Most Popular Books by Paul Yee

This enhanced e-book, in celebration of Groundwood''s 35th anniversary, includes a read-aloud feature of the story narrated by Molly Johnson. Winner of the Governor General''s Award, the Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Illustrator''s Award, the Elizabeth Mrazik-Cleaver Award and the Ruth Schwartz Award This powerful, unforgettable and multi-award-winning tale is based on the lives of the Chinese who settled on the west coast of North America in the early 1900s. Left behind in China by her father, who has gone to North America to find work, Choon-yi has made her living by selling her paintings in the market. When her father writes one day and asks her to join him, she joyously sets off, only to discover that he has been killed. Choon-yi sees the railway and the giant train engines that her father died for, and she is filled with an urge to paint them. But her work disappoints her until a ghostly presence beckons her to board the train where she meets the ghosts of the men who died building the railway. She is able to give them peace by returning their bones to China where they were born.

These ten original ghost stories dramatize the history of Chinese immigration to North America -- from the poor village men who first came searching for gold in the late 1850s to the new immigrants who arrived from Hong Kong in the wake of the Cultural Revolution. These stories describe the resilience and struggle of people trying to make new lives for themselves in a strange land. But these are also ghost stories, a popular narrative form in China. Though men and women seek their fortune in the New World, the links to China are strong. Wherever they go, the Chinese immigrants are reminded of their home country -- the curse of a friend betrayed, the ghost of a faithful spouse, the spirit of a dead parent. The tales describe the plights and dreams of men and women, rich and poor, greedy and good, young and old. Together, they tell the tumultuous story of 140 years of Chinese immigration to North America, creating a New World mythology of immigrant stories.

Jason is an outsider. A recent immigrant from China, Jason lives in a close-minded town with his mother and younger brother. Falling in with the wrong crowd, trying to fit in, Jason takes chances and ends up in trouble with the police. Holding on to his friendship with an Indigenous boy, also an outsider, Jason finds he needs to fight to belong and to find a new home. This short novel is a high-interest, low-reading level book for teen readers who are building reading skills, want a quick read or say they don’t like to read!

This tale is set in turn-of-the-century China. When Bamboo, a young farmer, sets off to try to earn his fortune in the New World, his sister-in-law schemes to steal his ancestral lands. But the magic bamboo that his new wife, Ming, has brought as a gift saves his life and brings the family life-long prosperity.

For more than thirty years, Paul Yee has written about his Chinese-Canadian heritage in award-winning books for young readers as well as adult non-fiction. Here, in his first work of fiction for adults, he takes us on a harrowing journey into a milestone event of Canadian history: the use of Chinese coolies to help build the Canadian Pacific Railway in British Columbia in hazardous conditions. After the CPR is built in 1885, Yang Hok, a former coolie, treks along the railway to return his half-Chinese/half-Native son to the boy''s mother where he confronts the conflicts arising from road-building among the Chinese and Native peoples. Hok''s guide on the often perilous trip, Sam Bing Lew, also of mixed Chinese-Native blood, urges Hok to take his son to China, while Hok has dreams of finding fortune in America. The two men agree on little, as many issues fester between Chinese and Natives at a time when both races were disdained as inferior by whites ("redbeards"). This far-reaching novel crackles with the brutal, visceral energy of the time—a period marked by contraband, illegal gambling, disfigurement, and death. It also depicts the bawdy world of Chinese "bachelors," whose families remained in China while they worked in Canada, and who enjoyed more freedom to live their lives without restraint. Yang Hok is not an easy man to like; but through the blood and sweat of his experience, he aspires to become the "superior man" he knows he should be. Boldly frank and steeped in history, A Superior Man paints a vivid portrait of the experience of the Chinese in North America in the 19th century. Paul Yee''s twenty-seven books for young people include the Governor General''s Award-winning Ghost Train. This is his first novel for adults.

Winner of the Sheila A. Egoff Children''s Literature Prize, the IODE Violet Downey Book Award and the IODE National Chapter Award Drawing on the real background of the Chinese role in the gold rush, the building of the railway and the settling of the west coast in the nineteenth century, noted historian and children’s author Paul Yee has created eight original stories that combine the rough-and-tumble adventure of frontier life with the rich folk traditions that these immigrants brought from China. These tales are funny, sad, romantic and earthy, but ultimately, as a collection, they reflect the gritty optimism of the Chinese who overcame prejudice and adversity to build a unique place for themselves in North America.

Despite a greedy father and lazy brothers who try to conceal her identity as the real cook in their restaurant, Maylin manages to receive the recognition she deserves when a governor from China comes to a New World Chinatown.

When her father is lost at sea during a typhoon and her family no longer has enough to eat, Yenyee travels to Vancouver as a servant, across the ocean which she feels betrayed her.

In 1907 Vancouver, Canada, after helping unearth a skeleton to be returned for burial in China, fourteen-year-old Bing experiences strange events that cause him to confront his fear of both ghosts and of his father.

Saltwater City pays tribute to those who went through the hard times, to those who swallowed their pride, to those who were powerless and humiliated, but who still carried on. They all had faith that things would be better for future generations. They have been proven correct. Canada’s first Chinese arrived in British Columbia in 1858 from California. Almost all mee—merchants, peasants, and laborers — and almost all from eight rural counties in the Pearl River delta in what is now Guangdong province — they came in search of gold and better fortune, escaping the rebellions, flood and drought of their homeland. By 1863 over 4,000 Chinese lived in B.C., filling jobs shunned by whites: miners, road builders, teamsters, laundry men, restaurateurs, domestic servants and cannery workers. Between 1881 and 1885, thousands more arrived, most imported to build the transcontinental railway. They were to create, in Vancouver, Canada’s largest and most dynamic Chinese Community, known to its original inhabitants as Saltwater City.

An American Library Association Youth Media Award Stonewall Honor Book Ray Liu knows he should be happy. He lives in a big suburban house with all the latest electronic gadgets, and even finds plenty of time to indulge in his love of gaming. He needs the escape. It’s tough getting grades that will please his army veteran father, when speaking English is still a struggle. And he can’t quite connect with his peers at high school -- Chinese immigrants like himself but who seem to have adjusted to North American life more easily. Then comes the fateful day when his father accesses Ray’s internet account, and discovers Ray has been cruising gay websites. Before Ray knows what has hit him, his belongings have been thrown on the front lawn, and he has been kicked out. Angry,defiant, Ray heads to downtown Toronto. In short order he is robbed, beaten up and seduced, and he learns the hard realities of life on the street. Could he really sell himself for sex? Lots of people use their bodies to make money -- athletes, actors, models, pop singers. If no one gets hurt, why should anyone care?

Eighteen year old, Canadian-born, Kwok-ken Wong fights racism and poverty in Vancouver during the 1930''s Depression.

With Samson''s butterfly kite flat on the ground and her own kite soaring, Sharon thought of shouting, "Okay, Samson Wong, you big-mouth. Let''s see you fly your wonderful kite. Big wings will do it every time, right?" But now that she had her chance to get even with Samson, Sharon didn''t feel like fighting. She was happy just watching her kite pull into the clouds. For the first time in her life, Sharon had something Chinese that she was proud of and she was enjoying herself! Teach Me to Fly, Skyfighter! and Other Stories offers four closely-observed accounts of growing up in contemporary Vancouver''s Chinatown, highlighting the joys and frustrations of growing up in two cultures simultaneously.

The incredible sacrifices made by Chinese workers building the transcontinental railway are revealed in this powerful novel.Heen''s father and grandfather have brought their family in China to the brink of ruin with their gambling habits. To solve their money troubles, Heen and his father come to Canada to build the railway — a decision plagued by disaster.The living conditions provided for workers are wretched and work on the railway is excruciating. Transporting tons of gravel and working in tunnels about to be dynamited proves to be deadly for many of his co-workers. Soon the friction between the Chinese workers and the whites, who barely acknowledge these deaths, reaches a fevered pitch. As an added stress, Heen''s father has found some men to gamble with, which puts all of their earnings at risk.Heen''s only solace is his journal, where his chilling observations of the injustice and peril heaped upon the workers serve as an important testament to this dramatic era in Canadian history.

Kai-ming finds a friend in the attic of his new home in America but he has to leave.

Story is set in the early parts of the 20th century, when Chinese immigrants to the Pacific coast struggled to keep the ancient art of Chinese opera alive.