Escape to Gold Mountain

A sweeping graphic history of how the Chinese came to North America 150+ years ago, and their experiences in what they called “Gold Mountain” (their term for North America). Age level: 12 and up. Author Wong has long been fascinated by the Chinese American immigrant experience. His book is based on archival materials and interviews with Chinese American elders recalling their own stories of migration and integration. ”The iron chink” was the name of a salmon cannery processing machine (patented in 1905) purported to be more efficient than the Asian workers it replaced. Arsenal’s third graphic novel, following The 500 Years of Resistance Comic Book and The Anti-Capitalist Resistance Comic Book, both by Gord Hill. Part of Arsenal’s growing list of multicultural titles, specifically Asian American; others include Beauty Plus Pity (Kevin Chong) and When Fox is a Thousand (Larissa Lai). Both the US and Canada have redressed past discrimination against the Chinese in recent years; in 2011 the US Senate passed a resolution apologizing for past discrimination against Chinese Americans, including the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act which banned Chinese (and other Asian) immigration to America. Strong potential for secondary school, school library, and public library sales. Non-traditional market: Asian American retail.