The Tiger's Apprentice by Laurence Yep

In The Tiger's Apprentice, Yep brings to life many animals associated with the Chinese calendar and folklore. He weaves together a combination of stories and ideas from Chinese history along with culture from modern America to create a story that represents each of the two worlds. Yep has won two Newbery Honor Awards for his work as a children's author.

In the story, Tom is a young boy growing up with his grandmother in a community that believes she is strange, and often ridicules her in front of Tom. Tom never quite seems to fit in with the other children, often getting into fights to defend his grandmother. One day, Tom's life changes when he encounters a magical visitor: a tiger who can appear as a man. From that day forward, Tom's life becomes full of tales that have come to life, teeming with magic and magical events.

One of the things that I like about this book is that one of the heroes, Tom, is not always a willing hero. Yep allows the readers to see his doubts about himself, his family, and his culture, his desire that things in his life not change. Young readers would certainly identify with these feelings, even though they take place in a magical setting. I also appreciate that the characters make tough decisions because they are the right things to do, not because they want to do them. Any reader could learn from these teachings.

One other interesting note about this book: This is the first book that I have read where dragons are said to live in the sea. He is the first author that I have heard suggest such a thing.

Laurence Yep has written extensively, with many books receiving awards. Some of the series that he has written include (as compiled by Wands):

• Golden Mountain Chronicles (8 books)
• Dragons of the Sea (4 books)
• Chinatown (3 books)
• Tiger's Apprentice (3 books)

Novels that he has written include:

• Sweetwater
• Sea Demons
• Kind Hearts and Gentle Monsters
• The Mark Twain Murders
• Liar, Liar
• The Tom Sawyer Fires
• Monster Makers, Inc.
• The Curse of the Squirrel
• The Star Fisher
• The Ghost Fox
• Thief of Hearts
• Hiroshima
• Later, Gator
• Ribbons
• The Imp That Ate My Homework
• The Cook's Family
• The Amah
• The Magic Paintbrush
• The Journal of Wong Ming-Chung: A Chinese Miner (My Name Is America)
• Dream Soul
• Angelfish
• Lady of Ch'iao Kuo: Warrior of the South, Southern China, A.D. 531
• Skunk Scout
• When the Circus Came to Town
• Spring Pearl: The Last Flower
• The Earth Dragon Awakes: The San Francisco Earthquake of 1906
• Bravo, Mia! Girl of the Year
• The Dragon's Child: A Story of Angel Island

His collections include:

• The Rainbow People
• Tongues of Jade
• Tree of Dreams: Ten Tales from the Garden of Night
• Cockroach Cooties

His picture books include:

• The Butterfly Boy
• The Man Who Tricked a Ghost
• The Shell Woman and the King: A Chinese Folktale
• The Boy Who Swallowed Snakes
• The Junior Thunder Lord
• The City of Dragons
• Tiger Woman
• The Khan's Daughter: A Mongolian Folktale
• The Dragon Prince: A Chinese Beauty and the Beast Tale
• Auntie Tiger

He has contributed to other anthologies, series, and nonfiction works as well. Quite a busy author!

Wands, D. C. (2009). Fantastic fiction: Laurence Yep. Retrieved August 9, 2009 from http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/y/laurence-yep/.

Yep, L. (2003). The tiger's apprentice. San Francisco: HarperCollins.