40 Fun Facts About Dragonwings

Whom does Moon Shadow write to in Dragonwings for advice on building his father's flying machine?

The Wright brothers were still doubted by much of the public, yet Orville wrote back promptly with diagrams and charts. Windrider treated each reply as a lesson for his next model glider.

Which San Francisco-born author based Dragonwings on a real Chinese immigrant who built a plane?

Laurence Yep grew up working in his parents' grocery store and has said he felt too American for Chinatown and too Chinese for anywhere else. Moon Shadow shares that outsider's view.

What does Windrider make so well in Dragonwings that Moon Shadow knows his skill before they meet?

Kites are how Moon Shadow first knows him: back in China his mother flies the ones Windrider left behind, including a fast swallow. The real model was the author's own kite-making father.

What business does the Company run in Dragonwings, serving the white customers of San Francisco?

A laundry on the ground floor of a three-storey building is the Company's livelihood, under a sign reading Peach Orchard Vow. The author's mother was raised around one in West Virginia.

What do Moon Shadow's people call America in Dragonwings, a name that sets him looking for treasure?

Land of the Golden Mountain was a real Cantonese name for California, born of the Gold Rush. Moon Shadow notes on landing that there are plenty of hills but not one of them is golden.

In Dragonwings, what do rioters hurl through the Company's window on Moon Shadow's first night?

A brick shatters the shopfront on his welcome evening while the mob shouts abuse Moon Shadow cannot yet understand. The men sweep up the glass and send him upstairs with Windrider.

What does Windrider decide matters more than flying after Dragonwings crashes on its first flight?

His family comes first, he says on waking, and one flight is enough for him. He drops any thought of a second aeroplane and goes back to steady work.

How is Robin, the red-haired girl who befriends Moon Shadow in Dragonwings, related to Miss Whitlaw?

Her niece moved in after losing both parents, and enters the story by tumbling through a door she was spying behind. She later helps Moon Shadow read English with borrowed dime novels.

Which drug has a hold on Black Dog in Dragonwings, souring a man who once lived in comfort in China?

Opium is his escape from hard labour in a country he resents, having been pampered at home before he was brought over. Britain fought two wars in the 1800s over its trade in the drug to China.

On which vast American building project did Uncle Bright Star once labour in Dragonwings?

The transcontinental railroad was carved through the Sierra Nevada largely by thousands of Chinese labourers. Uncle swaps stories about it with Miss Whitlaw, whose cousin laid track from the east.

In Dragonwings, what do the Tang people call China, translating the country's own name for itself?

The Middle Kingdom renders Zhongguo, China's own name for itself. Moon Shadow leaves for America from Canton, the southern city whose streets he later sees echoed in Chinatown.

Which cousin, a teller of tall tales, escorts Moon Shadow across the Pacific in Dragonwings?

Hand Clap counts as a cousin because he shares the surname Lee, and he coaches Moon Shadow on what to tell the immigration officials. He is the Company's great exaggerator.

Why did Lefty, the Company's one-handed poet in Dragonwings, cut off his own right hand?

To punish his gambling, after he lost the money saved for his passage home to China. His farewell present to Windrider and Moon Shadow is a poem he wrote before the loss.

In Windrider's dream in Dragonwings, what did he try to put out as a dragon, earning exile as a man?

The sun was his target, and he beat his wings to blow it out, the Dragon King explains. To win back his true shape he must pass a series of tests during his human life.

Which stranded motorist does Windrider help for free in Dragonwings, earning the offer of a job?

Mr. Alger, a property man, offers his business card when Windrider refuses payment for the repair. The job later gives the Lees a way out of Chinatown.

What is the long braid worn by Tang men in Dragonwings called, first imposed by Manchu rulers?

A queue was a sign of submission to the Manchu emperors. Moon Shadow's grandfather fought the white men who cut his off, and they hanged him for it.

How is Black Dog related to Uncle Bright Star, the elderly head of the Company in Dragonwings?

His son had lived in comfort in China and resents being brought to America. Uncle threatens him constantly yet quietly keeps covering his debts.

What job is Moon Shadow doing in Dragonwings when Black Dog beats him and takes the money?

Collecting overdue bills in Chinatown was a task he was trusted with once he turned ten by American count. Black Dog first confides his bitterness to the boy, then knocks him senseless.

In Dragonwings, what does Windrider do in the duel with Black Dog that forces him out of Chinatown?

Windrider kills a man with his hatchet to stop him finishing off Moon Shadow, who had jumped on a hidden gunman. The gang's leader apologises for the ambush but advises him to get out of town.

In Dragonwings, what fills the porcelain cup Uncle Bright Star gives Windrider as a farewell gift?

Soil from China fills the cup, a piece of home to carry into the white part of the city. Uncle presents it dressed in his finest clothes, the last of the Company to say goodbye.

Where do Windrider and Moon Shadow live in Dragonwings once they move behind Miss Whitlaw's house?

A stable in the back yard of her Victorian boarding house becomes their home. Windrider's first act there is to build shelves for the Company's parting gifts.

Which saint does Miss Whitlaw say slew the creature in her stained-glass window in Dragonwings?

St George is her only idea of a dragon: a wicked beast for a hero to kill. Moon Shadow is stunned, and on later visits he sets about teaching her that dragons can be noble creatures.

What does Miss Whitlaw nearly stir into Moon Shadow's gift of jasmine tea in Dragonwings?

Milk and sugar would have ruined it in his eyes, and he stops her just in time. She admires the dragon printed on the tea packet instead, which gives him his opening to defend dragons.

What does Robin say the bully Jack fears most in Dragonwings, a tip that ends Moon Shadow's torment?

A punch on the nose is the thing Jack dreads, so Moon Shadow walks outside and lands one. Jack goes down, Moon Shadow helps him up, and the neighbourhood boys stop tormenting him.

How do the Tang leaders in Dragonwings win the right to rebuild Chinatown after the earthquake?

By threatening to leave the city for good, taking their businesses and their money with them. Days of forced marches under army guard had already driven most of the Tang people away.

To which city across the bay do Windrider and Moon Shadow move in Dragonwings to build their plane?

Oakland's foothills give them a smelly barn on a run-down estate, where they work for three years. The real aviator who inspired the story built his aeroplanes in the same city.

What is Red Rabbit, the slow and lazy member of the Company's delivery rounds in Dragonwings?

A horse, he pulls the delivery wagon at his own unhurried pace. He finally moves fast on the day the city burns, and years later he helps drag the aeroplane to its hilltop.

Dragonwings was named an Honor Book, or runner-up, for which American children's book prize?

The Newbery Medal itself went that year to Susan Cooper's The Grey King. A later novel in the same saga, Dragon's Gate, brought the author a second Honor.

Which honour did Dragonwings win in 1995, for a book overlooked by major prizes two decades before?

The Phoenix Award takes its name from the bird reborn from its own ashes, for books that rise from obscurity. In truth the novel had hardly been ignored, having earned two runner-up honours.

Which real aviator, who flew his own biplane in California in 1909, inspired Dragonwings?

Fung Joe Guey flew in a wide circle for some twenty minutes before a propeller bolt snapped. He walked away bruised, and later took his aeroplanes to China to aid the rebellion against the Qing dynasty.

How does Dragonwings end for Moon Shadow's mother, who has waited on the farm in China?

Her husband sails to fetch her at the close of the novel, having left before their child was born. Moon Shadow stays behind to wait, sitting on a swing with Robin.

Which injuries does Windrider suffer in Dragonwings when the aeroplane's frame snaps in mid-air?

A broken leg and ribs are the price of a few glorious minutes circling above his friends. Uncle Bright Star checks him over and judges that he will live, while Robin runs for a doctor.

How does Black Dog's story end in Dragonwings, some time after his last robbery of the Lees?

Murdered in an alley, his throat cut and his wallet gone, he dies as violently as he lived. Uncle Bright Star, who never stopped caring for him, takes the news hard.

What does the Company offer Windrider after his flight in Dragonwings, funded by a loan from Uncle?

A partnership in the business costs a thousand dollars, which Uncle lends free of interest. Having watched a man fly, the old sceptic admits he may have been wrong about other things too.

What does Windrider hand Black Dog in Dragonwings to save Moon Shadow, just as the plane is ready?

All their savings go to Black Dog, who is holding the boy at knifepoint. With no money for rent or for wagons to haul the machine uphill, the Lees prepare to abandon three years of work.

Under American law in Dragonwings, what must Windrider officially be before his wife may join him?

A merchant could send for a wife, while a hired labourer could not. Windrider and Moon Shadow dream for a time of opening a repair shop of their own in order to qualify.

What nickname has Black Dog's criminal brotherhood in Dragonwings, a gang Windrider once joined?

The Sleepers is the street name for the Brotherhood of Eternal Repose. Windrider goes to its leader's door and demands a one-to-one fight with Black Dog.

Which English author wrote the fantasy novels Robin lends Moon Shadow in Dragonwings?

E. Nesbit was a current author for Robin: the book she presses on him as they part had come out only in 1904. In return he gives her the wooden monkey that Uncle carved for him.

Which breakfast names the real 1906 fire recalled in Dragonwings, begun at a damaged chimney?

Ham and eggs gave the fire its name because a woman lit her stove to cook breakfast, unaware the quake had damaged her chimney. It destroyed some thirty blocks, City Hall among them.

Which spring festival for the dead reunites Windrider with the Company in Dragonwings?

The Feast of Pure Brightness falls in early April, when relatives tend graves and leave offerings. Old Deerfoot uses it to coax Windrider into meeting Uncle; thirteen days later the city shakes.