The Silk Princess

by Charles Santore

Princess Hsi-Ling Chi has heard tales of a sleeping dragon and ancient gods residing in the Holy Mountains beyond her father’s palace. But when she emerges from the gates for the first time, she is not afraid. She has with her a magical thread unraveled from a tiny cocoon that dropped into the Empress’s teacup, and she knows it will lead her back to the palace garden. But she is very far from home when she notices that the thread has broken, and that she is lost. How will she find her way back? And will the secret of silk be lost forever?


From the Hardcover edition.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Fiction, China, Historical Fiction, Cultural, Historical

40 pages, Library Binding

First published December 26, 2007

About the author

Charles Santore is an American illustrator best known for his children's books. His work is on display permanently at the Brandywine River Museum and the Museum of Modern Art. He won the Hamilton King award from the New York Society of Illustrators. His book William the Curious won the 1998 Storytelling World Honor from Storytelling magazine.

Reviews

[Linda Lipko · Rating 3 out of 5]

Charles Santore is one of my favorite artists. Each and every book I've read with his illustrations, provides stress release and joy by simply examining the beauty of his works.

In this story a young princess notes a caccoon as it drops into her mother's tea. As Princess Hsi-Ling Chi tells her mother that she will place the string around her waist and will see how far it will take her. This leads to a magical journey of many miles, a dragon, a huge black spider, the discovery of the great palace and mountains.

Tired, exhausted, the little princess looks to see the thread that tethers her to her mother, alas the string is broken. Coming upon a small hatch, she finds a man at a loom. Happy to see her, he explains that he was waiting for her and her thread to complete a beautiful robe for the Emperor. Taking a nap, she awakens to find the thread still wrapped around her waist. She returns to her mother and tells her of her adventure.

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not quite as stunning as Santore's "Little Mermaid" but still beautiful illustrations and an interesting fable (or is it?) about how the Chinese learned the secret of silk!

[Cassandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Silk Princess is a legend from China. It is about a little girl who is a princess, but she is never noticed by her father, the Emperor. The Emperor is tired of his clothes and has asked everyone to make him some new ones that are fit for a king, but he is not satisfied with any of the attempts. One day when the princess is in the garden with her mother a cocoon falls off a tree into her mothers tea. The princess picks it up, and it starts to unravel. Her mother ties the end of it to her waist and holds the other end, so the princess begins to walk through the garden to see how long the string is. She gets sleepy from walking and decides to lay down to take a nap. She has a wonderful dream that she wakes up and keeps walking past the walls of the palace. She goes up into the mountains with the string still tied to her, and the string causes a dragon to trip and fall into a crevice, saving her life. She continues to walk for a while before realizing that the string has been cut and she is lost. She tries to find her way back, but instead she finds an old man in a cave making some cloth. He tells her that it is made from the string just like what she had from the cocoon. The old man feeds the princess and helps her find her way back to the palace, and the princess falls asleep again. When she wakes up, the old man is gone, but she is back in the garden. She runs to her mother and tells her story. Her mother realizes what a good idea it would be to use the silk from the cocoon, so she has the princess go tell her father about it. From that day on, all of his clothes were made of silk, and he never ignored the little princess again. At the end of the book, there is a section about how the author discovered this legend.

This book was beautifully written, and I loved the illustrations. I also love that it is a multicultural story. After reading this book, I would have the students draw a story map. They would work in groups and would need to create a rough draft of their map. Then, I would give them a large posterboard and let them work on their final draft. This book would be good for a story map because the princess actually goes on a journey. As an extension, the students could research some of the Chinese culture and landscape to include in their map.

Because this book is a legend, I would use it in a unit on genre. I would ask the students to do a round table activity writing down elements of this story that show it is a legend. They could also create their own legend as a group.

[Sparrows at Home · Rating 5 out of 5]

My children (ages 8, 6, and 4) and I all loved the story and the illustrations. The children were captivated all the way through to the end! We are homeschooling family and read the story during a week of studying Huang-di and ancient China.

[Anna Mock · Rating 3 out of 5]

The font and the size of the print in this book make it pretty painful. I'm guessing the author needed a way to fit a ton of words in to hit the 32 page limit or something. The story is good, though. I don't love and cherish this book as I do some other books we use for our elementary history lessons, but my kids really love it, and that is probably just as important.

[Cara · Rating 4 out of 5]

A young princess isn't given any attention from her father, the emperor. She has a dream one day while out playing with her mother about make silk and her dream of being recognized by her father happens as a result of this.

[Sally · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful illustration and wonderful story

[Ruth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeous artwork and a wonderful retelling of a beautiful story.

Definitely going to have to read more into Asian myths, legends, and fairy tales next year.

[Set · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fantastical tale and beautiful illustrations, captures the beauty of the orient perfectly.

[Bat713 · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful trip through ancient Japan to discover the origin tale of silk.

[Zoey Green · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful book on the history of China

[Robin Kirk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the story and the art. Endless things to notice and appreciate.

[Le Maistre Chat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chinese myth of the invention of silk gorgeously painted by Charles Santore.

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cool legend of how silk came to be and beautiful Illustrations

[Tanika · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book because gives off a sense of adventure as a little princess, who is neglected by her father, finds a cocoon in a cup of tea. She realizes that the cocoon is made of a fiber, so to test the length she decides to tie one end around her waist and gave the cocoon to her mother to hold. The princess walks along way, other side of the garden, then out the palace gates, then into the woods. Along this journey she encounters a huge spider and a dragon and an old man sewing a robe for her father. The dragon cut the fiber by accident and she didn’t know so by the time she saw the old man she was totally lost. The old man feed her and let her sleep then he walk her back to the palace. Along the way she would take naps as he weaves but on the last stop he disappeared when she woke so she went home and told her mom everything. The mother told the royal weavers to make the robe the daughter mentioned and when she gave it to her dad she became the new favorite child. I think this is a good book to shows adventure and the illustrations will really help capture the children’s attention.

[Caitlin Barclay]

This is a story that is a legend. I would read this to any grade but I would expect the older elementary students to gain more from learning from it. In third grade. students are learning about genres and this book is a legend which can be considered a genre. This story also has colorful vocabulary that can be included into a unit for second or third graders. Some of the words are: glistening, shimmering, unraveling, glided, mist and emerge. Since this is a legend about silk and silkworms, a science extension activity can also be done. The history in this book includes Chinese ancient culture and the government type of an empire. Using it at a younger grade level, students can make predictions, connections and talk about the feelings that the main character may have and how we know that. This book is full of teaching possibilities!

[Teri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful tale recounting the discovery of silk in ancient China. (Make sure to read the author's note in the back about his addition of the the young princess into the story of the empress discovering silk when a cocoon drops in her cup of tea.) This ties in REALLY nicely with Story of the World History curriculum, which is where my kids first learned of the discovery of silk. But they REALLY liked revisiting it in this picture book with the enchanting tale of the young princess and her trail of silk. The illustrations are also beautiful.

[Shelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Charles Santore did a fantastic job in both the narrative retelling of this classic Chinese tale and its stunning illustrations. This is a work of historical fiction since no one knows for sure who first discovered how to make silk and has become a work of Chinese Mythology; the stories vary slightly in each version. The authors note in the afterword portion is also extremely informative.

[Kala · Rating 4 out of 5]

I adore the illustrations in this book! To be honest, that is why it is getting four stars. Even the font used has the perfect feel to it and blends nicely with the atmosphere of the artwork. The story itself isn't bad, but seems rather dull in comparison to the pictures it accompanies.

[Joenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great picture book for older kids to learn about a part of Chinese history and a legend.

[Roxanne Hsu Feldman · Rating 1 out of 5]

At least the author is honest about how he made much of the story up. The stamps on many pages do not match the story and the characters at all.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story of the discovery of silk in China. Really cute. Includes a description of the original Chinese legend (Multicultural)

[Miri Gifford · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this story, the adventurous little girl, and the lovely illustrations.

[Jean-Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautiful illustrations to another variation of the legend of the origins of silk.

[Jared · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun story of the origins of silk weaving in China, told in a mythic style. The illustrations are beautiful.

[Jodi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not counting this towards The Heathers book challenge.

[Andrés · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chinese folklore with beautiful illustrations.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

A story where I wasn't sure what actually happened or what may have been make-believe at the end. I don't like that! But I did enjoy the first half to two-thirds.