Louie, Ai-Ling. Yeh-Shen, A Cinderella Story from China. 30p. Philomel Bks. 1982.

Gr. K-Up.

Yeh-Shen is a picture book which tells a traditional tale. It specifically deals with the Chinese culture. Yeh-Shen, the main character, is raised by her stepmother and ugly stepsister who have her do the hardest chores. Her only friend is a fish. When her stepmother finds out, she kills it and eats it for dinner. An elderly spirit told Yeh-Shen that the remains of the fish have magical powers. During the springtime, the village holds a festival for all the young people to meet and possibly get married. Yeh-Shen is not permitted to go. The fish gives her beautiful gold slippers and a gown. As one might guess, she attends the festival, looses the slipper and through a series of events the slipper ends up in the King's hands. He eventually finds her, marries her and takes her away from her evil stepfamily. The illustrator, Ed Young, did a beautiful job depicting the Chinese folklore. The pages are divided like the Chinese wall hangings. Each picture is soft in nature and uses one color family, which visually creates the mood along with the words. This book demonstrates how other cultures can have their own versions of similar fairy-tales. In the classroom, the students could compare various versions of this story. They could also research where the each version originated. In Yeh-Shen, on the copyright page, there is a brief history. The teacher could also discuss how the book layout relates to Chinese artwork and do a project. In this story, the ending may be a bit upsetting for small children. Here, it was rumored that a "shower of flying stones" killed her stepfamily. Yeh-Shen, was an interesting story to read and to compare to our traditional American version.