Chinese children's favourite stories

Ye, Mingmei. Chinese children's favourite stories, Boston, MA. : Tuttle Pub, 2004.

This children’s book collects 12 Chinese traditional folktales and legends, which feature talking animals, a ghost catcher, a trickster fox, the River Dragon King, and the prankish monkey Wu Kong, as well as cowherds, scholars, musicians, and emperors. Most of the stories are familiar to Chinese people. Some stories regard morals; others explain the origins of customs or traditions. These stories include “The Frog Who Lived in the Well” and “The Monkey King who Turned the Heavenly Palace Upside Down”, and they are all suitable for reading to children at bedtime. The art has traditional Chinese characters with abundant colorful illustrations and the writing is clear and acceptable to children.

Tales from Gold Mountain: stories of the Chinese in the New World

Yee, Paul. Tales from Gold Mountain: stories of the Chinese in the New World, New York: Macmillan, 1989.

A collection of eight original unforgettable folktales is based on the real background of the Chinese immigration’s role in the gold rush and is accompanied with brilliant and dramatic illustrations by Simon. It reflects the gritty spirit of the Chinese, despite the bitterness of daily toils to overcome prejudice and adversity to build a unique place for themselves in North America. Each story is relatively short; only two or three pages, but each one discusses some important themes such as prejudice, racism, and dishonesty. These unpleasant topics don’t  look good for children’s stories, but the nature of the book is aimed to stimulate children’s courage to face  a variety of difficulties in their life. It combines an attention-grabbing and a descriptive writing style with a suspenseful tone. This is an excellent children’s book, which is suited to talking about and reading out loud, so that children can learn from the past.

The sons of the Dragon King: a Chinese legend

Young, Ed. The sons of the Dragon King: a Chinese legend, New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, c2004.

A well-known Chinese folktale talks about a Dragon King who investigates each of his nine sons to discover their individual talents and find a role that suits their strengths. The Dragon King has nine immortal sons. After they grow up and leave their father’s palace, they seem to be aimless, and fritter their days away. The wise and watchful Dragon King quietly witnesses their various unseemly behaviors, and then discovers their individual strengths and finds a way to exploit their personal potential that can help to serve the kingdom. For instance, his second son, Chi Wen, constantly stares into the distance intently, so he gives him the  job of sentinel; Ba-Sha, spends most of her time swimming, so she is delighted to accept her father’s suggestion to   overseer water safety; the one who makes “monstrous noises” all day long finally gets the job to aid musicians; the strong one holds up roofs; and so on. The illustrations of this picture book are absolutely fantastic. It is rendered in brush ink and the nine-dragon sons use Chinese traditional cut-paper technology, which has an excellent appearance.