The Magic Pillow - Hardcover

Demi

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1416924701 ISBN 13: 9781416924708

Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2008

Synopsis

Based on a famous Chinese folktale, The Magic Pillow tells the story of a poor boy named Ping who is given a magic pillow by a mysterious magician. Ping sees what a lifetime of wealth and power would be like, and discovers that the riches of family and freedom are much more valuable.

About this title

About the Author

Demi is the award-winning creator of numerous books for children, including The Empty Pot; Buddha; The Dalai Lama; The Legend of Saint Nicholas; Gandhi, which was named a New York Times Best Illustrated Book and received an Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Platinum Award; and Muhammad, which was named a Kirkus Reviews Editors’ Choice selection, a Booklist Editors’ Choice selection, one of the Booklist Top Ten Religion Books for Youth, and a Book Links “Lasting Connections” selection, and was cited in a Publishers Weekly starred review as a “timely, exceptionally handsome biography [that] serves as an excellent introduction to Islam.” Demi lives in Carnation, Washington.

Reviews

Grade 1–5—One snowy night in ancient China, a poor boy named Ping becomes lost while searching for firewood. A friendly innkeeper offers him shelter and food, while a great magician, also staying at the inn, entertains him. When he hears the boy express longing for wealth, power, and fame, the kindly man offers him a pillow that will grant his wishes. Sleeping on the pillow, which is decorated with the Taoist yang/yin symbol, Ping dreams of a long life. He commands an army, becomes prime minister, loses everything only to regain it once more, then watches his sons and grandsons repeat the cycle. In the end, "Money was like a flash of lightning in a summer cloud, power was like a flickering lamp, and fame lasted no longer than a bubble in a stream." Ping wakes to find his circumstances the same as they were, but his heart at peace. Demi sets her characteristic tightly drawn, flat-colored figures inside golden circles. Showing the fortunes of Ping's dream descendants, she fills the circles with repeating figures, decoratively visualizing an endless cycle of existence. A detailed note identifies the source for her story. The lesson Ping learns is central to Taoist and Buddhist thinking, so the book would pair nicely with Jon J. Muth's Zen Shorts (Scholastic, 2005) and Ed Young's Night Visitors (Philomel, 1995) where an introduction to East Asian thought is part of the elementary curriculum. However, adults may appreciate the book's message more than children.—Margaret A. Chang, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, North Adams
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In China, Ping is happy with his family’s modest circumstances until he meets a magician who amazes him with an illusion of diamonds. Suddenly Ping desires “money, power, fame, and everything life can offer,” but the magician cautions him, offering a pillow for the evening.  Ping’s dreams show how wealth and power lead to an endless cycle of greed, envy, and war for him and his descendants. In the morning, Ping awakens, grateful for his humble life. Demi’s dainty, jewellike art is the perfect vehicle for this story, adopted from a Shen Jiji short story. Rendered in traditional Chinese paints and inks and framed in her characteristic gold borders, the pictures of Ping’s early life have a graceful simplicity while the nightmarish dream scenes intensify with entanglements. The concluding moral explains,“He who finds peace in his heart has found his palace of gold.” Grades K-3. --Linda Perkins

Edition details

• Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
• Publication date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1416924701
• ISBN 13: 9781416924708
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Demi
• Number of pages: 40