Customer Reviews

The Seven Chinese Sisters

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In this all-girl version of the Chinese tall tale "The Seven Chinese Brothers," the sisters pool their amazing talents in order to save the seventh sister from a hungry dragon. First sister can "ride a scooter, fast as the wind," second sister knows karate, third sister can count to a high number...and so on. The story moves along quickly and works nicely for reading aloud.

As always, Grace Lin's illustrations are a visual treat--from the sisters' azure dresses to the bright red dragon to the textured background of green grasses and light blue sky. Her style is simple, yet rich with Chinese patterning and design.

There is a lot to like in this book with its model of strong can-do girls who use their heads, even in the face of a terrible dragon.

However, any update will invariably be compared to the original story, and here I find the "sisters" story seems a little more diluted and lacking in dramatic tension than its "brother" counterpart. In The Seven Chinese Brothers (by Margaret Mahy) the brothers use their superhuman powers to continuously outwit their would-be executioners. The pleasure in this book comes from being able to predict how each brother will outwit the adversary.

Though the sisters' talents complement each other nicely, the story is not as tightly crafted & the sense of anticipation is not as strong.

That said, both books are well reading to your children, as evidenced by my four-year-old daughter who asked me to read it over and over the first two days we had the book.

Note: If you liked the illustrations in this book, Grace Lin has illustrated several other excellent books for the 4-8 year-old set. Among them are Red is a Dragon, Round is a Mooncake, Dim Sum for Everyone and Kite Flying.

This is one of those books my daughters and I read again and again. I agree with another reviewer that the tale is not particularly "tight" or super witty, but it's lovely and engaging (time after time). And the illustrations are fantastic.

The Seven Chinese Sisters is a merry rendition by Kathy Tucker of a classic Chinese folk tale. Seven sisters must unite and each use her own special talent when the youngest of them is taken away by a hungry dragon. Simple and colorful artwork by Grace Lin embellishes this adventurous story. The Seven Chinese Sisters will prove to be a popular and entertaining addition to any family, school, or community library children's folktale picture book collection.

We first came across this book at the library. My then 5 year old daughter always talked about it after we returned it, so we decided to buy it for her 6th birthday. She loves pretending to be made into soup for the dragon!It's a fun book with wonderful illustrations and a fun story.

The story of how seven sisters work together to brave the unknown danger and the known danger of a dragon is delightful. My two daughters love this story. My youngest wasn't interested in it as I started reading, but by the 3rd or 4th page, had put down her crayon and was watching and listening intently. The tale of sisters helping each other and that each has a different but equally valuable talent is a good lesson. Both my girls loved the colorful pictures. It has remained on the top of our read a loud pile for quite awhile...and even made it to school as a favored show and tell.

Brought back memories from my childhood of the "Seven Chinese Brothers"! My four year old daughter can't get enough of this book! We have read it over and over since we received it a few days ago. The sisters all have their own gifts and work together to save their little sister. The illustrations in this book are really outstanding! The story is interesting and kept my kids attentions (which is saying a LOT for a two- and four-year old).

My 3-year-old and I enjoyed reading this book together. She had a great timelearning about each sister and how everyone has her individual talents. I enjoy the book about individuality and self-reliance.

Seven Chinese sisters, each with a different talent, live together and take care of each other. When the Seventh Sister, a baby, is kidnapped by a dragon, her sisters use their talents to save her.

I found it hard to remember which sister had which talent, and it bothered me that the sisters promised the hungry dragon that they would bring him some food, and then they didn't. I know, who would want to make the trip back and maybe get eaten by the dragon, right? But then why did they say they'd be back tomorrow with soup? Bright colors illustrate this picture book for ages 3-7.

I bought this book for my 4 year old daughter, but it's quickly become a favorite of my 2 year old son, too. Each girl has a special power and they're not stereotypically gender specific. My kids especially like the 2nd sister--the karate expert--and the 7th sister--the baby. They thought the dragon was bad at first, but when they learn he's actually just very hungry, their hearts go out to him. They also like the last page. Grace Lin's illustrations are top notch, as always, and I love how all the girls wear traditional qipaos. This is a great book for all kids.

We found this book at our local library. After checking it out time after time, the librarian suggested we buy our own copy. My daughter is Chinese-American and absolutely loves this book. She knows it by heart and "reads" it to me. She is 4 now but has been reading it for at least a year now. A great addition to our home library.