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'''Gold Mountain ''' 
'''Author:''' [[Author::Yee, Betty G.]] 
'''[https://amzn.to/3FWRrAv Buy at Amazon] | [https://bookshop.org/a/15682/9781728415826 BookShop.org] '''
'''Time Period:''' [[Time Period::Industrial Age]] 
'''Time Frame:''' [[Time Frame::1867-1869]] {{#set: Year Start=1867}}{{#set: Year End=1869}} 
'''Geographic Area:''' [[Geographic Area::North America]], [[Geographic Area::Asia]] 
'''Country:''' [[Country::United States]], [[Country::China]]{{#set: Continent=North America}} {{#set: Continent=Asia}} 
'''Topics:''' [[Topic::Westward Expansion]], [[Topic::Chinese Immigration]], [[Topic::Transcontinental Railroad]] 
'''Genre:''' [[Genre::F|Fiction]] 
'''Reading Age:''' [[Reading Age::YA|Young Adult]], [[Reading Age::A|Adult]] {{#set: ReadAgeNum=4}} 
'''Format:''' [[Format::N|Novel]] 
'''Published:''' [[PubDate::2022]]
{{#set: BYL Level=None }}
{{#set: History=World }} {{#set: History=American }}
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'''''[[American History|American History]]''' > [[Industrial Age Booklist|Industrial Age]] > Westward Expansion''

'''Working on the Transcontinental Railroad promises a fortune―for those who survive.'''

Growing up in 1860s China, Tam Ling Fan has lived a life of comfort. Her father is wealthy enough to provide for his family but unconventional enough to spare Ling Fan from the debilitating foot-binding required of most well-off girls. But Ling Fan’s life is upended when her brother dies of influenza and their father is imprisoned under false accusations. Hoping to earn the money that will secure her father’s release, Ling Fan disguises herself as a boy and takes her brother’s contract to work for the Central Pacific Railroad Company in America.

Life on “the Gold Mountain” is grueling and dangerous. To build the railroad that will connect the west coast to the east, Ling Fan and other Chinese laborers lay track and blast tunnels through the treacherous peaks of the Sierra Nevada, facing cave-ins, avalanches, and blizzards―along with hostility from white Americans.

When someone threatens to expose Ling Fan’s secret, she must take an even greater risk to save what’s left of her family . . . and to escape the Gold Mountain alive.

==Emily's Review==

This was such an immersive read. I felt like I was swept up in Ling's world, experiencing the hardships right along with her. Tam Ling Fan's father was wrongfully imprisoned. Knowing it is her family's only hope, she dresses as a boy and runs away to "Gold Mountain" with only one goal - to make as much money as possible as quickly as she can. But she could never have anticipated how difficult the experience would be. The stakes were high and it adds a level of tension to the story, making it hard to put the book down!

I found this story to be absolutely riveting. I loved Ling Fan as a character. She was so strong and determined, even when things seemed impossible she persevered. I'm always a sucker for a story about a girl who must disguise herself as a boy - that's a trope that will always work for me, and it was done very well in this story. I thought the author did a great job of showing what this time period was like, the rampant xenophobia, the dangers of working on the railroad, the intrigue and sabotage as the different railway lines competed to be the first to make it to Promontory Point.

This was a fantastic piece of historical fiction that could pair well with any American History curriculum. I recommend it for teens ages 14+!

==Other Similar Books==
Other suggestions on the subject of the '''Westward Expansion'''.

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Other suggestions on the subject of '''Chinese Immigration'''.

{{#ask: [[Category:Books]] [[Topic::Chinese Immigration]]
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[[Category:Books]]

Gold Mountain - Revision history

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