Amy's Reviews > The Five Chinese Brothers
The Five Chinese Brothers (Paperstar)
by
by
3.5 stars. I read The Five Chinese Brothers to my niece and nephew last night. It's a book that my husband read as a child, and so I thought I'd give it a try on the kids.
The story is violent, I won't lie. A kid drowns and The First Chinese Brother in this story is held responsible for the kid's death. He's arrested, tried, and ancient Chinese justice is meted out to this brother (i.e., he's sentenced to death, and the method in which that sentence is to be carried out is grisly). Hijinks ensue, and basically children are treated to a story in which the five Chinese Brothers thwart four grusome attempts to carry out the death sentence. Yeah, it's lovely bedtime fare.
BUT, although violent, and kind of repetitious, the story is good. My niece especially thought this book was great--she kind of liked the shock value, and she liked trying to figure out how the brothers were going to get around this punishment. My nepehw was drawn in to the story and he certainly listened, but when we finished reading it he was, "still trying to decide" if he liked the story or not. It's probably a little much for little kids--we just balanced this out by reading Dragons Love Tacos again. The illustrations aren't all that attractive, but the kids didn't really seem put off by them. I think that they kind of liked the fact that this story was not warm and fuzzy, and I think that made the story all that more interesting and intriguing for them. Still, it's not one that I'll probably read to them again any time soon, and certainly not before bed.
UPDATE: After discussing this book with my friend Brandy, I realize that I don't think this book warrants a 3.5 star rating! The violence was intense, the illustrations were unattractive on multiple levels, the story could be interpreted as having racist undertones, and it centers on the brothers evading justice. Thank you for talking to me about this book, Brandy! It really helped me do a better job of evaluating this book!
The story is violent, I won't lie. A kid drowns and The First Chinese Brother in this story is held responsible for the kid's death. He's arrested, tried, and ancient Chinese justice is meted out to this brother (i.e., he's sentenced to death, and the method in which that sentence is to be carried out is grisly). Hijinks ensue, and basically children are treated to a story in which the five Chinese Brothers thwart four grusome attempts to carry out the death sentence. Yeah, it's lovely bedtime fare.
BUT, although violent, and kind of repetitious, the story is good. My niece especially thought this book was great--she kind of liked the shock value, and she liked trying to figure out how the brothers were going to get around this punishment. My nepehw was drawn in to the story and he certainly listened, but when we finished reading it he was, "still trying to decide" if he liked the story or not. It's probably a little much for little kids--we just balanced this out by reading Dragons Love Tacos again. The illustrations aren't all that attractive, but the kids didn't really seem put off by them. I think that they kind of liked the fact that this story was not warm and fuzzy, and I think that made the story all that more interesting and intriguing for them. Still, it's not one that I'll probably read to them again any time soon, and certainly not before bed.
UPDATE: After discussing this book with my friend Brandy, I realize that I don't think this book warrants a 3.5 star rating! The violence was intense, the illustrations were unattractive on multiple levels, the story could be interpreted as having racist undertones, and it centers on the brothers evading justice. Thank you for talking to me about this book, Brandy! It really helped me do a better job of evaluating this book!
Sign into Goodreads to see if any of your friends have read
The Five Chinese Brothers.
Sign In »
Reading Progress
Comments Showing 1-6 of 6 (6 new)
date
newest »
message 1:
by
Brandy
(new)
Jan 03, 2013 08:31AM
reply
|
flag
Yeah, the illustrations in this version didn't really win me over either, but I think they were typical for the time this was written. I'll have to look and see if I can find a version with more suitable illustrations. I don't know that I'd read this to the kids again, but I'd like to look at it for myself and compare and contrast. Sometimes these classic stories can really benefit from a modern retelling/modern reillustrating (e.g., The Story of Little Babaji).
You might try The Seven Chinese Sisters by Kathy Tucker and beautifully illustrated by Grace Lin. It addresses the key racial issues, and the story benefits from the gender change as well.
I have similar problems with Tiki Tiki Tembo, which was surprsingly celebrated in Jake's (usually racially sensitive) preschool. I talked to his teachers about my concerns, and they hopefully will address them. He loves it, though, so I read it as requested and retell it nearly as often. However, I have changed the setting to a "a magical place, long ago and far away." Maybe some author illustrator team will take Mosel on someday.
Yes, we read The Seven Chinese Sisters, and we did like that one! In addition to the gender change and the more culturally sensitive nature of that one, I also liked that it wasn't about how to go about evading justice, like The Five Chinese Brothers was. The message was more responsible. Gosh, talking to you about this book kind of makes me wonder why I rated The Five Chinese Brothers 3.5 stars! Let's see, it was violent, the illustrations were unattractive on multiple levels, this can be interpreted as having racist undertones, it centers on evading justice... That doesn't sound like a 3.5 star book to me!