Red Thread

Anxiously searching for a wife, Wei Gu encounters a mysterious old man who tells him that red thread will reveal his future wife and points out a small child who will, one day, become his wife, in a distinctively illustrated tale.

A familiar lesson in the ironies of fate finds an emotive and magnetic voice in this Chinese folktale. Eager to learn whom he will marry, Wei Gu seeks counsel from a spiritual matchmaker, who points out an infant carried on the back of a vegetable-monger. The angry young man refuses to accept such a destiny, but the elder explains that he and the baby have been inextricably linked since birth--"No matter how far apart they may live, how different their social status . . . a man and woman will eventually marry if their feet are tied together with this red thread." Young's pastel and watercolor illustrations alternate panoramic overviews of a busy Chinese village with impressionistic personal close-ups. While youngsters may have difficulty discerning the activity being portrayed amid the washes of blue, green and orange, the images' chimerical Old World atmosphere sustains the tone of the narrative. On every page a single red line--the eponymous thread--separates word from image, reminding readers of the inevitability of the matchmaker's words. Dramatic and haunting. Ages 4-8.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

With an imaginative, innovative use of traditional elements of Chinese art recalling Young's Lon Po Po (1990 Caldecott Medal), another spellbinding Chinese tale. Wei Gu, an orphan, longs for a wife. Seeking a matchmaker, he encounters an old man from the spirit world who predicts that he will marry, in 14 years, a child who is now only three years old; the spirit shows Wei a red thread that already links them and will surely draw them together. At first overjoyed, the haughty Wei is dismayed when his bride is pointed out in the marketplace, carried by a poor blind woman; furious, he sends his servant to kill the child. Years later, happily married, he questions his well-born wife about the ornament she wears and learns that it covers the scar his servant made. But in this generous tale, Wei's youthful pride and indiscretion are forgiven: ``After this day the couple grew even closer,'' ending their days in honor and wealth. Setting his unobtrusive blocks of text below a single ruled red ``thread'' crossing the full-bleed spreads, Young dapples his pages with delectable clouds of pastels and watercolors, delicately defining forms with lines of soft blue or gray and a gentle red that echoes the title motif. In exquisitely designed compositions, he plays architecture's precision against crowds of tiny impressionistic figures, uses dynamic perspectives and brilliant colors to focus on a dramatic portrait, or frames the couple, in their moment of revelation, in a mellow haze subtly etched with the lines of their home. Another splendid achievement for this fine artist. (No source given, but LC classes this in 398.21.) (Folklore/Picture book. 4+) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.