Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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!

I love both the artwork and the story content of this book. It is rare and wonderful to find a book in which two female martial artists are the main characters! This book is a true gift to martial artists enthusiasts everywhere. The story's lessons (soft overcomes hard, calm overcomes strong) come from authentic martial arts teachings at their finest. Brava!

My son loves this book as do I, but I would love it more if I weren't a longtime student of Sifu Ken Lo, 7th Generation Master of Wu Mei Pai and Head of the Wu Mei Kung Fu association. While everyone's version of events of Wu Mei's life will be somewhat different, there is a very real martial art called Wu Mei that descends directly from Wu Mei herself. The nun Wu Mei's movement as depicted in the story are very different from the Wu Mei I've studied for the last 15 years. I suppose that is poetic and artistic license, but it's a shame nonetheless, especially as the author interved Sifu Lo and watched his class.

I bought this book to use as a lesson with my special education class in a middle school. It is a wonderful story with beautiful illustrations. While some of the words were a bit difficult, I read the story to them and they completed a story circle based upon identifying the heroine(s), the setting, the problem, the action and the result. It was a great book for this kind of simple project. It taught about being calm and I was able to simply leave out the parts about "chi" - I teach in public school and don't tread on religion.

This book has a great story and tends to give a wonderful message for young girls. I recommend it to any parent who wants their daughter to grow up with an "I can do it", or "never give up" attitude.

The story resonated with me, I find it inspirational. I also thought that the drawing of Jingyong captures the essence of her calm strength.

I think society is lacking role models for young girls and this book is perfect. It doesn't teach winning by force but by realizing one's own inner strength.

First, I want to say that this is a beautiful book, the art and layout are wonderful. But with that said, i would like to give my opinion on this book:
1. It's not really a book for children. In my opinion, the writer, while trying to simplify this story, really did not write it in a style that a child would understand or gravitate to. It really is written in a simplistic adult form. Also, the story did not flow smoothly. It tries too hard to be clever, or deep, or "art-sie", and misses the point. Funny thing is, the story kept talking about heart,focus,relaxation,and simplicity- and the author could not seem to find that herself.
2. For those of martial arts background, I'm not sure where she got this story from (and the author does admit that there are many variations of this story), as the story does not follow the popular, or most accepted path. I think the author got a good idea for a story, got one "version" of it, and really didn't go any further from there in her research.
3. At the end of the book, the author tries to give some more details on the story, but tries in a very confusing way, as at the end of the book the style "Wing Chun" is brought up, as if it was talked about before, and yet it was never mentioned before in the book.....and this is what the story is about, or supposed to be. If it is Wing Chun, you also would think that the illustrations would look a little more like the style.

So in summary, a beautiful "adult-style" book, but written from the viewpoint of someone with no martial arts background, lacking the depth of knowledge that the book was trying to express.