Red Butterfly: How a Princess Smuggled the Secret of Silk Out of China

Based on a Chinese folktale, "Red Butterfly" is a beautifully-illustrated story about a young Chinese princess who is getting ready to leave her beloved homeland in order to marry the King of Khotan, in Tibet. She is sad that she has to leave all that is dear and familiar to her, and decides that she will carry a living reminder of her native land, in the form of tiny silkworms. The young princess knows that it is an act strictly forbidden for China greatly prizes the secret of weaving silk and wants to keep it within China. Will the young princess succeed in carrying out her secret plan? When I chose this book for my daughter (I'm always looking for culturally diverse books for her), I was initially attracted by the lush and vivid illustrations, but as we read the story, both of us found this tale of a young princess forced to leave the comfort of home for an uncertain future engaging and yes, even sad. My little girl asked me at the end why the princes was sent off to a far away place without her parents, and I tried to explain it to her in a manner she would understand ( it is not easy explaining the strict norms of tradition back then in a culture where elders' decisions were not to be questioned). Older readers, aged 7 and up, would be better able to understand the finer nuances of this folktale. Recommended for multicultural collections at home and the school library.