Customer Reviews

The Runaway Rice Cake

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Reviewed by A. Rooney

In the tradition of other great storytellers, Ying Chang Compestine begins her tale, Runaway Rice Cake, with the introducer, "It all happened one Chinese New Year's Eve." Compestine then serves up more than just rice cakes; she gives young readers whimsy, adventure, magic, family fun, language, rhyme, a geography lesson, and an easy-to-handle moral to cap it off. All in the space of 30 beautifully illustrated pages. A father, mother, and three sons in old China are set to enjoy the Chinese New Year. The mother cooks them a special seasonal treat, a rice cake, with the remaining flour in the cupboard. When she pronounces it done, they stand ready to share it. But wait - the nian-gao (rice cake in Chinese) suddenly comes to life and bolts for the door. The boys, with mother and father in tow, chase it through farmyards, markets, a celebration, and the village center. The chase finally ends when the runaway rice cake bumps into a "grandmother," an old woman in the town. She has not eaten for days and Da, the youngest, offers to share the prize cake with her. In her hunger she accidentally devours the whole thing and embarrasses herself in the process. When the family arrives home, villagers have heard of their plight and are waiting with baked buns, dumplings, and oranges, and magically empty bowls are transformed into full ones of noodles, fish, vegetables, and rice. What makes this such a great story is that it arrives in layers: first the tale, then the magic and whimsy, then the language and geography, then the lesson. Young readers are innately curious about children and customs in other lands, but they want the information on kid level. Compestine's book delivers that along with a nice helping of fun. Because of the fun factor, Runaway Rice Cake will score high marks on the bedtime read-together scale. And if that isn't enough, there's a bonus at the end. In the final two pages, in a kind of addendum or epilogue, the author has included background and history of the Chinese New Year and a recipe for the holiday rice cake. A great story by an author who was a witness to China's unfortunate Cultural Revolution and can share a little of her country's 6,000 years of language and tradition. I look forward to her next offering.

Great story to read for storyhour for 3-5-yr.olds. It's the Gingerbread Man on Chinese New Years Day, and the miracle of the Loaves and Fishes, all rolled into one.My storyhour children were totally caught up in the Chang Family's chase of the runaway rice cake all through the village.

The Runaway Rice Cake was a delight to my 6-year-old daughter and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it to her. Since the main story line is a familiar one it was fun for her to draw comparisons to the gingerbread man and the shortbread girl, both tales she has enjoyed in the past. This version of the tale also brings with it a message about sharing. (Makes Mom happy!) At the end of the book there is a page long description of how Chinese New Year is celebrated which was interesting to us both. My daughter was particularly excited about the bonus of two recipes for Nian-Gao. She loves to help in the kitchen and the recipes appear to be simple enough that she can do the measuring and mixing on her own and my contribution should be minor. I give this book a hearty 'Thumbs Up'!

I teach 3rd-4th graders with learning disabilities who often also have short attention spans. This book held their interest until the very end. Our class made the recipe for rice cake that is provided in the book. We baked it while I read the story. It is a beautiful story with a nice moral about being unselfish. Illustrations are wonderful too. I loved it and so did the kids. I highly recommend.

This book is an excellent addition to a library collection on China or on various types of New Year celebrations around the world. A recipe for both baked and steamed nian-gao is included at the end. In the reading aloud, this book has a subtle message about sharing and compassion although I think the text gets a little irritating when, over and over, "something incredible happened". Just as a description is not made more so by the endless use of "very", an event is not made more incredible when it is announced in advance that it will be incredible... and, in fact, it detracts a bit from the magic. I think the text could be a bit more sophisticated but, overall, this is still a wonderful story to share.

I recommed this book for six year olds. The rice cake ran away because it didn't want to be eaten. Read this book to see what happens. Enjoy!

This book is mostly about the Chang family and New Years Eve. The Chang family was cooking rice cakes and suddenly, when they
lifted the cover off the rice cake ran away from the fisherman,
a neighboor and the dragon. But they still coudn't get the rice cake. Xavier S.

The Run Aaway Rice Cake is a about this family called the Chang family. They make a rice cake. It becomes alive. It runs away. I recommend this book to people who like silly stories and rice cakes. By Bryan G.

In the footsteps of the runaway gingerbread man, the giving tree, and the runaway latkas, this tale for the lunar new year is colorful and interesting, it rhymes in many places, and teaches the lesson of generosity and how giving will reward you spiritually if not materially in the future. It includes recipes for baked and steamed nian-gao.

Though I'm not a big fan of the illustrations in Ying Chang Compestine's The Runaway Rice Cake, I appreciate the message. The Chang family makes one rice cake with the last bit of their rice flour for their whole family of 5 to eat for Chinese New Year. In gingerbread man fashion, the rice cake comes alive and runs away, showing you elements of the New Year celebration as they chase it. When the rice cake runs into a poor and hungry elderly woman, "the rice cake stopped trying to escape" and surrenders itself to be eaten. The children are sad that their last food is gone, but they return home to an abundance, much more than they could have imagined, to their happiest New Year's Eve ever. Some kids might find the anthropomorphized rice cake's surrender to be eaten a bit sad (or disturbing?), but the overall message of giving generously and receiving blessings, sometimes tangible ones right away and sometimes ones we may not recognize so easily, makes this book a worthwhile family read.

See my other reviews of Chinese New Year themed kids' books on my blog - www(dot)myoverthinking(dot)com - look for the post dated January 25, 2012