英语儿童文学第八篇 章 《龙翼》.ppt

第八章 《龙翼》 （Dragonwings） Introduction to the author Laurence Michael Yep (1948— ), born in San Francisco, California, is a prolific Chinese-American writer, best known for childrens books. Yeps most notable work is the Golden Mountain Chronicles, documenting the fictional Young family from 1849 in China to present in America. Dragonwings, the first chronicle, won the Phoenix Award from the Childrens Literature Association in 1995 and a Newbery Honor Book of 1976. Characters Moon Shadow, the protagonist, is an eight-year-old boy, intelligent, strong, caring, and hardworking. Windrider, Moon Shadow’s Father, is caring, hardworking and supportive. He was a master kite maker in China. He is fond of inventions and dreams of flying like a dragon. simple language which well suites the teenage readers. way of narration: the beginning of each chapter is clearly marked with the time signal, which, like a chronicle, gets the readers involved in the Moon Shadow’s tales. This historical novel about the pursuit of dream is to tell from an immigrants view what the early Chinese immigrants experienced. Dragonwings as a Historical Novel A historical novel is a novel set in the past and intended to evoke the conditions of a past period. In many historical novels, the setting is drawn from history, historical persons are often contained as major or minor characters, but the main characters tend to be fictional. Dragonwings is partially inspired by an actual event that took place in 1909 involving a young Chinese flier, Fung Joe Guey (冯如). Fascinated by the Wright brothers’ plane, Fung organized a manufacturing factory and constructed his first airplane. On September 22., 1909 he became the first Chinese man to fly in America. Windrider, the father in the novel, is such a fictional figure based on Fung.