Picture Book - The Silk Princess

The Silk Princess is one of my daughter's favorite books.  It is written and illustrated by Charles Santore, a wonderful watercolorist.  The illustrations in this book are the main reasons I bought it. They are absolutely exquisite. They are rendered in a style similar to traditional Chinese water colors, but with a hint of modernity in its realistic rendering of the little girl. The story is very long and may be too involved for some children.

Hsi Ling Chi is the only daughter of the Emperor of China. The beginning of the book mentions that she has 2 brothers, whom the Emperor dotes on, but is herself ignored by her father.  For younger children, this may not register. But for older children (like my almost 7 yo boy) they may want to know why. It is, of course, a complicated answer and I will not presume to know how this question should be answered for your family. 

The story is about how Hsi Ling Chi finally came to her father's attention - by discovering silk.  The way she discovers the silk is an adventure.  She sees a silk worm cocoon fall into a cup of tea, and unwinds it. Flying like a kite, she takes the string to see how long it is, and ends up outside the royal palace - a feat not even done by her own mother, the Empress.  Then her adventure really begins. She runs into giant spiders, dragons guarding bridges, and an old man who mysteriously knows who she is.  The old man teaches her the secret of the new fabric "silk" because the silk worms have chosen her. 

She returns to the palace and takes a nap. When she awakes, the old man has disappeared - but not the knowledge he left with her.  She tells her mother this "dream" and the mother sees something in this dream and has the royal weavers follow every word. Thus silk is discovered, and she is finally seen by her father.

The story of silk is secondary in this story for me. I like that this cloistered young girl wanders into the big wide world and is brave enough to keep going. She sees things few see and comes back a hero. The negative side to the story is that she has to accomplish something to gain the attention of her father. Unfortunately there's no real explaining away this one to the children. History and culture are what they are. However, I also love that her mother, the Empress, sees the story as more than a child's dream, that she saw the worth in the words of her daughter - trusted it.  So perhaps it's less about the father and daughter, and more about the mother and daughter.

My daughter loves this story. The pictures really captivate her. And everytime we pull out this book, my son sidles over to peek over my shoulder to look at the book with us. That says something!