The Wishing Tree - Roseanne Thong

Illustrated by Connie McLennan
Shen's Books, 2004
32 pages
Rating: 5
Endpapers: Gold & beige decorated Chinese designs

I spent an hour browsing and reading in the Martha Cooper Library on Catalina - a small public library I rarely get to visit. The local neighborhood holds many cultures, and there are many kids' books in different languages here. In other words, a great multicultural find.

There's a huge banyan tree in Ming's hometown where his grandmother would always take him to make a wish for the lunar new year. She would purchase a Ng Bo Dip (Five Treasures Pile), a stack of decorated red and yellow papers. After writing a wish, the papers were rolled into a scroll, secured with string, and attached to a large mandarin orange. When ready, this was flung high into the banyan wishing tree.

For many years Ming and his grandmother enjoyed this yearly custom, until, when Ming was nine, his wish was not fulfilled and his grndmother's sickness does not get better. She dies. The rest of the story deals with grief resolution in a positive, helpful way.

Each two page spread is beautiful with an edge-to-edge illustration on one side and the text is usually within a pale-colored box that looks like paper. The same one inch Chinese patterns found on the endpapers are "seals" at the bottom of the page.

Fantastic explanation in the Author's Note at the end of the book.

Included are directions for making your own Ng Bo Dip and a black and white WISHING PAPER page to photocopy and use as the five pages.

Perfect addition to my 4th grade China study!

Wish - Roseanne Thong

Illustrator: Elisa Kleven ! !
For: Kids of all ages, families
Published: 2008
Rating: VERY cool....yup....5
Read: Oct. 3, 2008
Endpapers: World map with the fifteen locations and tiny drawings for each

Fifteen countries are depicted, first with a quatrain, followed by information about the "wishful" tradition that is being highlighted.

Guatemala, Japan, Iran (Persia), Russia, South Africa, Ireland, India, Brazil, Italy, China, Australia, Israel, Mexico, Thailand, and America's birthday candles.

Racing swiftly throught the graves
we launch our giant kites,
so they will carry wishes
as they soar to heaven's heights. (Guatemala)

In Jerusalem's old quarter,
family members big and small
place wishes into ancient cracks
along the Western Wall. (Israel)

There are lucky symbols hiding in the pictures. And the pictures -- well, I LOVE Elisa Kleven's illustrations, and these don't disappoint. Collagy and busy and softly covering the entire page except for the 4 x 4 white, quilt-framed text on each double page spread. The quatrain is done in a hard-to-read cursive font - it needs to be bolder or bigger of a different font. The explanation font that used following the quatrian words fine...

Families can use some of these with their own kids. It'd make a nice gift for the right family. Think I'll give it to Laura...