The Silk Princess

Santore, Charles. The silk princess, New York: Random House Children's Books, c2007.

This is a picture book for children aged 9-12 years with beautiful illustrations. It is a vivid Chinese folklore legend which retells a story of how silk was discovered. A princess watches a cocoon fall from a mulberry tree into her mother’s teacup and the cocoon unravels in the hot water. She wonders how far the thread will stretch. She thinks up a fun game in which she ties one end of the thread to her waist, and her mother holds the remaining, then she walks away slowly. She walks through the palace and goes too far way. She goes onto the nearby mountains. There she meets a dragon and a wise old man, who is a silk weaver. The old man teaches her the secret of how to harvest the cocoons and weave the thread into gorgeous silk cloth. After a time, she goes back to her mother and shares her secret.

The cat's tale: why the years are named for animals

Orgel, Doris. The cat's tale: why the years are named for animals, New York: Roaring Brook, 2008.

This is a well-know Chinese folktale explaining the naming of the Chinese zodiac. When Willow’s grandma is reading a titular story, the child’s cat, Mao, scratches her granddaughter, Nai Nai, so Nai Nai pushes the cat away from her lap. Mao gets angry and tells her own story. Mao narrates the story of how the Emperor Jade once invited his 13 favorite animals including the Ox, Rat, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig and Cat to a river race. Because some of the animals cannot swim, the emperor arranges that Rabbit and Rooster ride on Dragon’s back, Rat and his friend Cat sit on Ox’s back, and the rest of other animals plunge into the river. The cunning rat betrays the Cat by pushing him into the river. By clawing his way onto a rock in the river, Cat watches how Rat leaps ashore ahead of Ox and comes first to win. Jade Emperor is very happy, and decides to name the first year of the cycle the Year of Rat with every successive year named for the animals that completed the race, except Cat who has not finished. So the Cat and Rat became enemies from that time on. This is a beautiful picture book for children with bright watercolour painting illustrations.

Yeh Shen: a Cinderella story from China

Louie, Ai-Ling. Yeh Shen: a Cinderella story from China, New York: Philomel, c1982.

This picture book won an award for children’s books. This Chinese folklore is set in the Chinese Han dynasty.  A poor girl named Yeh Shen lives with her stepmother and a stepsister. Her stepmother doesn’t like Yeh Shen because she is more beautiful and kinder than her own daughter and treats her poorly. Yeh Shen’s only one friend is a beautiful fish with golden eyes. But one day her stepmother kills the fish and cooks it for dinner. While Yeh Shen is crying for the dead fish, a mysterious old man appears and tells her a secret; the fish bones are filled with a powerful spirit, so Yeh Shen retrieves the bones from trash and hides them in a safe place. After a time, her stepmother and stepsister leave for the spring festival to look for a mate for her daughter and leave Yeh Shen alone at home. Yeh Shen desires to go to that party, so she begs the bone for clothes to wear. Her dream comes true. She is suddenly dressed in a brilliant gown and cloak. On her feet are a pair of gorgeous golden slippers. She grabs all the attention in the village, but she leaves one of her golden slippers behind when she is dashing out of the village due to the fear of being discovered by her stepmother. Soon a merchant finds her lost slipper and the slipper is passed on to the king. The king wonders who is the owner of this tiny slipper and sends people to search around his kingdom, and finally finds Yeh Shen. The king is captivated by her beauty and marries her and lives happily ever after.

The ballad of Mulan

Zhang, Song Nan. The ballad of Mulan, Pan Asian, 1998.

A Chinese folktale based on a poem from the Sung Dynasty that narrates the story of a poor young girl who is living in a small village in ancient China. One day, the government comes down to this village to recruit new soldiers. Due to the serious shortage of new soldiers to fight the enemy Tartars, Mulan Fa’s elder father has to join the army. In order to save her father, Mulan Fa disguises herself as a man to join the army. She becomes a women soldier but nobody knows. In the following years, Mulan Fa turns into a girl hero who leads the army of China to fight bravely against the enemy and make a great contribution to the country. Only when she is going to retire from the army, does a general discover she is a girl and starts to fall in love with her.

This is a Chinese picture book for children, with the text in both English and Chinese. The author, Zhang Song Nan is a Chinese artist, illustrator, and author who has published over 14 books. This folktale has been made into animation by Disney. 

The seven Chinese sisters

Tucker, Kathy. The seven Chinese sisters, Morton Grove, III. : A. Whitman, 2003

A Chinese traditional folktale narrates a story of how six talented Chinese sisters rescue their youngest sister from a dragon. This is a picture book for children aged 0-8 years old. A long time ago, there were seven Chinese sisters who lived together happily in the countryside. Each of them has a unique talent: The eldest sister rides a scooter as fast as the wind; the second eldest knows karate; the third can count to 500 and beyond; the fourth can talk to dogs; the fifth sister can catch any balls; the sixth can cook delicious noodle soup, all, except the youngest baby’s talent has been discovered. One day, a hungry red dragon from faraway smells the noodle soup and flies to their house. The dragon snatches the seventh sister for his dinner instead of the noodle soup so the six sisters go off to rescue her. Each of the sisters utilizes their unique skills in the rescue mission such as the fifth sister using her dog talking ability to communicate with the dragon.

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.

White wave

Wolkstein, Diane. White wave, San Diego, CA: Harcourt Brace, c1996.

An award winning children’s picture book talks about a beautiful Chinese folktale.A poor solitary farmer, Kuo Ming finds an opalescent snail shell and takes it home. The next evening, when he goes home from the field, he is surprised that somebody has already made the dinner for him. He wants to find out what has happened, and by the spying, he discovers that a women of light, the moon goddess is living in the shell and comes out to make him dinner. He knows he can’t touch her, but eventually he cannot refrain, and as a result he loses her. As she is going, she tells him her name, white wave, and a promise that she keeps. He builds a shrine to keep the shell carefully and tells his children the tale. When he dies, both the shell and shrine become lost. The storyline of the book is plot-driven with a sad tone.This book is the second revised edition. The illustrator Young, Ed is a well-know Chinese children’s books illustrator who has published over eighty books. It has B&W illustrations with excellent use of negative space. 

Three monks, no water

Ye, Ting-xing. Three monks, no water, Toronto: Annick, 1997.

This is a picture book for children aged from 9-12 regarding a familiar Chinese folktale. It has a well-know Chinese proverb, “One boy is a boy, two boys  half boy, three boys no boy.”

This Chinese folktale is set a long time ago in a remote mountain temple, a Buddhist monk who lives alone has to travel a long way to the nearest stream to fill and carry two buckets of water for drinking every day. One day, when a second monk joins this temple, this hard job turns easy and is done efficiently. They share the task and carry the water together. But soon, after the arrival of a third monk into this temple, they start to pass the buck, and no one is willing to go for the water and because of this the temple suffers a drought. Then one night one monk carelessly sets the temple on fire, the monks have to negotiate and scramble to carry water to put out the fire. The story is telling people how individuals need to establish rules to avoid members shirking group responsibilities. This book is composed of very beautiful acrylic and colored pencil illustrations, on a textured golden background. It is recommend that every child read this book.