Answer:
The first plot is about the monkey king who is insulted by other rulers and decides to prove that he's better than they think. He practices kung fu, increases his abilities, and then shows off his skills. His feelings of superiority lead him to rename himself the Great Sage. When he visits Tze-Yo-Tzuh, the creator of all tries to tell the monkey king that he should be content with just being a monkey, but the monkey king refuses. As punishment for his poor choices, Tze-Yo-Tzuh buries the monkey king under a mountain of rock. Five hundred years later Wong Lai-Tsao explains that he can free himself by reducing himself back to his original size. After he is freed, he send his son Wei-Chen on a journey to become a mortal for forty years and stay free of vice. The monkey king keeps an eye on his son and his son's friend Jin by disguising himself as Chin-kee.
In the second plot, Jin is a young Chinese American who doesn't fit in at school. He befriends Wei-Chen who immigrates to America from Taiwan. Wei-Chen goes out with Suzy and eventually Jin works up the courage to ask out Amelia. Then Amelia's friend Greg asks Jin to stop dating Amelia, which makes him wish he were white. When he wakes up, he finds that he is white, so he renames himself Danny, which leads to the third plotline.ω⇒⇒⇒⇒⇒⇒⇒⇒⇒⇒⇒⇒⇒⇒⇒⇒
Explanation:
Thirteen-year-old Salamanca Tree Hiddle, proud of her country roots and the "Indian-ness in her blood," travels from Ohio to Idaho with her eccentric grandparents. Along the way, she tells them of the story of Phoebe Winterbottom, who received mysterious messages, who met a "potential lunatic," and whose mother disappeared.
Beneath Phoebe's stories Salamanca's own story and that of her mother, who left on April morning for Idaho, promising to return before the tulips bloomed. Sal's mother has not, however, returned, and the trip to Idaho takes on a growing urgency as Salamanca hopes to get to Idaho in time for her mother's birthday and bring her back, despite her father's warning that she is fishing in the air.
This richly layered novel is in turn funny, mysterious, and touching. Sharon Creech's original voice tells a story like no other, one that readers will not soon forget.
Skimming and scanning first This way you get a sense of what the story is about.
