In a time where immigrants are in danger, talented author, Freeman Ng, came to San Leandro High’s very own Library on October 1, 2025 to promote and introduce his book Bridge Across the Sky to a diverse group of students. The book focuses on a young Chinese teenager named Tai Go who is detained at an immigration station. 

 In light of the current circumstances that we are living in, being an immigrant is looked down upon by our current government administration and many immigrants in the United States are in serious trouble and scared. Ng’s novel is an important reminder to San Leandro High students that we should embrace our heritage and where we come from and still cherish our immigrant stories.
“I think it’s more important today than ever to learn our immigration stories, to tell our immigration stories, to remember them, to hold them in this period that this country is in extreme xenophobia,” said Ng. This being one of the many reasons he wrote this book.

“Well, my father entered the country through a very similar process, although he came through Seattle rather than Angel Island. But that never motivated me to write the story. A friend of mine changed his name halfway through his life because his father had come in using a paper name. His dying wish to his son was that he should go back to the original family name,” said Ng. 

Being so close to someone who was affected by immigration and hearing his story deeply moved Ng which played heavily in not only him wanting to write this book but in being an author.

“I knew from a very early age that I wanted to be an author,” said Ng. “I knew from the time I was in high school. I really originally was intending to major in math or science or something like that, then I had this one great high school teacher who got me started writing poetry. And ever since then, I’ve known that I wanted to become a writer.”