Gia-Zhen Wang

To me, and, I suspect, to the young readers for whom the book is intended, the stories don't seem all that particularly 'Chinese.' They're more universal. However, they are not close variations of familiar motifs, either, and are sufficiently different from western folktales to be engaging. And the pictures are amazing.

I would have enjoyed the book a lot more if there were more stories, even if each were then shorter, with fewer illustrations. To give three stories this much 'weight' each was to give me no chance to appreciate them on their own merits; I felt a dissonance as the book was abruptly over. But maybe that's a west/east thing, too...… (altro)

This delightful picture-book - first published in Taiwan, and then made available to American children by the small independent press, Purple Bear Books - presents three traditional Chinese folktales, retold in an immensely engaging style by Gia-Zhen Wang, and accompanied by the beautiful artwork of Eva Wang. The result is a title which has both narrative and visual appeal, and is sure to please young folklore enthusiasts everywhere!

The titular Auntie Tigress is the deliciously creepy tale of a cunning tiger-woman - one who likes to eat succulent young children - who meets her match in young Mei Mei, with her three magic sachets. It reminded me by turn of Lon Po Po, another Chinese tale of a masquerading monster who tricks her way into a home with children, and of the final portion of Petrosinella (my favorite Rapunzel variant), with the three magical acorns that the heroine uses to escape the witch. The second selection, The Fisherman and the Tycoon, is a study in character opposites, as the humble fisherman Chang San's rise in the world provokes the jealousy of the tycoon Lu, whose spite only harms himself, in the end. The third and final selection is The Greatest Treasure, in which wealthy and powerful Master Liu learns a lesson about what is truly important from his third and youngest daughter, Yomei.

I enjoyed the three stories found in Auntie Tigress and Other Favorite Chinese Folk Tales, I appreciated the author's afterword, in which she discusses the origins of her stories, and those elements of the text and illustrations that might be unfamiliar to western readers, and I loved the art. Eva Wang is an immensely talented woman, and I'm only sorry that more of her work isn't available here in the states! Highly recommended!… (altro)