A Dragon's Guide to Making Perfect Wishes

“I was born in San Francisco’s Chinatown in 1948, but grew up in a black neighborhood. During elementary and middle school, I commuted to a bilingual school in Chinatown. So I did not confront white American culture until high school. Approaching that culture as an outsider, I have been fascinated by all its aspects — from its great novels to its children’s literature, comic art, and science fiction. Thus, I am able to pursue the figure of the ‘stranger’ both in my studies and my writing.”While I was in high school, I discovered and began writing science fiction. At 18, my first short story was published — I was paid a penny a word by a science fiction magazine. I continued to write and five years later I published my first novel, Sweetwater. “In 1966, I attended Marquette University and graduated from the University of California at Santa Cruz in 1970. I received my doctorate in English from the State University of New York at Buffalo, where I wrote my dissertation on William Faulkner’s early novels. I now live in San Francisco with my wife, Joanne Ryder, and write and teach.”Probably the reason why much of my writing has found its way to a teenage audience is that I’m always pursuing the theme of being an outsider — an alien — and many teenagers feel they’re aliens. All of my books have dealt with the outsider — from the aliens of Sweetwater to alienated heroes such as the Chinese-American aviator in Dragonwings.” Today Laurence Yep is known as a premier Asian-American writer. His distinguished novels for young people that deal with the Asian-American experience include two Newbery Honor Award winners, Dragonwings and Dragon’s Gate. Mr.Yep, who has a Ph.D. in English, has taught at the University of California at Berkeley and Santa Barbara. He also is an award-winning playwright and has edited a collection of writings by Asian-Americans. Mr.Yep lives in San Francisco. Ribbons is his first book for Putnam.copyright ? 2000 by Penguin Putnam Books for Young Readers. All rights reserved.

Joanne Ryder has her own ties to Laura Ingalls Wilder. She helped edit West from Home: Letters of Laura Ingalls Wilder, San Francisco, 1915. Already in love with the city, Ingalls’s letters introduced Ryder to the 1915 San Francisco World’s Fair, providing the perfect backdrop for Winnie and Miss Drake’s adventures. In her storied career, Ryder has published more than seventy books and received numerous awards for her nature writing and poetry.