Chang and Grandpa Li come to California from China at the peak of the gold rush.

Author: Eleanor Coerr 
Illustrator: Deborah Kogan Ray
Format: Hardcover
Published: HarperCollins, 1993

Chang and Grandpa Li come to California from China at the peak of the gold rush. Grandpa Li cooks for the hungry miners, and young Chang helps out. More than anything else in the world, Chang wants a pony, but Grandpa says they cannot afford one. When a miner named Big Pete shows Chang how to pan for gold, he thinks he may have found a solution. The level three beginning reader makes the historical time period accessible to younger children.