The Moon Lady *Signed 1st

Tan, Amy

ISBN 10: 0027888304 / ISBN 13: 9780027888300

Published by Macmillan Company, 1992

About this Item

First printing, inscribed on half-title: "Merry Christmas, ____!" and signed by both Amy Tan and Gretchen Schields, and dated 1992 by Schields (signed year of publication). Book is FINE, clean, fresh, no other writing or marks. Jacket has a closed tear at top back panel else Fine. Original price intact on front flap. Please see photos.

Seller Inventory # 102113012

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Moon Lady *Signed 1st
• Publisher: Macmillan Company
• Publication Date: 1992
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0027888304
• ISBN 13: 9780027888300
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Gretchen Schields
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good Plus
• Signed: Signed by Author and Illustrat
• Seller catalogs:
  • Signed
  • Children's

About this title

Synopsis

While sailing on Tai Lake with her family during the Moon Festival, Ying-ying, impatient to have the Moon Lady grant her secret wish, falls out of the boat and embarks on an exciting and fantastical adventure. 100,000 first printing. $150,000 ad/promo.

Reviews

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.

On a rainy afternoon, a woman shares with three restless granddaughters her "earliest memory" from her childhood in China. Adapted from Tan's The Joy Luck Club , the haunting tale that unfolds is worthy of retelling--and of repeated rereading. The narrator, Ying-ying, recalls waking up at the age of seven on the morning of the Moon Festival; it was a steamy day, and "the sun drove rays through the bamboo curtains like knives." Filled with similarly vivid images, Tan's lilting text conveys Ying-ying's contagious excitement about the festivities. These include the appearance of the Moon Lady, who can fulfill one's secret wish. Later, celebrating with her family on a "floating teahouse," Ying-ying loses her balance and falls into the lake, where she is caught in a fisherman's net. He returns her to shore, where her secret wish is granted: she is found by her family, and thus learns a lesson about which kind of wishes come true. Tan has done a superb job of distilling this incident for young readers, who will be as mesmerized by the expressive narrative as by Schields's ornately detailed paintings, ablaze with luminous color. Ages 6-up.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.