Dori Jones Yang,
Daughter of Xanadu
Delacorte Press, 2011.

Ages 12+

In 13th Century Mongolia the Kubilai Khan’s granddaughter Emmajin is about to turn fifteen, marking the shift from childhood to womanhood. Emmajin, however, is not like other girls. She has no intention of getting married and does everything she can to fend off prospective suitors. Her best friend is her (male) first cousin Suren. They horse-ride and practise archery together; and as far as Emmajin is concerned, nothing is going to change after her birthday – except that she is more determined than ever to become a soldier and gain honor for her family by great deeds on the battle-field.

Before contemplating her becoming a soldier, Emmajin’s grandfather gives her the task of finding out all she can about the homeland of certain visiting foreign merchants, in order to promote the Khan’s intentions to conquer the world. So enters into her life the Venetian Marco Polo; and so begins Emmajin’s actual growing-up, as she learns from Marco that there are different ways of doing and thinking. Her task is further complicated by her increasing attraction to him, and she soon finds herself facing dilemmas of loyalty and questioning the principles of conquest that she has grown up with.

Drawing on the Journeys of Marco Polo, Dori Jones Yang has created a fast-paced book that brings the Mongol Empire to life with plenty of historical detail. The story encompasses adventure, heartbreak and divided loyalties, and the exhilaration and challenges faced by a girl determined to make it on her own terms in a man’s world. Emmajin is a feisty, outspoken character, and the candid first-person narrative, complete with quandaries and attempts at self-justification, as well as acknowledgments of failings, means that readers will come to love Emmajin, even though her original tenets, founded in a culture bent on building empire, may be alienating to today’s readers. As the book progresses and Emmajin’s at times almost arrogant certainties are challenged, readers will be increasingly drawn to her.

Emmajin and Marco Polo’s relationship colors the whole book. As readers follow them through increasingly adventurous exploits, such as dragon-hunting and battle, the book becomes harder and harder to put down. From the start, Daughter of Xanadu challenges readers to ponder both their own views and their tolerance of others’ views; and by the end, we have not only found a friend in Emmajin, but also decided we would like to know what happens next…

Marjorie Coughlan
March 2011

Summer is drawing to a close here in Canada and I’ve just returned from a fabulous four-week holiday spent cruising British Columbia’s gorgeous Central and South Coasts. There are a lot of wonderful things about boating but one of my favorites is that a lot of time can be devoted to reading! The kids and I always bring along a big stack of library books, purchase a few books along the way and make the most of the free drop-off/trade-in shelves at most marinas. Needless to say we never run out of reading material!

One of the books I brought along this year was Donna Jo Napoli’s young adult novel Bound. Initially intrigued by the book’s cover, one month after reading it I am still entranced by the story! Set in a small village during China’s Ming period, Bound is a Chinese version of Cindrella. Reviewer Jennifer Mo says:

This is not your familiar, comfortable Cinderella story. There are no magic wands or pumpkin coaches, and happily ever after happens only in, well, fairy tales. Real life offers few of these sugar-spun fantasies, particularly for three unsupported women in a Ming dynasty Chinese village. Fourteen-year-old Xing Xing, her stepmother and her half-sister Wei Ping are each bound: socially, ideologically and financially. The physical, crippling binding of Wei Ping’s feet is a metaphor for an encompassing system of patriarchal privilege. But in another sense of the word, to be bound is also to be heading towards something — not so much a fate, as a rare and precious choice of fates.

Donna Jo Napoli writes for all ages, from picture books through young adult books (great reads for adults too!); and is the recipient of many book awards. Her writing ranges from contemporary fiction to fantasy to historical novels (my favorite!); and her books have been translated into over 13 languages. She also writes mathematics and science tales, as well as books geared toward helping deaf people learn to read. Several of her books are re-tellings of fairy tales: Hansel and Gretel in The Magic Circle, Rapunzel in Zel, Jack and the Beanstalk in Crazy Jack, Rumpelstiltskin in Spinners, and Beauty and the Beast in Beast, which Napoli sets in ancient Persia.

Author Linda Sue Park has a new novel out called A Long Walk to Water, “based on the true story of Salva Dut, a Sudanese refugee who fled his home village at the age of eleven because of war. Salva became one of the ‘Lost Boys of Sudan‘, immigrating to the U.S. in the 1990s (he is now President and Chief Operating Officer of the charitable foundation Water for Sudan).” If this blurb catches your attention—it immediately caught mine!—don’t look for Salva’s story at you favorite bookstore—you won’t find it there. Instead, look for it in your local newspaper, as a “Breakfast Serial.”

Breakfast Serials, founded by children’s book author Avi, have, since 1996, been taking novel-length pieces of original fiction and syndicating them for publication in newspapers, one chapter a week, in the U.S. and abroad. “A simpler, more popular literature that appeals to new audience sets”, these serials were originally aimed at young people “who know how to read but choose not to,” but their popularity soon captured the attention of adults as well. Their goal, as stated on their website, is “to refresh the reading experience in a new and convenient context and to forward the process of human attachment by way of an unfolding story.” A very nice concept that has people talking and trying to figure out “what happens next.”

Every Breakfast Serial installment is accompanied by full-color or b/w illustrations—something that sets them apart from novels published in book format, which usually aren’t illustrated. You can see two sample chapters of A Long Walk to Water, illustrated by Jim Averbeck, here. In addition to Park’s story about Salva, there are many others available in English and Spanish, such as (more…)

Who knows better what young readers want than another young reader? Christopher Paolini goes to show that he certainly knows–his Inheritance cycle, consisting of Eragon, Eldest, and Brisinger, with a final installment in the works, has captured the imaginations of children, young adults, and adults too, all over the world.

The home-schooled son of parents who owned a small publishing business in rural Montana, Christopher Paolini found himself with time on his hands after graduating from high school when he was 15, and with a novel that he had begun the year before. He spent a year writing Eragon, his parents published it,  bestselling writer Carl Hiasson’s stepson read it and loved it, and suddenly Christopher was a Knopf author, published by Random House in the U.S. and the U.K.

A voracious bibliophile and devotee of libraries, Christopher was a reluctant reader as a child, and credits his mother for enticing him to love the printed word. Certainly she must be proud that her encouragement not only made her son a lover of books, but a writer whose goal was to write a book that other 15-year-olds would want to read.

He certainly has accomplished that–his first two books have sold over 15.5 million copies and are in print in 50 languages–a testimony to youthful talent and to parents who stressed the joy of reading!

We have deeply enjoyed hosting the Tiger’s Choice, the PaperTigers’ online bookgroup, over the past year–it introduced us to a number of interesting books, a group of authors whom we hadn’t read before, and a collection of new friends from around the globe who joined in our discussions.

Nancy Farmer, Uma Krishnaswami, Ken Mochizuki, Minfong Ho, Jane Vejjajiva, Julia Alvarez, John Boyne,  Katia Novet Saint-Lot are all authors whom we plan to return to again and again for reading that expands our cultural horizons. As their body of work increases, the Tiger’s Bookshelf will be there–to read, to praise, to cheer them on.

We will however be doing this in another form rather than through the Tiger’s Choice. As exciting and rewarding as it has been to explore books through this avenue, we have new plans for the Tiger’s Bookshelf that do not include our bookgroup. We thank all of you who have read this portion of our blog, and who have joined in the discussions, and hope that you will continue to be part of the ongoing conversation that will take place on the PaperTigers Blog, and through the Tiger’s Bookshelf!

Sometimes the simplest remark can be the most transforming. “Perhaps, sir, you will come back with books,” a Nepalese headmaster said to John Wood, a vacationing Microsoft employee, as they stood in a school library that had twenty books that “were all backpacker cast-offs.” Haunted by the thought of children who might never know the joy of reading, Wood returned home and spent a year gathering children’s books. He went back to the headmaster with 3,000 volumes and a new direction for his life. John Wood decided that bringing books to children who have none was his vocation and Room to Read was born, as he tells readers in Leaving Microsoft to Change the World.

Wood put together an organization with staff who share his dream and his passion, aided by a fundraising network of more than 3,000 people. The core programs of Room to Read are the Reading Room which has built 5,600 libraries,  Local Language Publishing which publishes and distributes books written both in English and the local language, the School Room which works with local communities to build schools with 444 in use, the Room to Grow Girls’ Scholarship that enables 4,000 girls to complete their secondary education, and the Computer and Language Room which builds computer and language labs.

Found in India, Sri Lanka, Zambia, South Africa, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, Room to Read is vitalized by donations and volunteers, who have discovered how they can help by going to www.roomtoread.org. All share a common goal—to have built 10,000 libraries by 2010.

Scheduled half-day visits to a Room to Read site are welcome with advance arrangement.

One man, one dream, 3,000 books– one optimistic remark changed a life and consequently thousands of lives are being changed through the power of reading and the joy of literacy, all over the world.

Tonight I read Shin-chi’s Canoe by Nicola Campbell, illustrated by Kim LaFave to my daughter.  The story is a follow-up to Campbell’s earlier book Shi-shi-etko which narrates the story of a young aboriginal girl, Shi-shi-etko, as she is separated from her family at the age of six to attend a residential school.  In Shin-chi’s Canoe, Campbell returns to the same family but now it is time for Shi-shi-etko’s brother, Shin-chi to go to the same school with his sister.  Shin-chi is given a little carved canoe as a parting gift from his father and the boat will serve as a reminder during the cold cruel months ahead of a request Shin-chi has made of his father: namely, to build a dugout canoe for him when he returns home at the beginning of summer.

When this book arrived at our house, my daughter was immediately taken by it.  She and her classmates were all building boats to be launched at a nearby creek.  Can I show this book to my teacher?  She asked right away.  But we haven’t read it yet, I said.  We’ll read it tonight, I promise. At bedtime we curled up into bed and read Shin-Chi’s Canoe.  My daughter remained silent through the reading and at the end, she made a comment that struck me.  While I concentrated mostly on the social injustice of the aboriginal residential school experience, my daughter remembered instead the request Shin-chi made of his father, namely, the promise that he would have his own canoe by the end of that first year away at school.  See, his Daddy’s making the canoe just like Shin-chi asked, my daughter said.  Quite frankly, caught up as I was with the bigger social issue presented by the book, I had forgotten that simple request. I was amazed and humbled by my daughter’s observation. Truly, children have their own unique perspective.  That is why reading to them at bedtime can be so hugely rewarding.

Incidentally, November is National American Indian Heritage Month in the United States.  The story of Shin-chi and Shi-shi-etko is a great way to start educating young people about the history of aboriginal children’s lives in North America.

Young Milly is the heroine in Julia Alvarez’s Finding Miracles, which was featured as our Tiger’s Choice last month. Born Milagros, and adopted by an American couple from an unnamed country in Latin America, Milly is in many ways a typical high school girl grappling with issues of identity. As Janet points out in her review of the book, “In her journey to learn how to be Milagros as well as Milly, this extraordinary young woman learns that family is an expandable concept.”

Whereas Milly’s tale isn’t “about adoption,” Julia Alvarez sensitively weaves in the theme around the book’s other topics—which makes it a very timely read for National Adoption Awareness Month, when we celebrate adoption as one of the special ways in which families are formed.

Adoption added complexity and depth to Milly’s journey of self-discovery, as it did to Joseph Calderaro’s personal quest in Rose Kent‘s Kimchi & Calamari, about a Korean teen who was adopted as a child by Italian-American parents. Whereas Finding Miracles and Kimchi & Calamari don’t deal exclusively with issues of adoption, by portraying well-rounded, well-adjusted adopted teens they emphasize the true, positive nature of adoption and help dispel the stereotypes that abound in literature and the media. For these and many others reasons, I highly recommend them.

Click here for ideas on how to celebrate and advocate for children who have yet to find a loving family to be a part of, and check out Marjorie’s The Ties of Love post for more book ideas and resources on the theme. You don’t need be a member of the adoption community to appreciate and enjoy this celebration!

The October Carnival of Children’s Literature is in full swing with the theme of Snuggle Up with a Children’s Book (great advice for any month of the year!) at The Well-Read Child, where Amy from Kids Love Learning tells How to Create a “Book Addict”, Heather at Age 30+…A Lifetime of Books reports on her Mom and Son Book Club, and Megan reviews Hip Hop Speaks to Children by Nikki Giovanni at Read, Read, Read. Our PaperTigers blog has joined in the fun with Marjorie’s Books at Bedtime discussion of Fiesta Femenina.

Be sure to go to the Carnival, which next month will feature The Gift of Reading and will be hosted by Mommy’s Favorite Children’s Books.

Within the opening chapters of Finding Miracles, readers soon realize that within a conventional high school setting, a young girl who does her best to appear conventional is under tremendous pressure to maintain that appearance. Milly is pretty, smart, popular, and plagued by a skin allergy that breaks out when “her real self” threatens to emerge.

At first this book seems as though it will be a typical high school “girl meets boy” story, but Julia Alvarez is far too skillful a novelist to stick to this well-worn territory. Swiftly the reader is drawn into Milly’s expanding world, as she reveals her adoption to her friends, begins to explore her origins through her friendship with Pablo and his parents, and learns that her most distinctive feature, her beautiful eyes, are inherited from the women of Los Luceros, a village in her home country. (more…)