Yeh-Shen: A Cinderella Story from China

This version of the Cinderella story, in which a young girl overcomes the wickedness of her stepsister and stepmother to become the bride of a prince, is based on ancient Chinese manuscripts written 1000 years before the earliest European version.

Born in New York City, Ai-Ling Louie graduated from Sarah Lawrence College and received her graduate degree from Wheelock College. After teaching school near Boston, she returned to the New York area, moving to New Jersey. The tale of Yeh-Shen had been told in her family for three generations when, to her surprise, a research trail led Ms. Louie to the Cinderella of her grandmother’s story as recorded in an ancient Chinese manuscript, which is reproduced in this book.

Ed Young was born in Tientsin, China, grew up in Shanghai, and came to the United States when he was in his late teens. A graduate of the University of Illinois and the Los Angeles Art Center, he has illustrated many beautiful books for young people, among them The Emperor and the Kite, a Caldecott Honor Book (written by Jane Yolen); Chinese Mother Goose Rhymes (translated by Robert Wyndham); The Terrible Mung Gwama: A Chinese Folktale; Bo Rabbit Smart for True: Folktales from the Gullah (by Priscilla Jaquith); and High on a Hill: A Book of Chinese Riddles. The artwork for Yeh-Shen was more than two years in the making, and Mr. Young made two trips to China to do his careful research into the traditional costumes and customs of the people in the area in which this tale is set.

…A worthwhile addition to picture book collections.” — Booklist.

”Executed with chromatic splendor–a unique combination of brillinace and restraint.” — The Horn Book

“Every library will be enriched by it.” — School Library Journal