Books with author Ruthanne Lum McCunn

Lalu Nathoy’s father calls his thirteen-year-old daughter his treasure, his “thousand pieces of gold,” yet when famine strikes northern China in 1871, he is forced to sell her. Polly, as Lalu is later called, is sold to a brothel, sold again to a slave merchant bound for America, auctioned to a saloon keeper, and offered as a prize in a poker game. Complete with photographs and documents, this biographical novel is the extraordinary story of a legendary pioneer’s fight for independence and dignity on the American frontier.

Lalu Nathoy's father called his thirteen-year-old daughter his treasure, his "thousand pieces of gold," yet when famine strikes northern China in 1871, he is forced to sell her. Polly, as Lalu is later called, is sold to a brothel, sold again to a slave merchant bound for America, auctioned to a saloonkeeper, and offered as a prize in a poker game. This biographical novel is the extraordinary story of one woman's fight for independence and dignity in the American West.

"... the true story of Poon Lim, a second steward and the only survivor of the British ship Benlomond, which was torpedoed on November 23, 1942 off the coast of South America. McCunn beautifully recounts Lim's 133 days of survival on a wooden raft--the longest recorded survival story in modern history.... This book should become a classic in sea survival. Highly recommended." Library Journal

This masterful biographical novel—which has sold more than 100,000 copies—tells the true life story of Lalu Nathoy, a young Chinese girl sold into slavery in 1871 by her poverty-stricken family and auctioned off in the American West. McCunn tells the gripping tale of how Lalu struggled out of servitude to achieve a life of freedom and dignity as a pioneer woman."A valuable book that gives Chinese Americans another true heroine." —Maxine Hong Kingston

Lalu Nathoy's father called his thirteen-year-old daughter his treasure, his "thousand pieces of gold," yet when famine strikes northern China in 1871, he is forced to sell her. Polly, as Lalu is later called, is sold to a brothel, sold again to a slave merchant bound for America, auctioned to a saloonkeeper, and offered as a prize in a poker game. This biographical novel is the extraordinary story of one woman's fight for independence and dignity in the American West.

On November 23, 1942, German U-Boats torpedoed the British ship Benlomond and it sank in the Atlantic in two minutes. The sole survivor was a second steward named Poon Lim, who, with no knowledge of the sea, managed to stay alive for 133 days on a small wooden raft. Finally rescued at the mouth of the Amazon River, Poon was hailed as the "World's Champion Survivor." He still holds the Guinness World Record for survival at sea.

This masterful biographical novel—which has sold more than 100,000 copies—tells the true life story of Lalu Nathoy, a young Chinese girl sold into slavery in 1871 by her poverty-stricken family and auctioned off in the American West. McCunn tells the gripping tale of how Lalu struggled out of servitude to achieve a life of freedom and dignity as a pioneer woman."A valuable book that gives Chinese Americans another true heroine." —Maxine Hong Kingston

When German U-boats sank the British Ben Lomond in 1942, its sole survivor was a second steward, Poon Lim, who managed to stay alive for 133 days on a wooden raft. Sole Survivor, based on three years of interviews with Poon and his family, reconstructs his remarkable ordeal and the survival techniques that earned him world celebrity and a listing in the Guiness Book of World Records."A classic saga of ordeal and survival that reminds us of the courage, strength, and resourceful intelligence of which human beings are capable."-Tillie Olsen, author of Tell Me a Riddle

Based on real characters in the 1800s, Hoi, a young Chinese immigrant, was left to his own devices after the Continental Railroad was finished. With the help of Spanish Louis, he turned his creativity into success by way of good-old American pies. Initially published in 1983 as the Chinese American answer to Paul Bunyan, the story is now re-published in a new design and a tri-lingual format.