This entire series is a wonderful way to learn history or teach it to adolescents. I find today's generations seem to recall more when they learn through other people (pop songs, celebrity gossip, etc.), so what better way to teach history than through someone else's perspective? Yes, "authentic" diaries would be "better", but would the language really hold the modern student's attention? Did the diary writer know what WOULD be important in the context of history? Probably not.

On the Lambing Flat goldfields in 1860, racial tensions simmer between the successful Chinese gold miners and the unsuccessful white ones. Shu Cheong knows English, can write but after the death of his father and uncle, he is passed around a series of “Uncles” and although he is not allowed to mine, he helps by writing letters for the miners (both C. & White) until the terrible L. F. riots. *www.chrischeng.com/books/new_gold_mountain.htm has a worksheet on the book.p.31 –35 19/10 to24/10about racial tension in the camp.