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Children's Fiction Asian American

Ghost Train

by (author) Paul Yee

illustrated by Harvey Chan

Publisher
Groundwood Books Ltd
Initial publish date
Aug 2009
Category
Asian American, Post-Confederation (1867-), Fantasy & Magic
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780888999801
    Publish Date
    Aug 2009
    List Price
    $9.95
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9781554983896
    Publish Date
    Oct 2013
    List Price
    $14.95
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781773065793
    Publish Date
    Aug 2020
    List Price
    $7.99
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9780888992574
    Publish Date
    Jun 1996
    List Price
    $18.95

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Where to buy it

Out of print

This edition is not currently available in bookstores. Check your local library or search for used copies at Abebooks.

Recommended Age, Grade, and Reading Levels

  • Age: 6 to 10
  • Grade: 1 to 5
  • Reading age: 6 to 10

Description

Winner of the Governor General's Award, the Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Illustrator's Award, the Elizabeth Mrazik-Cleaver Award and the Ruth Schwartz Award

This powerful, unforgettable and multi-award-winning tale is based on the lives of the Chinese who settled on the west coast of North America in the early 1900s.

Left behind in China by her father, who has gone to North America to find work, Choon-yi has made her living by selling her paintings in the market. When her father writes one day and asks her to join him, she joyously sets off, only to discover that he has been killed. Choon-yi sees the railway and the giant train engines that her father died for, and she is filled with an urge to paint them.

But her work disappoints her until a ghostly presence beckons her to board the train where she meets the ghosts of the men who died building the railway. She is able to give them peace by returning their bones to China where they were born.

About the authors

Paul Yee is one of Canada's finest writers for children. He was raised in Vancouver and has worked in the archives at the Vancouver Museum. He won the Governor General's Literary Award for Children's Literature for Ghost Train. He now lives in Toronto.
Ghost Trainbr>    Winner of the Governor General's Literary Award 1996br>    Winner of the Ruth Schwartz Children's Book Award 1997br>    Finalist for the Toronto IODE Book Award 1997
The Bone Collector's Sonbr>    Winner of the City of Vancouver Book Award 2004br>    Finalist for the Rocky Mountain Book Award 2006br>    Finalist for the Stellar Book Award (BC Teen Readers' Choice Award) 2005-6br>    Chosen as Best of 2004, Resource Links.ca
Bamboobr>    Finalist for the Chocolate Lily Award 2007 (BC Readers' Choice Award)br>    Chosen as Best of 2006, Resource Links
The Jade Necklacebr>    Finalist for the Mr. Christie's Book Award 2002

Paul Yee's profile page

Harvey Chan immigrated to Canada from Hong Kong as a teenager. He has won the Ruth Schwartz Children's Book Award three times - with Paul Yee for Roses Sing on New Snow and Ghost Train, and with Celia Barker Lottridge for Music for the Tsar of the Sea by Celia Barker Lottridge. Harvey is currently living in Hong Kong.

Harvey Chan's profile page

Awards

  • Short-listed, Hackmatack Award
  • Winner, CLA Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Illustrator's Award
  • Winner, Prix Enfantaisie
  • Winner, Elizabeth Mrazik-Cleaver Canadian Picture Book Award
  • Winner, Governor General's Literary Awards: Text
  • Winner, Ruth Schwartz Award

Editorial Reviews

A splendid collaboration and achievement, once again, from Paul Yee and Harvey Chan.

Globe and Mail

Yee uses precise details...and powerful imagery...to create a rich atmosphere.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

A moving fantasy.

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