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 silk tapestry and other Chinese folktales

Atangan, Patrick. The silk tapestry and other Chinese folktales, New York: NBM, c2004.

A graphic novel collects three Chinese folktales revolving around the unique struggle of three artists including a wide spirit, an old woman and a young boy passionately devote themself to change the world around them. The first story, “The Story of Pan-Gu” describes a spirit named Pan-Gu separates the heaven and the earth, and creatives a barren world with his hope. He lives lonely in his entire long life. After he dies, the remaining of his body turns into our world including human being. The second folktale, “Silk Tapestry”, narrates a story about an old poor woman is given a silk cloth by the river spirit named Yangtze, and races death to sew it into a magic tapestry, so that her fondest dream will comes true. In the third folktale, “Sausage-Boy and His Magic Brush”, depicts a pudgy boy named Sausage whose drawing is so great that his paintings spring to life. A greedy dowager empress is attracted by his abilities, so she kidnaps the boy to create riches for her…