The 18th-century “blue willow” pattern, with its teahouse, hump-backed bridge, and willow tree, has inspired storytellers to shape a tale about the design’s origins; here the fundamental elements of the story combine in Conrad’s tale of love and loss. A wealthy merchant loves and protects his daughter, Kung Shi Fair, who falls in love with Chang the Good, a humble fisherman. Their romance is kept a secret, but Kung Shi’s father has seen them dallying in the moon pavilion. Afraid of losing her, Kung Shi’s father puts off, time and again, her marriage request. Kung Shi, in desperation, pilots her little boat through a storm to Chang and drowns; Chang is killed accidentally by the villagers, who take his sounds of mourning as the threatening noise of a leopard. The lovers return as birds to the moon pavilion, and the father commissions a plate in their memory. Conrad is gentle with this sad tale, warning readers of the sorrows ahead, and cautioning parents to heed their young when it comes to matters of the heart. Gallagher’s artwork is lovely, crowded with incidentals from the story and setting; the faces are animated, sometimes peeking out at readers, and inviting them into the substantial text. (Picture book. 6-10)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-399-22904-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1999
PLB 0-688-13166-2 King Midas And The Golden Touch ($16.00; PLB $15.63; Apr.; 32 pp.; 0-688-13165-4; PLB 0-688-13166-2): The familiar tale of King Midas gets the golden touch in the hands of Craft and Craft (Cupid and Psyche, 1996). The author takes her inspiration from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s retelling, capturing the essence of the tale with the use of pithy dialogue and colorful description. Enchanting in their own right, the illustrations summon the Middle Ages as a setting, and incorporate colors so lavish that when they are lost to the uniform gold spurred by King Midas’s touch, the point of the story is further burnished. (Picture book. 7-9)
Pub Date: April 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-688-13165-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1999
Lunge-Larsen and Preus debut with this story of a flower that blooms for the first time to commemorate the uncommon courage of a girl who saves her people from illness. The girl, an Ojibwe of the northern woodlands, knows she must journey to the next village to get the healing herb, mash-ki- ki, for her people, who have all fallen ill. After lining her moccasins with rabbit fur, she braves a raging snowstorm and crosses a dark frozen lake to reach the village. Then, rather than wait for morning, she sets out for home while the villagers sleep. When she loses her moccasins in the deep snow, her bare feet are cut by icy shards, and bleed with every step until she reaches her home. The next spring beautiful lady slippers bloom from the place where her moccasins were lost, and from every spot her injured feet touched. Drawing on Ojibwe sources, the authors of this fluid retelling have peppered the tale with native words and have used traditional elements, e.g., giving voice to the forces of nature. The accompanying watercolors, with flowing lines, jewel tones, and decorative motifs, give stately credence to the story’s iconic aspects. (Picture book/folklore. 4-8)
Pub Date: March 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-395-90512-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1999
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