Synopsis
Amy Tan's very first novel, The Joy Luck Club, made her name known around the world. Her successful novels, picture books, and essays captivate readers of all ages. Tan's success has not come easily, however. She first had to learn to embrace her Chinese heritage. And she had to deal with her stormy and trouble-filled childhood. But the author lives her life with enthusiasm and zest, and continues to write award-winning fiction for her many readers.
Children's Literature
The tide of immigrants flowing onto the western shores of the United States as WWII ended included John and Daisy Tan, Amy Tan's parents. Their lives merged two cultures and, inevitably, colored Amy's life with stains of the old world even as she was born into the new one. The effects of pre-WWII Chinese culture and economy dimmed Amy's childhood yet inspired the writing career she developed as an adult. Amy Tan became a writer of stories rooted in the culture of old China, expressed in the vocabulary of the modern, Western world. All the complexities of two massive cultures meet in her richly layered novels, picture books, and essays. The highs and lows of Amy Tan's life are recounted with sympathy and insight, and the strength of these experiences imbues her writing with luminosity and authenticity. Her writing career began with a bestseller, The Joy Luck Club, and continued to be successful in subsequent novels, essays, and books written for children. This book is a part of the "Signature Lives/Modern America" series and ends with a time line, a short list of essential facts, "Life at a Glance," additional resources (further reading, web sites, and historic sites), a glossary, source notes, a selected bibliography, and an index. It would be a valuable addition to a middle school library's biography selections.