Customer Reviews

The Star Fisher

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Fifteen-year-old Joan, a Chinese-American girl from Ohio, travels to a rural village in West Virginia in 1927. This daring move makes her family the first Chinese people this town has ever seen. She and her parents immediately discover how odd they are as viwed by prejudiced bums and snobby schoolmates. The Lee family has staked everything on this gamble to unknown territory--without any extended famly to help--where they plan to open a laundry business, as they did in Ohio. Will the townsfolk flock to this new establishment, or continue washing their own dirty shirts?

The first week is a terrible strain on both the parents but especially for Joan, suffering the pangs of teenage acceptance at school and justified rebellion at home. Deeply hurt by rejection from the town in general and a snobby clique at school, Joan feels she just can't fit in, and will never be accepted, although she is praised by her teachers. Then too, she makes a tactical error by befriending a red-headed outcast whose family are Performers! Despite repeated vandalism and hate slogans on their fence, the Lee family refuses to give up and leave. Can a gracious, retired school teacher, with no family of her own, be accepted and adopted by suspicious Chinese parents--who refuse to accept charity from their kind landlady? How far will adults and even their children go to keep from becoming objects of town ridicule or bringing shame upon their family's strict code of honor? We mark Joan's budding maturity, as she recognizes that she is not the only Star Fisher (reference to a Chinese Folktale which is presented in detail) in town. An excellent introduction to culture clash in America.

This book is about a fifteen year old girl called Joan. She is from Ohio and came to West Virginia to make a new life. When she first came right off the train there were no greetings instead they got bad comments. A lot of people did not treat the Lee's like Americans, although Joan, Bobby, and Emily were born in America. People made fun of the Lee's because they are chinese. Sometimes in the story Joan would compare herself with the star fisher, which is a chinese folk tale. After a pie social, the Lee's start to feel more accepted by more than just a few town members. One thing because they are the first chinese- americans Clarsburg has ever seen doesn't mean that they have any differences, they are still humans they have feelings too.

Looks Don't Matter!



The Star Fisher was an interesting book because of how people started to treat Joan and her family. This is how it began Joan and her family lived in Ohio but then decided to go to West Virginia. Even though her family was American people treated them like they were from outer space, but really they just looked different.
One thing that was really interesting was that even though Joan and her family were American people treated them like outsiders. This is because Joan and her family look Chinese. One person even insulted them but they didn't even do anything! This is just like if some white person would walk up to a black person and call him or her names just because they look different. It's stupid because someone knows nothing about this person and all of a sudden somebody else starts calling this person names just because they look different.
Something else that was interesting was how the land lady treated Joan and her family because she actually treated them nice. For example as soon as the land lady walks down the sidewalk she sees Joan and her sister Emily, instead of walking by like everyone else she stops to talk. Then she asks if they want to come to tea. Unlike other people they would just walk by staring at them. Also a preacher would talk to them but the only time he did was because they were at the land lady's house and the reason why he was there was just to talk to the land lady. So he didn't really mean to talk to them either.
One last thing that was interesting and fascinating was how a pie made everyone start coming to Joan's house and actually talk to them more. It started when Joan's mom was learning to pies with the land lady. Then when she thought her pies were good she decided to enter her pie in the pie auction. Then at the end Joan's friend asked if she could try Joan's mom's pie. When she tried it she liked it then other people started coming in and wanted to try the pie. Pretty soon the pie was gone. The next day people started coming to Joan's moms laundry, and just about everyone started talking to them when they saw them.
In conclusion people should never judge people just by the way they look. You should get to know them first. Just like people say you can never judge a book by the cover. That goes the same with people, you can never judge a person by its color, look, or were they come from.

In 1927, Yep's mother moved with her parents and siblings from Ohio to West Virginia. Although her parents are immigrants with little English, the family had a good life in Ohio. But with the move to West Virginia, the family is brought up short by the prejudice that is demonstrated by some townsfolk. Fortunately, they are also confronted with great acts of kindness by other members of the town. Using the metaphor of the star fisher, who lives with one foot on the earth and one in the heavens, Yep convincingly uses his family's story to write a lovely book about family and friendship.

The Star Fisher is not what I expected it to be. I thought the girl on the cover, who was leaning on a fence, was a farm girl. Instead, she turned out to be a laundry man's daughter. Reading this book was a pure enjoyment. Laurence Yep wrote a very enchanting story. On every page the family finds more and more ways to live and fit in. I recommend this novel to people ages 8 and up. The Star Fisher is very fascinating, once you enter, you come to appreciate what Joan went through. If you read this book you will enjoy it!!!

The Star Fisher is an interesting book that always wants you to read more. This book is like one giant dream; it is fantasy with some truth. I wouldn't necessarily call this the best book in the world but I still recommend it to who ever is a fan of fantasy and adventure books. This is an easy reading book with exiting fun challenges and adventures.

I really enjoyed reading this book. The story is about a Chinese-American family who struggles to fit in. The mama, papa, Joan, Emily, and Bobby all suffer rejection in their new homtown. Eventually the towns people begin to accept them. The book has a great ending that I will let you read for yourself. I reccomend this book.

Kathy McNeel

Our first impression of The Star Fisher was that its plot would consist of the typical cultural conflict along with a family's struggle to achieve the elusive American dream. However, Yep did a wonderful job of creating characters that made this book much more than that.
Joan Lee, the main character, is a fifteen-year old Chinese-Ameriacan girl striving to find her place in a small West Virginia community. The inclusion of the old Chinese folktale The Star Fisher serves as a symbolic representation of Joan's struggle to fit into a world that seems very foreign to her in many ways.
We would recommend this book to anyone who has ever felt ostracized because of their cultural differences as well as to those who have been responsible for causing these feelings in another person. There is certainly a lesson to be learned from Joan Lee who is a star fisher in her own unique way.

This book is a very good book. It is about a 1920's Chinese family that has emigrated from Ohio to West Virgina to start a laundry business. The main character is Joan Lee. She and her family face racial discrimination in their new home, but their kindly landlady Miss Lucy helps them. Joan often relates her own feelings and emotions to that of the starfisher, a character in the story she often tells her sister, Emily. This is a very good book to teach about prejudice and tolerance to other cultures. I give this book five stars!

"I thought I knew what green was until we went to West Virginia." That's how Star Fisher, by Laurence Yep, starts off. The book is about a Chinese - American family who moves from Ohio to West Virginia in the 1920' s. They start a laundry bussiness, and try to fit in. Joan Lee (the main character) finds new friends and finds a new relationship with her mother.
I thought the book was good. My favorite character is Joan' s sister Emily, because she was funny, smart, and brave. She always says what she feels. Some parts were sad. Like when she gets into a fight with her mother. Although I thought it was sad, their fights drag on and on. Other than that I enjoyed reading The Star Fisher.