The Fire Horse Girl (321 Pages + notes)

Maybe it's because we live on the East Coast, but I just never think of immigrants arriving on the West Coast! How ridiculously biased and self centered can I be? Fortunately, Kay Honeyman has written a book that not only educated me, but also entertained me. Angel Island on the West Coast of America corresponds to the East Coast's Ellis Island. This becomes the setting as the reader is first introduced to Jade Mood, a young girl who had the misfortune of being born in the year of the Fire Horse.  People in her family and village know her as the girl who always causes trouble. She can't wait to escape to America,the land of her dreams of freedom and self improvement possibilities. One day Sterling Promise (isn't that a name and a half?) arrives and convinces her father to join him on a trip to America with his daughter whom Sterling will marry. From the moment of her arrival at Angel Island, Jade Moon's dreams are dashed, and she has to take her life into her own hands. With the help of a friend, she wraps her breasts, steals Sterling's clothes and papers, and dressed as a man embarks on becoming an American. Wow, the trouble she encounters is scarey, yet full of hope. This is a great story of a coming of age book centered on a feisty girl.