The Red Car to Hollywood

Gr 9 Up–The historical background of this book draws on early days of Chinese people in America when the Immigration Act of 1924 established quotas to limit immigration from China. Yet the center of this book is an American-born Chinese teen who tries to escape her parents’ arranged marriage plan and build a life she wants. It’s the spring of 1924 when Ruby’s father becomes the proprietor of an antique store and moves the family from San Francisco to Los Angeles’s Chinatown. Ruby, 16, attends Polytech, a mostly white school where she secretly develops a relationship with a white boy, Russell Blythe. The relationship would not be acceptable to her very traditional Chinese parents and the Los Angeles Chinatown community. Her parents hire a matchmaker to look for a husband to prevent her from bringing shame to the family. Not ready to accept an arranged marriage, Ruby seeks independence by working at a department store while her father travels to China for business with the added intention of finding a Chinese husband for Ruby. Meanwhile, Ruby meets 19-year-old Anna May Wong, a rising Hollywood actor. The girls quickly establish a friendship; Ruby also develops a relationship with Anna’s brother, James. In addition to young love, friendships, and relationships, this book also discusses racism and sexism and ways to find self-identity that meets pride of culture.