According to legend, there was a young woman named Mulan whose aged and frail father was conscripted. Mulan, unwilling to see her father fighting in a war, disguises herself as a man and joins the army in his place. For the next ten years she shows remarkable skill as a warrior and becomes a famous general. Her true identity remains hidden from her comrades until the very end. Now, over fifteen centuries later, Mulan continues to be an inspiration to Chinese girls and women. She embodies the belief that woman—if given the opportunity—are capable of accomplishing the same feats as men.
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Editorial Reviews
From School Library Journal
Gr 2-5-The poem about a girl who dresses as a man and becomes a soldier to save her ailing father from conscription has long been known in China. This bilingual edition, translated into third-person narrative prose, is set firmly in the Northern Wei dynasty (386-534), when the poem may have originated. Mulan puts on armor, takes up sword and spear, and fights with the army for 10 years. She is so successful that the emperor offers her a rich reward, but she asks only to return to her village. Once home, she puts on women's clothes, convincing her former comrades that courage and fighting skills are not the province of men alone. Zhang's literal interpretations of classic Chinese landscape paintings are stiffly formal, lacking the freshness, spontaneity, and strong sense of composition that distinguishes his work in Little Tiger in the Chinese Night (1993) and Cowboy of the Steppes (1997, both Tundra). In contrast to Jeanne M. Lee's The Song of Mu Lan (Front Street, 1995), this book shows human characters as heroic but cold, while the backgrounds are so cluttered that the main artistic narrative is hard to follow. Lee's text, mostly first-person narration by Mulan herself, is also more immediate and vivid. A detailed historical note is appended, along with the text of the poem in simplified Chinese characters. Libraries with extensive Chinese collections will want this new title, but Lee's version remains the first choice.-Margaret A. Chang, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, North Adams
Copyright 1998 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.Language Notes
Text: English, Chinese (translation)
Original Language: English
Original Language: English
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beautifully Done,
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This review is from: The Ballad of Mulan (Hardcover)
This version of the original Mulan poem includes both the English translation and the original Chinese Characters. The artwork is beautiful, with lots of detail to look at on each page. There is also a short history of the poem included. I love this book because it is a great way to really share with your child the true rendition of the poem. Don't get me wrong, my daughter loves the Disney movie "Mulan," but I'm always concerned with historical acuracy, and this book does a beautiful job of showing and telling that story.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Love this book,
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This review is from: The Ballad of Mulan (Hardcover)
I wanted to share this wonderful story of a heroine in ancient Chinese history with my daughter. It is beautifully illustrated and with the original words on the pictures.
She loves the book; the story is very accurate, way better than the Disney version which has been heavily modified to suit the "Disney" mold. I would highly recommend it. FYI, the characters are traditional Chinese.
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First Sentence:
Long ago, in a village in northern China, there lived a girl named Mulan. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
The Emperor New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Front Flap | First Pages | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Long ago, in a village in northern China, there lived a girl named Mulan. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
The Emperor New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Front Flap | First Pages | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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6
books
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- E-literature for Children: Enhancing Digital Literacy Learning by Len Unsworth on page 41, page 69, and Back Matter
- The Media-Savvy Student: Teaching Media Literacy Skills, Grades 2-6 by Guofang Wan on page 73, and Back Matter
- Presence and Presentation: Women in the Chinese Literati Tradition (The New Middle Ages) by Sherry J. Mou in Back Matter
- Davy Crockett's Riproarious Shemales and Sentimental Sisters-Hc by Michael Lofaro on page 75
- Independent Reading Activities That Keep Kids Learning. . . While You Teach Small Groups (Grades 3-6) by Susan Finney on page 57
See all 6 books citing this book
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