The theme of the outsider is at the heart of Yep's writing, according to English professor Johnson-Feelings. Part of Twayne's Young Adult Authors series, this biocritical study draws on Yep's autobiography, The Lost Garden (1991), and on interviews with Yep and his editors, and then combines the personal material with a detailed discussion of his work. 

Whether Johnson-Feelings is talking about Yep's picture books, folklore, science fiction, historical fiction, or contemporary realism, she writes with subtlety about Yep's identity as an English-speaking Chinese American artist. She shows that he draws on his ethnic tradition in all its diversity and that he universalizes what it's like to be an immigrant and an alien. Multiculturalism here is not a buzzword but a source of powerful storytelling. Notes and a bibliography are included, and there's an appendix of articles by Yep about his writing.
-Booklist-