Sun Youjun, translated by Lily L. Shi,
The Adventures of a Little Rag Doll
Better Link Press, 2011.
Ages 8-10
“Once there was Little Butou. Little Butou was a tiny rag doll. Now I will tell you about his adventures, that is, his encounters with many interesting and exciting people and situations…” So begins The Adventures of a Little Rag Doll, originally published in 1961 in China, the first book by the prolific and beloved Hans Christian Andersen nominee, Sun Youjun, best known for his magical fairy tales. The book’s availability in English is an adventure in itself: 13-year-old Lily Shi of Lewiston, Maine loved it so much that she wanted her friends to enjoy it too, so she spent the summer translating the book for them to read. Thanks to her perseverance, an English translation is now available for the first time, published by Better Link Press.
The Adventures of a Little Rag Doll is part The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, part Toy Story, and part Scheherazade coming-of-age tale – of a doll, that is. Although Little Teacher made Little Butou with love and care out of scraps of rag, he was a little selfish, had a little bit of a temper, and was more than a little bit cowardly. After his original child owner, Dou Dou, rejects him, a warmhearted girl named Ping Ping takes Little Butou in. But when Little Butou twice spills Ping Ping’s rice all over the ground, even after she tells him how every grain has value and must not be wasted, Little Butou runs away. He feels angry with Ping Ping for scolding him, and decides to find Dou Dou, who won’t care about things like rice grains.
Thereupon follows a tale of happenstance, adventure, misery, and miracles, as Little Butou winds up hundreds of miles from both Dou Dou and Ping Ping. Danger and near death, new friends and recurring rat enemies help Little Butou not only learn to find courage, but also to value love – the love that goes into every grain of rice, and the love that people like Ping Ping show everyone around them. The accomplished translation captures the rhythm and pacing of Chinese speech and sentence structure, imbuing a sense of the country into the words themselves. In addition, the highly entertaining cast of characters and their magical realism-studded adventures keep the values within the story– selflessness, bravery, and gratefulness for kindness and love – from feeling preachy or forced.
Sara Hudson
July 2011
Norman Hinsdale Pitman,
The Chinese Wonder Book
Tuttle Publishing, 2011.
Ages 9-12
Though little is known about Norman Hinsdale Pitman (1876-1925) today, his effort to bring Chinese folklore to Western readers continues to be influential. Indeed Pitman, who taught at Chinese colleges and authored several novels and short story collections, brought these ancient tales to a new audience much as the Brothers Grimm preserved the fairytales of central Europe for generations to enjoy. These tales, not unlike those gathered by the Grimms in Europe, are full of magic, mysticism, and a certain amount of gore.
Tuttle’s latest edition of The Chinese Wonder Book, originally published in 1919, includes the beautiful and highly detailed full-color illustrations by Li Chu Tang originally published in the book’s first edition and printed here on high-quality glossy paper. There is also an engaging foreword by Sylvia Li-Chun Lin, associate professor in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, University of Notre Dame.
The tales include some of the best known fairytales of China, among them ‘The Golden Beetle or Why the Dog Hates the Cat’, ‘The Strange Tale of Doctor Dog’ and ‘The Talking Fish’. Many of the themes and even the plots and characters resemble those found in Western fairytales: but these are not your cleaned-up, Disneyfied stories. Happy endings are in short supply, and the brutality is every bit as intense as that of the original tales of the Brothers Grimm or Hans Christian Andersen. At the same time, there is lighter fare to be found in stories such as ‘Bamboo and the Turtle’ and ‘The Mad Goose and the Tiger Forest’, stories which will be enjoyed by even very young listeners.
In these rich and exciting tales, virtue, including hard work and filial piety, is rewarded, and wickedness is punished, though the version of justice reflected in the stories is clearly of a particular time and place and may not resonate with children of today. For instance, it may seem of little consolation to be immortalized in a famous monument after an unjust death (‘The Great Bell’). On the other hand, when a lazy thief and would-be liar turns his life around rather than be turned into a duck (‘The Man Who Would Not Scold’), children and their parents will delight in the tale’s humor and theme of redemption.
The Chinese Wonder Book has served as an introduction to the folk tales of classical China for generations and remains Pitman’s best-known work. This lovely new edition wi
