Angelfish by Laurence Yep

Angelfish is about a young girl, Robin who is a ballet dancer and half Chinese. Robin accidentally breaks the plate-glass window of a fish store called Dragon Palace. The store keeper, a Chinese man named Mr. Tsow wanted Robin to pay for the window, so Robin ended up working in the store. The job was not difficult, but dealing with Mr. Tsow was. He was mean, insulting, and hateful, but Robin was curious about him. She wanted to know how he knew about dancing and why he was so angry. She learned Mr. Tsow was a famous ballet dancer back in China. She also learned more about her Chinese heritage. She learned about the Red Guard and the Cultural Revolution that took place during the Communist Revolution under Mao Tse-tung. She found out that the people of China rebelled against the government and hurt anyone who was treated as upper class. She also learned that they cut-off some of Mr. Tsow’s toes during his reeducation so he could never dance again. She now understood why Mr. Tsow was so mean and disliked dancers so much. She understood why he preferred fish to people. However, just like in the Beauty and the Beast story they were doing in the recital, Robin got through to Mr. Tsow (now Mr. Cao, his name when he was in China). Robin got through his protective shield and convinced him that he needed to share his talents with others or the Red Guard would continue to win. Mr. Cao helped with the recital by doing the backdrop and costume designs. However, Mr. Cao’s brother, who owned the fish store, found out and reminded Mr. Cao that he had a debt to repay to his family. It was because of Mr. Cao being a dancer in China that the whole family was punished. Mr. Cao had to do what his brother said to repay him for all that was lost in China. When Robin’s teacher had an accident, Mr. Cao left his brother’s store and took over the practices and the production of the recital because Mr. Cao wanted to repay his debt to his other family, his teachers and fellow students. Through the course of the story Mr. Cao changed from the Beast to a wonderful man who loved the arts and angelfish.

This was a very delightful book about Asian Americans, character and values, and friendship. I was very surprised by how quickly I was hooked when I started reading this book. The problems and solutions that the main character, Robin had are some of the same problems and solutions our young people face today. Also, learning about ones heritage is important to understand how and why our personalities have been shaped. Our personalities are shaped by our ancestors because of how they were treated and how they treat the people around them.

Other works by Laurence Yep include The Dragon’s Child: A Story of Angel Island, the Junior Thunder Lord, When the Circus Came to Town, Ribbons, and Bravo Mia!.