The Beautiful Warrior: The Legend of the Nun's Kung Fu [Hardcover]

Emily Arnold Mccully (Author, Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1998 | Age Level: 4 and up | Grade Level: P and up

This is the dramatic, multilayered story of two legendary women warriors, Wu Mei, the "beautiful warrior", and her most famous pupil, Mingyi, set in the vibrant colors of China.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 5?The story of two legendary female kung fu masters who may have lived in the last part of the 17th century. The first, Wu Mei, born to an aristocratic family, was educated like a boy and excelled at martial arts. Made homeless by the overthrow of the last Ming emperor (1644), the young woman finds her way to the Shaolin Monastery, made famous in television and movies. She convinces the monks to continue her training and becomes a nun and renowned teacher of kung fu. After she rescues the scatterbrained daughter of a bean-curd seller from thieves, the girl begs for her help in escaping a forced marriage to a local thug. Wu Mei advises Mingyi to postpone the wedding for a year, promising the odious would-be groom that she will marry him only if he can best her at kung fu. The year is long enough for a crash course, focusing on the development and use of qi, or vital energy. As she studies, Mingyi develops into a calm, sturdy young woman who gains her freedom. McCully steeped herself in Chinese painting, but develops her own fresh interpretation of classic Chinese art. She alternates a format of using succeeding frames with double-page spreads that evoke the sweep of Chinese scroll paintings. The last scenes, depicting the climactic fight, show that the result of Mingyi's self-mastery is not lost on the young girls of the village. Celebrating discipline and inner strength while retelling legends connected with styles of kung fu, this story authentically re-creates a period of Chinese history and gives readers not one but two lively heroines.?Margaret A. Chang, North Adams State College, MA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Ages 5^-9. Like McCully's Caldecott winner, Mirette on the High Wire (1992), this extends the picture book with a tense drama about brave young women who find strength in themselves. McCully tells a kung fu story about two legendary women in seventeenth-century China. First, there is the child prodigy whose father refuses to allow her to become an idle lady with bound feet. Instead, she studies the five pillars of learning and the martial arts and becomes a Buddhist nun named Wu Mei, beautiful warrior. Then Wu Mei saves a desperate, scatterbrained young girl from a forced marriage to a hooligan bandit. The warrior nun teaches the girl to save herself with kung fu, and as the girl learns that softness and yielding can prevail over hardness and brute force, she grows strong and calm. In a great climactic fight, the small girl uses her technique to rout the bandit and send him flying. The defeat of the swaggering bully has elemental appeal, and there are great comic action scenes of the huge bandit hurtling through the air. In traditional Chinese style, the art of this large-size book includes narrow narrative panels that alternate with wide, detailed, misty landscapes in watercolor, tempera, and pastel. The pictures reinforce the story of strength that comes from mastering yourself and finding harmony with the universe. Hazel Rochman

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Hardcover: 40 pages
• Publisher: Arthur A. Levine Books; 2 edition (March 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0590374877
• ISBN-13: 978-0590374873
• Product Dimensions: 12.2 x 10.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #471,787 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Emily Arnold McCully was born left handed in Illinois and was transplanted to Long Island, where she grew up. A tree climber, bike rider, fort builder and ball player, she also devoted hours every day to reading and drawing. She majored in art history at college and acted and wrote for the theater. She lived in Europe for a year researching her Master's thesis, also in art history. Back in New York, she took to the streets with a portfolio of sample illustrations. Early assignments were for book jackets, magazine stories and pharmaceutical ads. A poster displayed in subway cars caught the attention of a children's book editor and a new career was launched. After illustrating other peoples' texts for several years and publishing two adult novels (A Craving and life Drawing) McCully began writing her own picture books.
She has been awarded the Caldecott Medal, Christopher Award, Jane Addams Award, O'Henry Award and many others.
She has two sons and lives in New York and Columbia County, N.Y., where she maintains a large garden.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not just for martial-arts enthusiasts, November 20, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Beautiful Warrior: The Legend of the Nun's Kung Fu (Hardcover)

I love sharing this book with my daughters because of the beautiful artwork, the portrayal of female strength and the message that inner resolve coupled with practice are the keys to achieving one's goals. We often quote Wu Mei's admonition to the bean curd seller: "No problem can be solved by a drunken monkey!" The reminder to remain calm, make up one's own mind, and engage with the world from a firm sense of self is valuable for people of both sexes and all ages.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful illustrations, July 30, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Beautiful Warrior: The Legend of the Nun's Kung Fu (Hardcover)

This book is an awesome experience. Adults and children in our martial arts school enjoyed the story of Wu Mei. The illustrations are breath taking. The story is well told and easily read.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Strong women, Wu Mei Kung Fu & Shaolin Monastery, October 9, 2004

By 

KSL "emma-and-me" (Florida, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Beautiful Warrior: The Legend of the Nun's Kung Fu (Hardcover)

I just love that this book is based on a woman that I hope existed! I love that when she was born that they watched her to see her true nature before they named her and then gave her the name Jingyong - Quiet Courage. Also that her father would not allow Jingyong's feet to be bound, and that he treated her as a son and she was taught the 5 pillars of learning - art, literature, music, medicine and marital arts! There is so much more of the book, but I don't want to spoil it for you! This is an excellent book!

What a fasinating story! The artwork is beautiful! And I can't wait to read this book to my daughter and find a Wu Mei Kung Fu studio to learn Wu Mei ourselves!