Li Keng Wong,
Good Fortune / MyJourney to Gold Mountain
Peachtree, 2006.

Ages 8-12

Angel Island in San Francisco Bay, where immigrants arriving in the United States from the East were held before being allowed to set foot on the American mainland – or deported back to where they had come from – has never been quite as well known as Ellis Island, its west-coast counterpart.  However, a recent spate of books for young people has sought to redress this and bring their attention to what had to be endured: and in today’s particular political climate, these stories resonate strongly.

Li Keng Wong’s autobiography , told simply and without hyperbole, is a welcome addition to the lists for several reasons. Firstly, it slots well between the picture books on the one hand and historical studies for older young readers on the other. Secondly, rather than being a boy who is joining his family, whether genuine or on paper only, for the purpose of earning money in America (the Gold Mountain), it is about a little girl, her mother and her sisters seeking to join Baba (Dad) so that the family can be together – the author herself notes that there were no other children in the women’s section during their time at Angel Island.  She explains about ‘Paper Boys’ and the lengths people went to to get through immigration and into the country –but Li Keng’s difficulties are slightly different: she must evermore call her mother ‘Yee’ (aunt) in public because wives were not permitted to join their husbands in America.  And thirdly, it is not only about Angel Island.  We find out a great deal about Li Keng’s life in China beforehand; and follow the family through their many struggles, until December 2, 1941, when Baba gathers the family round and both proudly and delightedly informs them that they have been in America for exactly seven years and can now call themselves American citizens.

Li Keng tells her story in the first person and her chatty, confiding style will appeal to today’s young readers, who will bridge the seventy years without a qualm and empathise with her through all life’s ups and downs: school; the terrors of Mama’s identity being discovered by immigration officials; Baba’s illegal work; his illness and the family’s financial difficulties – and throughout, the love and support within a happy family and the sacrifices made to provide and gain an education. I am sure readers will also be glad, as I was, to find an epilogue bringing us up to date with the family’s news subsequently.

Marjorie Coughlan
November 2006