The Master Swordsman & the Magic Doorway: Two Legends from Ancient China - Hardcover

Provensen, Alice

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 068983232X ISBN 13: 9780689832321

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, 2001

Synopsis

In two original stories set in ancient China, Little Chiu masters the sword and Mu Chi escapes death through his marvelous painting.

About this title

About the Author

Alice Provensen is a preeminent American illustrator. With her late husband, Martin, she received the Caldecott Medal for The Glorious Flight and a Caldecott Honor for Nancy Willard's Newbery Medal-winning A Visit to William Blake's Inn. The Provensens have appeared on the New York Times list of the Ten Best Illustrated Books eight times -- the second most of any book illustrator. Alice Provensen lives on Maple Hill Farm in New York State.

Reviews

K-Gr 3-A distinguished illustrator uses the China she imagines as a setting for two philosophical fantasies. Though the stories are described as "legends from ancient China- retold," the CIP information is more accurate, categorizing the book as fiction rather than folklore. In the first story, a small boy from a village beset by bandits travels far to apprentice himself to a master swordsman. After two years of dodging talking objects like jugs and teapots, Little Chu learns to be attentive and alert, to anticipate danger. Master Li then presents him with his great sword and tells him to use it to chop cabbage. The bandits are so daunted by his skillful chopping of vegetables that they leave the village in peace. The second story concerns the conflict between a great painter and a greedy, cruel emperor. Commissioned to fill a huge, blank wall, the artist spends years painting a mural, knowing that the jealous emperor will kill him when he is finished. His solution to the problem, while echoing many Chinese stories about a picture coming to life, is not a traditional one. Although Provensen tells a good story in crisp, dramatic sentences, her stock characters engage in overly formal dialogue and have been placed in whimsical situations that exist only in the Western imagination. Her art pays respectful homage to Chinese narrative hand scrolls, and her sense of composition, color, and narrative flow are products of her distinguished career. Nonetheless, Emily Arnold McCully's Beautiful Warrior (Scholastic, 1998) and Molly Bang's Tye May and the Magic Brush (Morrow, 1992) are more authentic and accurate depictions of China.

Margaret A. Chang, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, North Adams

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Two inspiring tales of paradox from the Middle Kingdom captivate Caldecott winner Provensen (The Glorious Flight; A Visit to William Blake's Inn). In the first, the Master, who maintains that he no longer teaches, trains his apprentice Little Chu in an unorthodox way to develop the lightning instincts that will make the boy an extraordinary swordsman. In exquisitely timed painted panels, Provensen chronicles the boy's improving skills until one day Little Chu successfully dodges the Master's sword and the man bequeaths to him the weapon and releases him from service ("You will never need to draw it. No enemy can touch you. Use the sword to chop cabbage"). In the second tale, a greedy emperor commissions a great wall painting by Mu Chi, then plots to behead him so that the artist can never top his work for the emperor. But the painter outsmarts the ruler. Taken together, the tales contrast the outcome of generosity versus parsimony. Both the action-packed panels in the first story and the spreads in the second contain traditional Chinese motifs; the paintings never lose their simplicity of line and narrative clarity. Oil painting on cream-colored vellum and calligraphy-like type add to the feeling of ageless calm. These magic tales with impeccable visual pacing prove once again that Provensen is a master storyteller and a consummate artist. Ages 5-8.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Gr. 2-5. In the first of two tales, Little Chu, who wants to protect his village from bandits, studies with a swordsman whose idea of training is to load the boy down with chores and chuck things at his head. After years of lifting and ducking, Little Chu earns a sword, which the master suggests he use for chopping cabbage. Indeed, Little Chu becomes a famous chef, with a most intimidating way of slicing vegetables. In the second tale, an artist, commissioned by the emperor to paint a great mural, is condemned to death lest he ever create another such masterpiece. To save himself, he paints a blue door in his panorama and walks through it when the executioner draws nigh. While evoking the look and feeling of traditional Chinese art, Provensen treats each story differently. She uses small vignettes in the first; in the second, she switches to compositions featuring elaborately robed figures set against the mural that is nearly indistinguishable from the foreground "reality." A source note would have been helpful. John Peters
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 068983232X
• ISBN 13: 9780689832321
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Provensen Alice
• Number of pages: 40