Beautiful Warrior (Hardcover)

by Emily Arnold Mccully (Author, Illustrator) "Instead, he sent her to the tutors as if she were a son..." (more)
Key Phrases: Soong Ling, Emily Arnold, Wing Chun (more...)

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

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4-8
  
• Hardcover: 40 pages
• Publisher: Arthur A. Levine Books; 2 edition (March 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0590374877
• ISBN-13: 978-0590374873
• Product Dimensions: 12.4 x 10.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #668,110 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 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 (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

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!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

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

By A Customer

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.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a truly beautiful book for children and adults., October 1, 1999

By A Customer

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!