Red Butterfly, written by Deborah Noyes, is a Chinese folktail about the princess of China long, long ago. The story is about how the princess was married off to a king of Khotan, in Tibet. She talked about everything that she loved about her father's kingdom. The princess did not want to leave her fathers prestigious kingdom. She felt that he had everything; nothing that she wanted to leave behind. The princess had not choice and had to leave her fathers kingdom to become a queen. One of China's most long kept secrets, the secret of silk, was somehow smuggled away by the to-be-queen. It was a crime for secrets to be taken away from one kingdom, punishable by death, but how did the princess manage this most daring task. This book took me two times to read through to discover how the princess smuggled the silk out of her fathers kingdom, it was well hidden in the text. It was very well described in the back of the book within the author's notes as well. This book was very educational and had great pictures for readers to relate to. It was written in a form of Chinese poetry, called T'ang Dynasty poetry. It was a very interesting book and recommend that teachers check the book out if they have the opportunity.
Ian I was drawn to you post just due to the cover art on this book. I love how her red sash circles all around the front cover and obviously relates to the stroy inside the book.
ReplyDeleteLike Jen, the cover draws you in, but then after reading your description I want to pick up the book to see how silk was smuggled out of the kingdom.
ReplyDeleteI love books that make me go back and re-read to figure out a subtle clue. It sounds like this would be a great mentor text for sharing an appreciation for digging deep into texts to discover what is not automatically obvious.
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