the book, my mom and my aunt experienced the 1976 earthquake in Guatemala and had to live in tents in the street for a couple of months.
It's beautiful to see how a sense of community awakens after a natural disaster. Strangers helping each other sometimes with food, and sometimes just lending an ear or a shoulder to who needs it the most. show less

I thought this book was fine! It was informational and definitely meaningful. I think that the illustrations paired with the text on each page worked well and the settings which the book takes place in are accurate for the time period. The illustrations colors are more dulled and washed out which works well with the book supposed to be taking place around the mid to late 1800s. One of my favorite illustrated pages is the page when Sun's dad throws the torn up pages of the coaching book off show more the ledge of the boat. Now Sun knows the intensity to the importance of listening to his fathers advice. Although the writing is organized and paced well, there is a lot of text per page - for example, pages 13-14 and 5-6. These types of pages could lead a child to get a little overwhelmed. Regardless of how well-paced the information is, it is a lot of written information to be expected to comprehend.
Overall, I think the main idea/ message the author wanted to get across was the importance of taking risks to make a better life for yourself. Sun didn't want to leave his homeland but once he realized that his brothers had grown up and became successful, he knew it was important for him to do the same! show less

Summary:

Landed is a picture book about a twelve year old boy named Sun from China who immigrates to America. His father is a merchant who owns a store in San Francisco and all of his brothers have gone through the immigration process after the age of twelve. On his twelfth birthday, Sun’s father informs him about immigrating to the United States. He spends time with a tutor who helps him prepare for the questioning he will have to endure at Angel Island. When the time comes, Sun and his show more father take the long journey by boat from China to San Francisco. Because Sun’s father has already gone through the immigration process, he has to leave Sun behind at Angel Island. Sun spends about four weeks at Angel Island before he goes through three days of questioning to prove who he is. Finally, after all of the questioning, Sun is able to reunite with his father and his brothers in California.

Comments (opinions/argument):

This is a great example of a historical fiction picture book for older elementary students. It does a great job explaining what it was like for immigrants from other countries coming to America during the Gold Rush. Although the story itself isn’t a true story, it does a wonderful job portraying the realistic life style, struggles and accomplishments of people during this time period. It talks about the struggles Sun has to go through having to study and prepare to be interrogated and having to live at Angel Island until they release him into America. The central message of this story is to inform children about the history of immigrants and what kinds of experiences they endured during this time period. This is a great example of a multicultural book for older children because it portrays the Asian American culture and is a more complex text with lots of details and more advanced vocabulary. show less

How well do you know your family? A young boy named Sun must pass a test to prove that he is his father's son before being allowed to enter America. He spends some time on Angel Island with other boys waiting for his chance to answer the questions.

Lovely story, would be a great addition to an immigration unit.