Lavish illustrations elevate this adaptation of a classic.
In this retelling of an ancient Chinese poem, a writer imagines the doomed love between the earthly and heavenly in this oversized picture book for older readers.
Returning from a visit with the emperor, poet Cao Zhi passes by the River Luo. “As the ancient tale goes, underneath the river lives a beautiful goddess”—so, as a writer, Cao decides to put forth his own story of a different goddess of the majestic river. Cao’s goddess is ethereal: “she dazzles like the sun rising in the morning…she’s as luminous as the lotus that grows in the shallows.” Love is instant between poet and goddess, but with love comes hesitation and worry. Ultimately, the goddess concludes that “the world of humans and gods could never exist together.” Readers unfamiliar with the poem will likely find the level of narrative detail insufficient, and consequently the melancholy ebbs rather than flows forth. Ye’s illustrations, however, are lush in detail and lovely in strangeness. The illustrator injects traditional elements of Chinese paintings with a modern playfulness and whimsy. Big-eyed fish, fantastical creatures, and odd flora and fauna fill the pages. Elements of the natural world adorn the Goddess of Luo to evoke the otherworldly. Instead of being enrobed by traditional Chinese clothing, a flowing cape ending in a fish tail drapes over her body. Strands of pearls surround her and come to life as fairies. Four multipage gatefolds stunningly capture both the movement in the illustrations and the scale of the tale.
Lavish illustrations elevate this adaptation of a classic. (glossary, notes) (Picture book. 9-14)Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-988-8341-94-8
Page Count: 78
Publisher: minedition
Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2020
Similar to the vignettes found in the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, this book’s sentimental collection can’t help but...
Intended for ages 9-12, this collection of 10 true vignettes elucidate the bucket-filling philosophy of being a helpful and caring person.
There is a simple philosophy behind bucket filling. As Lundgren writes in her introduction, “We each have an invisible bucket. When it is full, we feel good—happy, peaceful, grateful, or loving. When it is empty, we feel bad—sad, lonely, angry, and frightened.” Ultimately, we must decide whether to be selfless “bucketfillers” or selfish “bucketdippers,” and through a series of short and sweet anecdotes, the book pushes the idea that it is far better to fill than to dip. The stories focus on regular folks who choose to be a positive force for others in small ways. There is the mom who picks up a gallon of gas for the new family at church and relates her story to the police officer who stops her for speeding. Hearing her story, the officer lets the woman go with only a warning—filling the woman’s bucket rather than dipping into it by issuing a ticket on Christmas Eve. Another vignette tells of a ballet dancer reminiscing about the high school teacher who not only allowed her to find solace in dance during the darkest days of her parents’ divorce, but was there with an extra hug when needed. While the stories are often overtly sentimental (seemingly cut from the same cloth as a Hallmark card commercial), each effectively demonstrates that it is just as easy to do good in this world as it is to do ill or nothing. All of the tales culminate with a set of discussion questions that allow the reader to bring her own insight into what she has just read; perfect for a classroom setting. This trains the reader to get into the proper mind-set to use the bucket-filling philosophy in her own life. Despite the book’s slight feel (10 stories in just over 100 pages), the reader will be left hard pressed not to fill more buckets in her life.
Similar to the vignettes found in the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, this book’s sentimental collection can’t help but warm your heart.Pub Date: April 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0984336609
Page Count: 110
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
In a large, handsome format, Tarnowska offers six tales plus an abbreviated version of the frame story, retold in formal but contemporary language and sandwiched between a note on the Nights’ place in her childhood in Lebanon and a page of glossary and source notes. Rather than preserve the traditional embedded structure and cliffhanger cutoffs, she keeps each story discrete and tones down the sex and violence. This structure begs the question of why Shahriyar lets Shahrazade [sic] live if she tells each evening’s tale complete, but it serves to simplify the reading for those who want just one tale at a time. Only the opener, “Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp,” is likely to be familiar to young readers; in others a prince learns to control a flying “Ebony Horse” by “twiddling” its ears, contending djinn argue whether “Prince Kamar el Zaman [or] Princess Boudour” is the more beautiful (the prince wins) and in a Cinderella tale a “Diamond Anklet” subs for the glass slipper. Hénaff’s stylized scenes of domed cityscapes and turbaned figures add properly whimsical visual notes to this short but animated gathering. (Folktales. 10-12)
Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-84686-122-2
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Barefoot Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2010
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