The Moon Lady

Tan, Amy

ISBN 10: 1558007342 ISBN 13: 9781558007345

Publisher: Dove Entertainment Inc, 2003

Synopsis

Nai-nai tells her granddaughters the story of her outing, as a seven-year-old girl in China, to see the Moon Lady and be granted a secret wish.

About this title

From School Library Journal

Grade 4-6-- This is a reworking of a story from the author's adult novel, The Joy Luck Club (Putnam, 1989). Here it is set in the frame of a grandmother regaling her three granddaughters on a rainy afternoon with a tale from her childhood. On the evening of the Moon Festival, she is separated from her family, and goes through several fascinating and scary adventures until she is finally reunited with them. Tan has a good tale here, and she retells it well for children: while the story is in progress, it is told from the child's point of view; at beginning and ending frames, the grandmother's voice is used. The illustrations are an integral part of this version and can best be described as phantasmagorical or Chinese baroque. They are extremely detailed, providing both accurate cultural detail of the period (the tale is set somewhere in the two decades after the fall of the Qing Dynasty, i.e., the 1920s or '30s) and a child's romantic imaginings. Primary colors reign in the 12 sumptuous full-page pictures, as well as in the smaller vignettes that pepper and punctuate the narrative. A successful collaboration of compelling text and absorbing illustrations that will make young readers crave more. --John Philbrook, San Francisco Public Library
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Publishers Weekly

A girl's adventures on the night of the Moon Festival make for "a haunting tale... worthy of retelling and of repeated rereading," said PW in a starred review. Ages 6-up.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Dove Entertainment Inc
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 1558007342
• ISBN 13: 9781558007345
• Binding: Audio Cassette
• Language: English