PICTURE BOOK - Red Butterfly: How a Princess Smuggled the Secret of Silk Out of China by Deborah Noyes

Illustrated by Sophie Blackall

2007, Candlewick Press

32 pgs.

Goodreads rating:  3.79 - 127 ratings

My rating:  4

Endpapers:   Solid red

1^st line/s:  "In my father's kingdom there are many splendors.  Bells and drums and conchs sound in the city streets.  All day long, ladies with careful eyebrows crisscross palace courtyards.  Warlords and courtiers come and go in gleaming carriages."

My comments:  Beautiful writing, beautiful illustrations.  Lots of insight into a princess marrying a king, but lots of sadness as well, as the young girl is preparing to leave her father's kingdom - forever - and travel a great distance to marry the king of another kingdom.  Based on a supposed true story that took place between 100 and 500 AD, this story gives a picture of ancient China and gives one lots to think about.  The author's note at the end gives fascinating information about the background as well as history about the Silk Road.

Goodreads:   An enchanting tale of hidden beauty and fierce courage, retold in the style of T’ang Dynasty poetry and illustrated with charm and grace
          A young Chinese princess is sent from her father’s kingdom to marry the king of a far-off land. She must leave behind her home of splendors: sour plums and pink peach petals and — most precious and secret of all — the small silkworm. She begs her father to let her stay, but he insists that she go and fulfill her destiny as the queen of Khotan. Beautifully told and arrestingly illustrated, here is a coming-of-age tale of a brave young princess whose clever plan will go on to live in legend — and will ensure that her cherished home is with her always

PICTURE BOOK - Two of Everything retold and illustrated by Lily Toy Hong

A Chinese Folktale
1993, Albert Whitman & Co.

32 pgs.

Goodreads rating:  4.16 - 698 ratings

My rating:  4

Illustrations:  Illustrations have thin, light-colored lines around each of the drawings that remind me, a little, of Paul Gole's illustrations.  I wish I knew how she created these lovely, soft and gentle drawings.

1^st line/s:  "Once long ago, in a humble little hut, lived Mr. Haktak and his wife, rs. Haktak.  They were old and very poor.  What little they ate came from their tiny garden."

My comments:  The story, a retelling of a Chinese folktale, is fun and funny.  Gentle, soft illustrations frame the story beautifully.  This is an excellent read aloud to include when you want a simple Chinese folktale to enhance teaching/learning about China.

Goodreads:  Mr. Haktak digs up a curious brass pot in his garden and decides to carry his coin purse in it. When Mrs. Haktak's hairpin slips into the pot, she reaches in and pulls out two coin purses and two hairpins--this is a magic pot!

The Spider Weaver - Margaret Musgrove

A Legend of Kente Cloth
Illustrated by Julia Cairns
Blue Sky Press, 2001
32 pages
Rating: 5
Endpapers: 9 patches - kente cloth in two patterns and the black and yellow spider

This gorgeous book, painted with greens, yellows, and blues of every hue, tells the legend of how seventeenth century Ghanan weavers discovered a spider's web so beautifully woven that they sought to recreate it.

So yes, the illustrations are lovely. And so is the writing. Musgrove tells the story simply, but uses word choices and literary elements that are wonderful models for writers. For example: dashes: "And everyone -- from the kings of the Ashanti people to the lowliest apprentice -- wore it." And similes: "The light from his lantern had fallen on an amazing sight, glowing like moonbeams agains the midnight sky" (and note the great verbs!).

WORD CHOICES:
detached
held fast
crumpled in my hands
doubtful
the beginnings of a new masterpiece
stood still in admiration
in the blink of an eye

PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES TO BEGIN SENTENCES:
Early the next morning
Past the tall silk cottons and papaya trees
On this night
In no time
In time

Also included are an interesting afterward and a prnunciation guide.

Ananse and the Lizard - Pat Cummings

A West African Tale
Henry Holt & Co., 2002
$16.95
40 pages
Endpapers: Rust

Ananse is the trickster of West African folktales. Apparently Pat Cummings traveled to Ghana and Nigeria to find a tale to retell and illustrate. She came across this one after searching through many collections and listening to many tales. There are lots and lots and lots of tales about the devilish Ananse. In the evenings, people gather to exchange stories, and many stories of Ananse are told. This is one.

Ananse, in his travels, sees a poster that announces that the chief of a nearby village will marry off his daughter to anyone who can guess her name, which has never been spoken outside the palace walls. As Ananse hurries toward the village he meets Grasshopper, who invites him home. There he meets many of Grasshopper's friends including Lizard, who is just as much a trickster as Ananse! Ananse overhears the name as he's spying from the wall above the palace and is then tricked by Lizard into revealing the name. Ananse's a bit numb - he doesn't "get" it until it's too late and Lizard is married to the beautiful daughter.

The illustrations, edge of page to edge of page, are bright and wonderful. The text is in a bordered box somewhere on one of the two pages. Fun story, great illustrations, and a little bit of West African customs....fun!

The Great Smelly, Slobbery, Small-Tooth Dog - Margaret Read Macdonald

Illustrated by Julie Paschkis
August House, 2007
$16.95
32 thick, glossy pages
for: Young kids, fairy tale comparison studies
Endpapers: 12 boxes on each page (24 total). The separations are rope. Each box contains a plant and its "meaning". For example: Hawthorne/hope, Mustard Seed/indifference, Hazel/reconciliation, Sweet Pea/departure. These illustrations are sprinkled around on the pages of the book, so after reading, you could have a see how each accompanies that part of the story. Hmm. Clever idea.

A rich man is saved by a great smelly, slobbery, small-tooth dog and promises to give the dog one of his treasures. It is the rich man's daughter the dog desires, and she dutifully accompanies him off to his home -- which ends up being a spectacular castle. The daughter and the dog become close friends. One day he finds her crying and discovers that she misses her father. Upon the daughter's reconciliation with her father, the dog discovers that she had "the look of love in her eyes" for him, and he tore off his wooly coat and became a handsome prince. Well, I've got to say that I didn't consider him particularly handsome....

..... but I do love the illustrations. They have such a folksly, Scandinavian/Russian look to them. Julie Pachkis is such a wonderful artist. Each illustration is encased with the same rope that makes the squares on the endpaper. What is left in the white space are the words and branches of plants from the endpapers.

The moral of the story: Don't ever forget to be kind. Kindness. Is. Huge. And in the poor princess's case, it changed her life when she didnt goof up.

The Mitten - Jim Aylesworth

Illustrated by Barbara McClintock
Scholastic, 2009
$16.99 32 pages
Rating: 4
Endpapers: red
A very cute & cuddly winter story.

A "once upon a time" story. The expressions on the animal's faces alone are a good reason to read this book!

A young boy every year receives a warm hat, scarf, and mittens from his grandmother. He plays and plays in the snow...and loses a mitten. Because it's cold they decide to have some hot chocolate and check for the mitten in the morning.

Well. During the night a variety of animals cuddle into the bright red mitten to keep warm - it stretches and it stretches until it's so full of cuddlying animals that it explodes. Cute, very cute.
(And then of course Gram knits a new mitten.)

This is an old folktale from the Ukraine. I'm quite sure Jan Brett has also illustrated this story. Great for comparing versions. Also a great gift for a knitting gram to give her lovin' kiddo...a hat, scarf, mittens, the book, a package of hot chocolate, and a small stuffed squirrel (or bunny or fox or bear or mouse!)

Dhegdheer, A Scary Somali Folktale - Marian A. Hassan

Illustrated by Betsy Bowen
Minnesota Humanities Commission/ Somali Bilingual Book Project
2007
Rating: 4
Endpapers: dark purple

The illustrations are painted with gouache on black, with dark color covering the entire page. Mmmmmm. They go perfectly with this scary story.

"Once upon a time, a fierce cannibal named Dhegdheer roamed the Hargega Valley in Somalia. Her horrific ways cursed a land once green and lush, turning it into a desert, a crumbling dust. The animals grew thin and the rain went away for a very long time."

A scary "boogeyman" tale with a satisfying ending. Dhegdheer is a female with a daughter - and her daughter is as good as Dhegdheer is evil. Very evil. A cannibal.

Told in the right way, compared to tales from America including urban legends, this story is a great starting point for questions (what is the habitat and location of Somalia?) and discussion. I do, however, wish there was a pronounciation guide!

Tsunami - Kimiko Kajikawa

Illustrated by Ed Young
Philomel Books, 2009
(Ellsworth Library 8/3/09)
$16.99
32 pgs.
For: ages 6-10
rating: 3.5
Endpapers: orange

A "long ago in Japan" folktale, white font on black on bottom eighth of page, illustrations collaged on rest of double-page spreads.

Ojiisan - grandfather - lived high on a mountain overlooking the sea. One day, after what seemed like a minor earthquake, the sea receeded, making more and more and more beach. Ojiisan knew what would happen when the sea came back - and it would devour all 400 villagers. So he set fire to every bit of his valuable rice fields to beckon everyone up the mountan. He saved them all.

Good verbal description of a tsunami - the collages (purposely?) leave a great deal to the imagination.

Clever Ali - Nancy Farmer

Illustrator: Gail de Marcken
For: Kids with the ability for sit for a longer read aloud
2006
Rating: 4.5
Endpapers: intricate brown & white scenes covering the page completely






Preface:
from In Praise of Books

A book is a garden you can hold in your hand,
An orchard you can take on your lap.

A book is a companion who sleeps
Only when you are asleep,
and speaks only when you wish him to

A book is a tree that lives long
And bears delicious and abundant fruit
That is easy to pick and perfectly ripe
At all tiimes of the year.

A book obeys you by night and by day,
Abroad and at home,
It has no need of sleep
And does not grow weary from sittting up.

-----Al-Jahiz
-----born in Basra in 776

The illustrations and text are all framed. de Marcken uses patterns from mosaics, woodwork, plaster, and marble from Cairo's mosques and Islamic antiquities. Calligraphic symbols are part of some of the framing. Very detailed, very lovely.

The story takes us into the two-wife household of the sultan's royal carrier pigeon keeper - a very important and prestigious job. Ali has four younger brothers and when he turns seven he moves from the women's part of the house to the men's part of the house. He also goes to work at the palace with his father to learn how to tend the pigeons. The story unfolds the same as one of Jahazarad's Arabian Night Tales would - with elements of magic and cruelty, where ingeniousness is needed to get out of a life-threatening jam. It's a long story, so well-suited for older readers and listeners.