Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sharing this tragic story of hope and loss. I was not aware of the Chinese Massacre. It is wonderful what can be learned from children's books. The story was concise but informative with beautiful illustrations. I would recommend this book for school libraries.

Dreams to Ashes is a reminder of how quickly hard working immigrants become demonized by the masses even back in the 1800s. Chinese immigrants longed for a better life and risked theirs to head to California in hopes of just that. But, after an altercation with several immigrants and mob of white men decided that the Chinese men Jim longer had rights and killed many.
This is and continues to be a very sad part of American history and one that is prevalent in this day.
The story is dark and sad and makes me wonder what it would take for everyone to learn to be accepting of others unlike themselves.
We need to find a way.

What a great book for kids (and adults!) to learn about Chinese immigrants in the 1800s and the racism they faced.

I loved the illustrations, especially how the illustrator used muted tones to portray the setting while using brighter colors to highlight a few named victims like Dr. Gene Tong, Tong Won, Wing Chee. It helped convey this vile and xenophobic event in a serious manner while also respecting and honoring their lives.

I liked the informational section at the end. It was helpful for me to understand the history of early Chinese immigration to the West Coast, including placing the massacre, the overturned manslaughter convictions for the perpetrators, and important legislation such as the Chinese Exclusion Act into perspective in US history.

This is definitely an important book for children to understand the dangers of unbridled hate and racism, while also bringing a message of hope that we, as a nation, can do so much better.

I'd recommend it to children who can understand the importance of the massacre, anti-American racism, and their repercussions throughout history and beyond.

Thank you to Carolrhoda Books ® and NetGalley for this arc.

This is a beautiful but heartbreaking book. Very well balanced and appropriate for a wide age range I will be adding this to our list for future studies.

Highly recommend for middle schoolers and up

The illustrations were easily 5-star giving the reader the sense of being there, a true witness to the events that unfolded. The scenes are detailed in a way that reinforces the storyline and in my opinion, makes a greater impact on the reader
I appreciated how the author did not soften the events for the reader.
It is a darker part of our history that is not talked about enough, yet should be.

The story not only recounts the details of the China Town Massacre and its victims but it also reiterates how easily a single misunderstanding crafts mob mentality.
Along with the retelling the author has included the factual details and the lives of those lost

Dream to Ashes tells the story of the 1871 LA Chinese Massacre, which admittedly, I am not familiar with.

But the story is more than that. It tells the story of migrants from China to a new world, a world that's unfriendly and riddled with difficulties. As immigrants in the US, Chinese worker fell into many different roles, including bringing Chinese culture to the USA. With a growing resentment towards Chinese immigrants, violence erupts and many lives are lost.

This picture book tackles a very real history to understand the very real issues with racism, xenophobia, and hate crimes. It also talks about who commits hate crimes, which is very relevant to today. The book even talks about how to learn from the past to prevent hate from existing today, which really is essential for young people to recognize.

The illustrations in this book are gentle, yet horrifying during the massacre. It's done tastefully, honoring the victims of the massacre while telling how terrifying the moments were. It could be quite scary for a young child, so I would imagine this book would be more appropriate for older elementary age.

This would also be a great book to use as part of a unit on Chinese history, racism, or hate crimes for younger children. It's a tangible yet digestible way for older elementary age children to start learning about those concepts and establishing a foundation to end hateful, systemic forces in the world.

This was a quick summary of the LA Chinese Massacre that occurred in the 1871. The book starts out as a picture-like book than is followed by a quick, concise, and thoughtful conclusion. I found both sections interesting from book the writing and art stand point. This book is a quick but powerful reminder of how hate has darkened the past of America.

Dreams to Ashes gives details of the little-known massacre in Los Angeles' Chinatown in 1871. The beautiful illustrations make the story come alive. The tale takes the reader through the hopes and dreams of new immigrants to the United States, who are making a way for themselves to the tragedy of the massacre and the aftermath. The author appropriately uses facts to convey the story.

Such an important book about early Chinese American history! I’m so glad this story is being told in an accessible way. The end note also provides a lot of important historical context.

It was not until I was in college taking an Asian American studies class that I ever learned of these events, so I'm really glad that there are more books on more difficult subjects like this, as we never learned anything about when learning about our state history while growing up in California.

This is definitely a darker topic, but the artwork is done very well, and the author does a great job talking about what happened as well as what we can [hopefully] learn from this going forward.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, + the author for an ARC of this book.

Great book for any school library. This book handles the 1871 LA Chinatown Massacre with grace and facts. The illustrations fit the story without being gory, making it suitable for elementary and middle school libraries. There are names and short looks into the lives of people who were killed, helping to humanize those who were murdered.

At the end of the picture book story is a summary of the reports of the massacre and a bibliography for further reading.

Recommended age: 4-6th grade due to the subject

This honest review was given in exchange for an advanced copy of the book.

The 1871 Los Angeles Chinatown Massacre was a period of American history I was unaware of before reading "Dreams to Ashes", despite growing up in Southern California and learning about the Gold Rush in elementary school. This book should book would be a great addition to California history curriculum in elementary schools.
Author Livia Blackburne does a great job of explaining the historical background to the massacre and Nicole Xu's illustrations give the reader a better understanding of the environment at the time.
I especially appreciated the historic photos and the more in-depth description of the events at the end of the book.

Heartbreaking, but important. This story shocked me and I’m surprised more people are not aware of this part of our country’s history. I am glad to have read the book, but it is very sad to think about. We must make sure our history is not forgotten so it will not be repeated.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for letting me review this book. The illustrations were great. This book sheds a light on the darker side of US history and how injustice is still prevalent today as it was back then. It’s sad that people get caught up in the craziness or stand by and do nothing as incidents like in the book happen all the time.

The illustrations in this book are stunning, but the topic is dark. Most people probably don't know about early racism against Chinese people, or the massacre that is the subject of this book, but it is important to learn about our history to make sure we don't repeat it. Even when tensions were high, justice was out of reach for the innocents who lost their lives. This would be a book that children can discuss with their parents and teachers, covering topics like how life is different today and what could have been done better.
Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this

This is a great way to make this part of US, specifically Los Angeles history accessible to younger audiences. This wasn’t a part of history I’d heard before, but sadly it doesn’t surprise me given other historical massacres on top of American responses to Chinese (and other Asian) people in 2020 and since due to Covid-19. The art really added to the intensity of the story. Now I want to do some more reading on this event.

When I was doing research on the historical novel I was working on, about the Chinese in California in the 1800s, I wanted to know every evil that was done to them. The massacre that happened in Los Angeles was one I read about. This picture book about the incident explains it in clear plain language, a thing that was so horrible, it is not mentioned even when learning local history.

The sad thing about history is that it repeats itself, and if we don’t learn from it, we are doomed to have the same thing happen all over again. Just as now there are some that say that anyone who isn’t white are scum and bring illness and crime, so did the local papers do in the late 1800s. They also said that the Chinese were taking the white people’s jobs, even though the Chinese did the work that no one else wanted to do. The cooking, the cleaning, and the washing.

Beautifully illustrated book, about a truly horrible time in US history, that needs to be told.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review. This book is coming out on the 4th of March 2025.