Shadow of the Dragon

Shadow of the Dragon is a book written by Sherry Garland, with Sang Le as a protagonist who has a hard time adjusting to American life.

Overview of the Plot

Danny Vo's family, who live in Houston, TX, is hosting a homecoming party for his eighteen-year-old cousin Sang Le who was sentenced in a Re-education Camp, or prison, in Hong Kong for many years. At the party, Sang Le meets a beautiful girl named Hong (whom Danny rescued from the Cobras, a toan du dang, (the Vietnamese name for a gang at the market)) and immediately falls in love while Hong, or rose, sees Danny, and falls in love with him. However, Danny already has a crush, an American girl named Tiffany Marie Schultz.

At school, Sang Le is slow at learning English and becomes impatient with school. The only subject he enjoys is art, where his teacher acknowledges him as one of the best students she has ever had. Danny is also struggling with American and Vietnam life, as himself wanting American more while her parents and family pressure him into a traditional Vietnamese lifestyle.

His relationship with Tiffany is going well after they admit they both like each other. But Sang Le eventually quits school and joins a Vietmanese street gang called the Cobras, whose leader Sang Le relates to. He repeatedly comes home late, lying about where he is and coming home with several hundred dollars a night. He says he is using the money to pay back Danny's family for bringing him to America, but he does not want to tell them where the money is coming from.

Tiffany eventually agrees to go on a date with Danny alone, but because she has to take care of her brother who has disabilities, she was not able to until her mother took the night shift at the hospital where she worked as a nurse. When Danny takes her to her door, Tiffany's brother and a skinhead gang viciously beat him.

Ba, the grandmother in the family, finds out about Sang Le's money and learns it comes from "jobs" given to him by the gang. She throws the money away and makes Sang Le promise to turn over a new leaf. He agrees, and the next night he stays home with Danny after the leader of the toan du dang tells Sang Le to meet him at the bida, or billiards hall, if he still wants to participate in the gang's activities. Sang Le resists the temptation, but later Danny lets him go to the store a block down to buy cigarettes.

When Sang Le doesn't return, Danny goes outside and finds Sang Le, beat up, at the foot of an oak tree outside their apartments. Sang Le tells Danny to tell Ba he did not go to the bida hall, and then he dies. The officer later tells Danny that Sang Le had been beaten to death by a baseball bat, which the skinhead gang threatened to use on him. He immediately knows who committed the crime, and has to decide between honoring Sang Le or keeping Tiffany Marie as his girlfriend. He goes to the officer who asked him questions, and tells him who committed the crime while Ba listens and accepts Danny.

The epilogue has Danny meeting Tiffany in the parking lot of his apartment. Danny is moving to a new house, while Tiffany has had to sell her house and move to pay for Frank's bail.

Awards

• ABA's Pick of Lists
• ALA Best Book for Young Adults
• Booklist Editors Choice
• California Young Reader Medal [California]
• New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age
• Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults
• Texas Lone Star Reading List