Skip to main content
Log in

From Author to Protagonist: Stories of Self-Identity Development

  • Published:
Children's Literature in Education Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Jean Fritz's Homesick and Laurence Yep's Child of the Owl share a lot in common. The two authors are both puzzled by their childhood experiences with acculturative stress and their personal identity. They search for answers to the meaning of the experiences in their stories respectively. Their stories of self-identity development are very different. The difference indicates that children are vulnerable to acculturative stress and often pay the price for cultural conflict.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Alberghene, Janice, “Artful memory: Jean Fritz, autobiography, and the child reader,” in The Voice of the Narrator in Children's Literature, C. F. Otten and G. D. Schmidt, eds., pp. 362–368. New York: Greenwood Press, 1989.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berry, John W., and Uichol, Kim, “Acculturation and mental health,” in Health and Cross-Cultural Psychology, P. R. Dasen, J. W. Berry, and N. Sartorius, eds., pp. 207–236. Newbury Park, CA: SAGE, 1988.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berry, John W., “Acculturation as varieties of adaptation,” in Acculturation: Theory, Models, and Some New Findings, Amado M. Padilla, ed., pp. 9–10. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1980.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bhugra, Dinesh, Bhui, Kamaldeep, Mallett, Rosemarie, Desai, Manisha, Singh, Jayshree, and Leff, Julian, “Cultural identity and its measurement: A questionnaire for Asians,” International Review of Psychology, 1999, 11, 244–249.

    Google Scholar 

  • Evens, Nicola, “Identity in question,” Quarterly Journal of Speech, 84, 1998, 94–129.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fritz, Jean, China Homecoming. New York: Putnam, 1985.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fritz, Jean, Homesick. New York: Putnam, 1982.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fritz, Jean, “The teller and the tale,” in Worlds of Childhood, W. Zinsser, ed., pp. 21–46. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1990.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fritz, Jean, “The voice of one biographer,” in The Voice of the Narrator in Children's Literature, C. F. Otten and G. D. Schmidt, eds., pp. 362–368. New York: Greenwood Press, 1989.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ghuman, Paul A. Singh, Coping with Two Cultures. Bristol, PA: Multicultural Matters QTD, 1994.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gillies, Warna D., “Third culture kids,” Children Education, Fall, 1998, 36–38.

    Google Scholar 

  • Girard, L. W. “The truth with some stretchers,” in Horn Book Magazine, 64.4, pp. 464–469, July 1988.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guanipa-Ho, Carman, Ethnic identity and adolescence, edweb.sdsu.edu/people/Cguanipa/ethnic.htm by 09/25/02.

  • Headland, Issac T., The Chinese Boy and Girl. New York: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1901.

    Google Scholar 

  • Khorana, Meena, “The ethnic family and identity formation in adolescents,” in The Child and the Family: Slected Papers fron the 1988 International Conference of the Children's Literature Association,.R. Gannon and R. A. Thompson, eds., pp. 52–58. New York: Pace University, 1988.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leahy, Robert, “The costs of development: Clinical implications,” in The Development of the Self, Robert Leahy, ed., pp. 287–314. New York: Academic Press, 1985.

    Google Scholar 

  • Padilla, Amado, “The role of cultural awareness and ethnic loyalty” in Acculturation: Theory, Models, and Some New Findings, Amado Padilla, ed., pp. 47–84. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1980.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smollar, Jacqueline, and Youniss, James, “Adolescent self-concept development,” in The Development of the Self, Robert Leahy, ed., pp. New York: Academic Press, 1985.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stopes-Roe, Mary, and Cochrane, Raymond, Citizens of This Country: The Asian British. Bristol, PA: Multicultural Matters QTD, 1990.

    Google Scholar 

  • Watkins, Tony, “Cultural studies, new historicism and children's literature,” in Literature for Children, P. Hunt, ed., pp. 173–209, New York: Routledge, 1992.

    Google Scholar 

  • Watkins, Tony, “The setting of children's literature: History and culture,” in Understanding Children's Literature, P. Hunt, ed., pp. 29–38. New York: Routledge, 1999.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wu, Frank, Yellow. New York: Basic Books, 2002.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yep, Laurence, Child of the Owl. New York: Harper Trophy, 1990.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ying, Yu-Wen, Lee, Peter, and Tsai, Jeanne, “Cultural orientation and racial discrimination: Predictors of coherence in Chinese American young adults,” Journal of Community Psychology, 2000, 28, 427–442.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Mo, W., Shen, W. From Author to Protagonist: Stories of Self-Identity Development. Children's Literature in Education 34, 287–304 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:CLID.0000004896.03447.b7

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:CLID.0000004896.03447.b7

Navigation