Kirsten Davidson
Ghost Train
by Paul Yee
Summary
This is the story of Choon-yi, a Chinese girl born with only one arm but possessed of an extraordinary ability to paint. Her father leaves China one day in order to earn money by going to North America to help build the railroads. The job is a dangerous one.
Over time Choon-yi’s father sends money home. One day he also sends a letter requesting that Choon-yi come to North America. She arrives in North America only to find that her father has been killed working on the rail line. His ghost requests that she paint the train that runs along the road that he built. She does, and, and in doing so she ends up riding a ghost trained filled with the mangled ghosts of Chinese workmen killed building the railway. Finally, her father gives Choon-yi the instruction to return to China with the painting and burn it, letting the ashes fly, so that the souls of the dead railway workers may find their way home.
This book is richly descriptive and haunting, and the illustrations are stunning. It tells the story of the plight of Chinese railway workers in North America without being preachy, thus allowing children to come to their own conclusions about this period of North American history. My only concern with this book is that the rather gory descriptions of the mangled ghosts might be disturbing to younger children.
Activity/Strategy
Before and after reading the book, discuss the historical underpinnings to the tale in the context of British Columbia. Combining the story told in the book and the discussion of the historical fact behind it, have the students write a newspaper article from the historical period, based on Ghost Train. Have the students include quotes from one or both of the main characters (Choon-yi and her father) about how this incident made them feel, or other such quotes. They could even attempt to draw a character or scene from the book that would help illustrate the news story.
An extension of this, particularly for older students, could come in the form of taking the news story and turning it into a newscast using a video camera. Students could take the parts of newscasters and include interviews of Choon-yi and/or her father, and perhaps even "specialists" or politicians if the study of such historical events were delved into deeper.
I felt that this strategy would help the students to synthesize the story with historical fact. Through the character "quotes" it would also allow students to try and empathize with the characters and consider points of view and character development. Finally it would help to let me know how much the students a) paid attention to the story and the history and b) understood the history involved.
ISBN: 0-88899-257-2