Yee, Paul (R.) 1956-

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YEE, Paul (R.) 1956-

PERSONAL: Born October 1, 1956, in Spalding, Saskatchewan, Canada; son of Gordon and Gim May (Wong) Yee. Education: University of British Columbia, B.A., 1978, M.A., 1983. Hobbies and other interests: Cycling, swimming.

ADDRESSES: Home—2 Abermarle Ave., Toronto, Ontario M4K 1H7, Canada. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Writer. City of Vancouver Archives, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, assistant city archivist, 1980-88; Archives of Ontario, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, portfolio manager, 1988-91; Ontario Ministry of Citizenship, policy analyst, 1991-97.

MEMBER: Writers Union of Canada, CANSCAIP.

AWARDS, HONORS: Honourable Mention, Canada Council Prizes for Children's Literature, 1986, for The Curses of Third Uncle; Vancouver Book Prize, 1989, for Saltwater City; British Columbia Book Prize for Children's Literature, I.O.D.E. Violet Downey Book Award, Sheila A. Egoff Children's Book Prize, and Parents' Choice Honor, all 1990, all for Tales from Gold Mountain; Ruth Schwartz Award, Canadian Booksellers Association, 1992, for Roses Sing on New Snow, and 1997, for Ghost Train; Governor General's Award, Canada Council, 1996, and Prix Enfantasie (Switzerland), 1998, for Ghost Train; Best Books for Young Adults List, Young Adult Library Services Association of the American Library Association, 1998, for Breakaway; Books for the Teenage List, New York Public Library, 2003, for Dead Man's Gold.

WRITINGS:

FICTION FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNG ADULTS

Teach Me to Fly, Skyfighter!, and Other Stories, illustrated by Sky Lee, Lorimer (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1983.

The Curses of Third Uncle (novel), Lorimer (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1986.

Tales from Gold Mountain: Stories of the Chinese in the New World, illustrated by Simon Ng, Groundwood Books (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1989, Macmillan (New York, NY), 1990.

Roses Sing on New Snow: A Delicious Tale, illustrated by Harvey Chan, Macmillan (New York, NY), 1992.

Breakaway (novel), Groundwood Books (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1994.

Moonlight's Luck, illustrated by Terry Yee, Macmillan (New York, NY), 1995.

Ghost Train, illustrated by Harvey Chan, Groundwood Books (New York, NY), 1996.

The Boy in the Attic, illustrated by Gu Xiong, Groundwood Books (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1998.

Dead Man's Gold, and Other Stories, illustrated by Harvey Chan, Douglas & McIntyre (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 2002.

The Jade Necklace, illustrated by Grace Lin, Interlink, 2002.

NONFICTION

Saltwater City: An Illustrated History of the Chinese in Vancouver, Douglas & McIntyre (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada), 1988, University of Washington (Seattle, WA), 1989.

Struggle and Hope: The Story of Chinese Canadians, Umbrella Press (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1996.

Yee's books have been translated into several languages, including French.

ADAPTATIONS: Roses Sing on New Snow was adapted as a videocassette produced by the National Film Board of Canada, 2002.

WORK IN PROGRESS: Bamboo (picture book), expected publication, 2004; A Song for Ba (picture book), expected publication, 2004; Chinatowns: Chinese Communities across Canada (nonfiction), expected publication, 2005.

SIDELIGHTS: Paul Yee is a Canadian author whose Chinese heritage and experiences growing up in the Chinatown region of Vancouver, British Columbia, have inspired many of his highly acclaimed books for younger readers. While written primarily for Canadian children of Chinese ancestry who desire to learn about themselves and their heritage, his books have found audiences with children of many backgrounds from both Canada and the United States. Among Yee's books are the short-story collections Tales from Gold Mountain: Stories of the Chinese in the New World and Dead Man's Gold, and Other Tales, as well as a number of picture books and the novels Breakaway and The Curses of Third Uncle. Despite his relatively small output, Yee has "made a notable contribution to Canadian children's literature by fusing the unique details of ethnic experience with the universal concerns for identity and love," a Canadian Children's Books essayist maintained.

Born in Spalding, Saskatchewan, in 1956, Yee had what he once termed a "typical Chinese-Canadian childhood, caught between two worlds, and yearning to move away from the neighborhood." While he wrote short stories as a hobby, he never considered making writing his profession. Instead, after graduating from high school he went on to the University of British Columbia, and ultimately earned his M.A. in history in 1983. Although Yee has taught informally at several institutions in British Columbia, the focus of his career has been on his work as an archivist and policy analyst, organizing and analyzing information to come up with options for government agencies in Canada. In 1988 Yee began work in Toronto as multicultural coordinator for the Archives of Ontario.

Although it seems a far cry from archivist/analyst to children's book author, Yee found the step to be a natural one, given his circumstances and interests. "Back in 1983, I was involved in doing work for Chinatown, such as organizing festivals, exhibits, and educational programs," he once explained. "Even though I had written some short stories, I had not done anything in children's literature. A Canadian publishing company, Lorimer, knowing about my work in the Chinese community, asked me to write a children's book that would employ my knowledge of Chinese-Canadian life as a background." The result of this request would be Teach Me to Fly, Skyfighter!, and Other Stories, Yee's first book for children.

Teach Me to Fly, Skyfighter! contains four interlinking stories about children living in the immigrant neighborhoods of Vancouver. Yee "has succeeded in portraying the personalities, interests, and dreams of four eleven-year-old friends whose voices ring true throughout," according to Frieda Wishinsky in Quill & Quire.

Yee's second short story collection, Tales from Gold Mountain, was published in 1989 to high praise from critics. Lee Galda and Susan Cox, writing in Reading Teacher, wrote that the eight tales included in the book "give . . . voice to the previously unheard generations of Chinese immigrants whose labor supported the settlement of the west coast of Canada and the United States." Yee includes stories about the conflict between the manager of a fish cannery and his greedy boss; a young man who arranges the burial of Chinese railroad workers after he meets his father's ghost; a young woman's gift of ginger root to save her fiancee's life; a wealthy merchant who exchanges his twin daughters for sons; and clashes between old traditions and new influences. Betsy Hearne noted in the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books that "Yee never indulges in stylistic pretensions" in blending realism and legend, and praised the stories for containing "mythical overtones that lend the characters unforgettable dimension—humans achieving supernatural power in defying their fate of physical and cultural oppression." School Library Journal contributor Margaret A. Chang praised Yee for "further expand[ing] and enhanc[ing] understanding of the Chinese immigrant experience," while a Horn Book reviewer praised Tales from Gold Mountain for interweaving "the hardships and dangers of frontier life in a new country with the ancient attitudes and traditions brought over from China" and predicted that the images created "will stay with the reader for a long time."

Published in 2002, Dead Man's Gold, and Other Stories contains ten tales that combine real life and the supernatural. Against the backdrop of a harsh existence comprised of hard labor in gold mines, on railroads, and in family-run businesses, Yee's protagonists long for home and family as they face prejudices while trying to build a better life. In these stories, each accompanied by an appropriately haunting illustration by Harvey Chan, Yee's characters are also tested by unearthly horrors of one sort or another. Calling the collection "a remarkable piece of literature," Laura Reilly noted in her Resource Links review that Yee's tales "all have surprising twists that compel the reader to read on." Praising Dead Man's Gold, and Other Tales, Booklist contributor Hazel Rochman noted that Yee's "plain, beautiful words speak with brutal honesty" as he writes of immigrant life from the mid-1800s through the 1950s.

Yee's first novel, The Curses of Third Uncle, is a work of historical fiction that deals with the period of the early twentieth century in which Sun Yat-Sen's revolutionary movement fought against the Chinese Empire. Dr. Sun Yat-Sen, called the "Father of Modern China," had led nine uprisings against the Empire by the time he visited Vancouver in 1910 and 1911. Yee's protagonist, fourteen-year-old Lillian, lives in Vancouver's Chinatown and misses her father, who often travels back to China and throughout the British Columbia frontier—presumably to take care of his clothing business. He is actually a secret agent for Dr. Sun's revolutionary movement. At one point in his travels, Lillian's father fails to return. His absence is economically hard on the family, but Lillian will not believe her father has deserted them. Her third uncle, however, threatens to send Lillian's family back to China. In her attempts to locate her father by traveling through British Columbia, Lillian discovers that he has been betrayed by his brother, who has been paid to turn him over to his enemies. Reviewing the novel in Emergency Librarian, Christine Dewar called it "a story that is exciting but contrived, with an attractive and reasonably motivated heroine." Quill & Quire writer Annette Goldsmith similarly commented that The Curses of Third Uncle is "an exciting, fast-pace, well-written tale," and praised Yee for his use of legendary Chinese female warriors to reinforce Lillian's story.

Set in Chinatown in 1932 during the Great Depression, Breakaway "explores questions of identity and belonging by detailing conflicts between generations and cultures," according to a Canadian Children's Books essayist. A senior in high school, Kwok-Ken Wong hopes a soccer scholarship will save him from an otherwise dismal future working on his father's farm. When his plans are dashed and racism prevents him from playing the sport he loves, Kwok-Ken grows disillusioned but ultimately grows in understanding as he begins to appreciate the strengths of his cultural heritage. Reviewing Breakaway in Quill & Quire, Patty Lawlor called the book "a well-written novel with staying power" that would be useful in discussions of racism. While noting that the novel's ending is "rather abrupt," Canadian Materials contributor Margaret Mackey praised Yee's novel for painting "a valuable picture of a fascinating and complex time and world."

In addition to novels and short fiction for older readers, Yee has also made the Chinese-Canadian heritage come vividly to life for younger readers. Maylin, the heroine of his 1989 picture book Roses Sing on New Snow, embodies the difference between the Old World and the New World when she explains to the governor of South China, who is visiting her father's Chinatown restaurant to learn the secrets of her delicious recipes, that "this is a dish of the New World....You cannot re-create it in the Old." Although efforts are made to push Maylin aside and allow the men of the family to take credit for the restaurant's excellent fare, after her father and brothers cannot reproduce the meals served to the governor Maylin is called forth and ultimately shown to be one of the most talented cooks in Chinatown. Hearne noted in the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books that "vivid art and clean writing are graced by a neatly feminist ending."

Other picture books by Yee include The Jade Necklace, The Boy in the Attic, and the award-winning Ghost Train. The Jade Necklace focuses on Yenyee, a young girl whose fisherman-father presents her with a necklace with a carved jade fish, then is lost at sea soon after. Giving the necklace to the sea in the hope that it will return her father to her, Yenyee goes on to immigrate to the New World as a nanny before the sea responds to her request in a surprising way. In Quill & Quire Sherie Posesorski praised The Jade Necklace as "a coming-of-age tale that's both contemporary and timeless, realistic and symbolic," and added that Yee's prose "seamlessly marries the formality of the storyteller's voice with the intimacy of a child's perspective."

Winner of Canada's prestigious Governor General's award, Ghost Train focuses on a talented young artist named Choon-yi, whose father, a railway worker, is killed only days before Choon-yi arrives from China to join him. In The Boy in the Attic seven-year-old Chinese immigrant Kai-ming discovers the ghost of a boy who died in Kai-ming's new Canadian home eighty years before. Through the intervention of a magic butterfly, the two boys are able to break through their language barrier and converse, helping Kai-ming make the transition to his new country. Praising Yee's use of the ghost as a metaphor, Quill & Quire contributor Freida Ling described The Boy in the Attic as a tale of "human courage, resourcefulness, and the adaptability required to uproot yourself from your homeland and start over in a strange country."

Although Yee's primary career was as a historian, he found no difficulty making the switch to fiction. Nevertheless, he once remarked that he finds fiction writing more "arduous because instead of merely reporting what has happened in nonfiction, fiction requires the creation of a story" that will be believable and enjoyable. "The difference between nonfiction and fiction is the difference between reliable reporting and imaginative creating," he concluded.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

St. James Guide to Children's Writers, 5th edition, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 1999, pp. 1148-1149.

Yee, Paul, Saltwater City: An Illustrated History of the Chinese in Vancouver, Douglas & McIntyre (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada), 1988, University of Washington (Seattle, WA), 1989.

Yee, Paul, Tales from Gold Mountain: Stories of the Chinese in the New World, Groundwood Books (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1989, Macmillan (New York, NY), 1990.

PERIODICALS

Booklist, March 15, 1990, Denise Wilms, review of Tales from Gold Mountain: Stories of the Chinese in the New World, p. 1464; March 1, 1999, Sally Estes, review of Tales from Gold Mountain, p. 1212; November 1, 2002, Hazel Rochman, Dead Man's Gold, and Other Stories, p. 494.

Books in Canada, December, 1983, p. 17; December, 1986, p. 18; May, 1989, p. 5.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, January, 1990, Betsy Hearne, review of Tales from Gold Mountain, p. 178; March, 1990, p. 178; July, 1992, B. Hearne, review of Roses Sing on New Snow: A Delicious Tale, p. 307.

Canadian Children's Literature, autumn, 1996, Marie Davis, "A Backward Way of Thanking People: Paul Yee on His Historical Fiction," pp. 50-68; winter, 1996, James Greenlaw, "Chinese Canadian Fathers and Sons," pp. 106-108.

Canadian Literature, spring, 1988, "Different Dragons," p. 168; autumn, 1991, pp. 142-143; winter, 1999, review of The Boy in the Attic, p. 204.

Canadian Materials, September, 1994, Margaret Mackey, review of Breakaway, p. 139.

Emergency Librarian, May-June, 1995, David Jenkinson, "Portraits: Paul Yee," pp. 61-64; May, 1987, Christine Dewar, review of The Curses of Third Uncle, p. 51.

Horn Book, July, 1990, review of TalesfromGold Mountain, pp. 459-460; March-April, 1992, Elizabeth S. Watson, review of Roses Sing on New Snow, p. 196.

Kirkus Reviews, May 15, 2002, review of The Jade Necklace, p. 744.

Quill & Quire, October, 1983, Frieda Wishinsky, review of Teach Me to Fly, Skyfighter!, p. 16; December, 1986, Annette Goldsmith, "Illuminating Adventures with Young People from Long Ago," p. 14; April, 1994, Patty Lawlor, review of Breakaway, p. 39; February, 1997, p. 51; October, 1998, Freida Ling, review of The Boy in the Attic, p. 42; May, 2002, Sherie Posesorski, review of The Jade Necklace, p. 32.

Reading Teacher, April, 1991, Lee Galda and Susan Cox, review of Tales from Gold Mountain, p. 585.

Resource Links, June, 2002, Rosemary Anderson, review of The Jade Necklace, p. 46; December, 2002, Laura Reilly, review of Dead Man's Gold, and Other Stories, p. 35.

School Library Journal, May, 1990, Margaret A. Chang, review of Tales from Gold Mountain, p. 121; December, 1998, Diane S. Marton, review of The Boy in the Attic, p. 96; September, 2002, Margaret A. Chang, review of The Jade Necklace, p. 209.