The Traitor
Laurence Yep
(Reviewer - Rebecca Brown)
2003 HarperCollins
ISBN: 0060275227

Golden Mountain Chronicles 1885 Wyoming Territory. Life is very tough in the the small mining town of Rock Springs -- & not just because of the brutal environment. Because of his birth, Michael Purdy is an outcast. Bullied & bloodied & most times ignored, Michael feels he might as well be a ghost.

Life is just as tough for Joseph Young -- a Chinese American boy Michael's age. Despised by the American miners, the Chinese work for slave wages & in increasingly dangerous conditions. Even though he was born in America, Joseph's never felt he belongs, & burns with the desire to be a “real American boy” -- a dream his father & the other Chinese laborers don't understand. To them, life in America is a constant struggle against poverty, deprivation, & hate.

The boys meet when Michael escapes the bullies & hides in a cave where Joseph is hunting fossils. Laurence Yep alternates the short chapters between the two teen outcasts, describing their despair with family life, their feelings about being outsiders, their wonder as they explore the dinosaur bones in the fossil-rich gullies near Star Rock, the tensions in town & their growing friendship.

When the town's resentment toward the Chinese boils over in horrifying cruelty, Michael & Joseph must trust each other with their lives.

Based on the actual events of one of the worst race riots in American history, The Traitor is a powerful, haunting, yet ultimately hopeful story about a unique friendship strong enough to bring two worlds together.

Wow! What a read! The Traitor (for Grades 6-9) is not only a grand boys' adventure in another kind of Wild West, it's a roller-coaster historical ride into the dark side of fighting for survival & against racial hatred, as well as the bright side of friendship & hope.

Laurence Yep has been chronicling the Chinese American experience for many years, here are a few of his titles:
The Serpent's Children (1849)
Mountain Light (1855)
Dragon's Gate (1867)
Dragonwings (1903) & many more!
(08/29/04)

Rebecca