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Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... McMinnville Public Library | Noyes | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Newberg Public Library | TALES NOYES | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
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.
Author Notes
Deborah Noyes writes nonfiction and fiction for young readers and adults. Her books include One Kingdom: Our Lives with Animals, The Ghosts of Kerfol, Ten Days a Madwoman: The Daring Life and Turbulent Times of the Original Girl Reporter Nellie Bly, and Encyclopedia of the End: Mysterious Death in Fact, Fancy, Folklore, and More. She has also compiled and edited the short story anthologies Gothic!, The Restless Dead, and Sideshow.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 3-6-This is an ornate but vague rendering of a Chinese legend. An unnamed princess, who refers to her flowing silk sleeves as her butterfly wings and is shown with a butterfly painted on her forehead or worn as a hair adornment, recounts the splendors of her father's kingdom and her own impending departure from it to marry the king of far-off Khotan. The romantic tale reflects the girl's uncertainty and longing for her own family and home as she is prepared for the arranged marriage. However, plot details get a bit lost in lush descriptions. Blackall's attractive watercolors feature swirling ribbons of red around the princess, and often she is garbed in red, though readers never learn the Chinese use and meaning of the color. The smuggling of the silk-making secret, foretold in the book's subtitle, is related briefly and poetically as the girl's hair is dressed for her bridal journey. "She weaves within, like secrets of the wind, tiny worms spinning their busy home. We hide also the seeds of the mulberry tree. We plant them in the soil of me." An author's note adds a bit of the history of silk and the Silk Road and the legend of how silk making might have entered Khotan. There's no map indicating this faraway locale or any sources of authority for cultural details. As structured, the tale is very thin as folklore but it might appeal to some preadolescent girls.-Margaret Bush, Simmons College, Boston (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Ancient sources say silkworms and mulberry seeds left China hidden in the elaborately coiffed hair of a princess. Imagining what might have prompted the princess to reveal the secret of silk production, a crime punishable by death, Noyes (Hana in the Time of the Tulips) writes with exquisite delicacy of Princess Red Butterfly's truncated girlhood: "I am a child with my hair/ yet cut across my forehead,/ but soon I will marry/ the king of far Khotan." Blackall (Ruby's Wish) composes sumptuous portraits of the imperial Chinese court: ladies whisper behind fans, consorts bathe in hot springs, a dressmaker fits the princess for a robe. Her ink-and-wash spreads swirl with flourishes (fluttering silk sashes, curving garden paths and tumbling locks of black hair). Red Butterfly must leave her parents, her little brother-whose grief Blackall paints in quiet brushstrokes-and all the beauty around her: "Good-bye,/ red-crowned crane. / Good-bye,/ sour plums." Noyes understands Red Butterfly's theft as a small but powerful rebellion against loss: "If you must go.... from all you know,/ take with you/ some small piece/ of brightness,/ some shining memory..." The story ends as Red Butterfly leaves for Khotan, but Blackall gives readers visual clues (the princess's smile, flying silk moths) to suggest that the girl's resilience creates a hopeful future. Ages 6-10. (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
Even though she's still "a child with my hair yet cut across my forehead," the Emperor of China's daughter must leave her father's kingdom to marry the king of Khotan, who lives in a far-off desert oasis. The princess sadly recounts everything she will miss about her life at court: pink peach petals, yellow moons, pipa song, sparrows pecking at mud, red-crowned cranes and sour plums. Of the many splendors of her father's kingdom, none is more prized than the secret of the silkworm that feeds on mulberry leaves. To reveal this secret means punishment by death. But according to legend, the little princess is willing to risk all. When she departs for Khotan, her maid has cleverly woven silkworm cocoons and mulberry seeds into her hair so she can carry with her "some small piece of brightness, some shining memory." Written in the style of ancient Chinese poets, the text dwells lovingly on the pleasures of imperial life while splendid ink-and-watercolor illustrations poignantly capture the princess's leave-taking as well as details of palace life in images evocative of Chinese screen paintings. (author's note) (Picture book. 6-10) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
In my father's house there are many splendors, says the young princess who narrates Noyes' elegant tale. Nothing in the emperor's court is more magnificent than its beautiful silk cloth, and the royal family (the only producer of silk in the world), fiercely guards its treasure. When the princess' arranged marriage is announced, she prepares to leave her beloved home and travel to her new husband's court. She longs to bring something treasured and familiar with her. Her choice a few precious silkworms, hidden inside her elaborate hairstyle. Noyes' graceful text includes allusions to nature and the shifting seasons in a style reminiscent of traditional Chinese poetry. Adult readers will want to prepare in advance for questions about occasional references to the Chinese court (for example, What is a consort? ), but the princess' sorrow over leaving the people and things that tie her to home will speak straight to kids as will the beautiful, ink-and-watercolor illustrations in rich, jewel colors.--Engberg, Gillian Copyright 2007 Booklist