Fraternal twins embark on a magical adventure to rescue their grandfather and break a decadeslong curse.
After their parents’ mysterious disappearance in the City of Ashes, 12-year-olds Mei and Yun have been outcasts in their village. Their orphan status and reputation for seeing vaporous auras have left them with few friends. The sister and brother have been raised by their grandfather, who is known for his delicious cooking. Word of his talent has reached the Imperial City, and the Emperor’s son will be visiting to taste their grandfather’s famous mooncakes. But a sour mood has overtaken the village, and the mooncakes taste disgusting and rotten. The twins’ grandfather is taken away to the palace to await trial for supposedly using harmful magic on the prince. Determined to rescue him, Mei and Yun undertake a dangerous journey that reveals hidden truths about their family’s roots and the cursed City of Ashes. Set in ancient China during the Ming dynasty, this fantasy incorporates elements of Chinese folklore, with the Jade Rabbit acting as a spiritual guide for the twins, references to the Monkey King, and the presence of a mirrorlike dream world. The twins’ sibling bond never wavers throughout the challenges they face; like yin and yang, their individual personalities and strengths balance each other and highlight the story’s theme of achieving peace by acknowledging both the light and the dark and creating your own destiny.
An enchanting tale. (author's note, cultural notes) (Historical fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 14, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-8234-4423-6
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
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BOOK REVIEW
When a troubled runaway arrives in an isolated Chinese village where the moon has disappeared, he initiates a quest to find the missing orb and resolve his past.
Escaping from home in a merchant’s cart, Rendi’s abandoned in the Village of Clear Sky, where the innkeeper hires him as chore boy. Bad-tempered and insolent, Rendi hates Clear Sky, but he has no way of leaving the sad village where every night the sky moans and the moon has vanished. The innkeeper’s bossy daughter irritates Rendi. He wonders about the innkeeper’s son who’s disappeared and about peculiar old Mr. Shan, who confuses toads with rabbits. When mysterious Madame Chang arrives at the inn, her storytelling transports Rendi. She challenges him to contribute his own stories, in which he gradually reveals his identity as son of a wealthy magistrate. Realizing there’s a connection between Madame Chang’s stories and the missing moon, Rendi assumes the hero’s mantle, transforming himself from a selfish, self-focused boy into a thoughtful young man who learns the meaning of home, harmony and forgiveness. Lin artfully wraps her hero’s story in alternating layers of Chinese folklore, providing rich cultural context. Detailed, jewel-toned illustrations and spot art reminiscent of Chinese painting highlight key scenes and themes and serve as the focus of an overall exquisite design.
A worthy companion to Lin's Where the Mountain Meets the Moon (2009). (author's note, bibliography of Chinese folk tales) (Fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 2, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-316-12595-6
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2012
Categories: CHILDREN'S HISTORICAL FICTION
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The author of the Anastasia books as well as more serious fiction (Rabble Starkey, 1987) offers her first historical fiction—a story about the escape of the Jews from Denmark in 1943.
Five years younger than Lisa in Carol Matas' Lisa's War (1989), Annemarie Johansen has, at 10, known three years of Nazi occupation. Though ever cautious and fearful of the ubiquitous soldiers, she is largely unaware of the extent of the danger around her; the Resistance kept even its participants safer by telling them as little as possible, and Annemarie has never been told that her older sister Lise died in its service. When the Germans plan to round up the Jews, the Johansens take in Annemarie's friend, Ellen Rosen, and pretend she is their daughter; later, they travel to Uncle Hendrik's house on the coast, where the Rosens and other Jews are transported by fishing boat to Sweden. Apart from Lise's offstage death, there is little violence here; like Annemarie, the reader is protected from the full implications of events—but will be caught up in the suspense and menace of several encounters with soldiers and in Annemarie's courageous run as courier on the night of the escape. The book concludes with the Jews' return, after the war, to homes well kept for them by their neighbors.
A deftly told story that dramatizes how Danes appointed themselves bodyguards—not only for their king, who was in the habit of riding alone in Copenhagen, but for their Jews. (Historical fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: April 1, 1989
ISBN: 0547577095
Page Count: 156
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: Oct. 17, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1989
Categories: CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S HISTORICAL FICTION
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