Teach Me to Fly, Skyfighter!: and other stories

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.

“…not only a useful addition to the study of multiculturalism but also a moving collection of stories about young Canadians.” Quill and Quire, October 1983

“…four very well conceived and imaginatively written short stories capture the lived worlds of minority children, in familiar cultural territory. The scene is Strathcona, one of Vancouver’s oldest inner city settlements, and adjacent to it, Chinatown…  the self image of children is enhanced in that they see themselves and their neighborhoods embodied in an otherwise alien book culture.” B.C. Studies, Number 76, Winter 1987-88.