I guess there is controversy over this title because of the depictions of the Asian characters as all looking alike. There is a problem with the idea of a major plot point being that all the Chinese brothers look alike (considering it's a racist presumption that all Asians look alike, or whatever). Also, if I'm correct in assuming it's based off "The Seven Chinese Brothers," in that folk tale (the variations I've read, anyway) all the brothers look different. So to have changed the story so they all look alike is odd. And probably racist.

But anyway, I gather the story is one that a lot of people read as kids, so it's somewhat of a classic. But I hadn't read it and therefore don't have any particular emotional attachment to it. It's got a lot of the violent folklore/fairy tale tropes that make modern readers uncomfortable (i.e. being burned at the stake and other modes of execution attempted). I liked the idea of trying to swallow the ocean in order to catch fish. But other than that, I remain pretty firmly unimpressed. I didn't think it's logical that a judge would allow the various brothers to go home each time a method of execution failed. Also why would they try to suffocate someone with whipped cream? (I've never given any thought to this method of execution but it seems relatively uncommon!) ( )

A little different and slightly darker than some of my childhood favourites. Great cartoony illustrations. ( )

A book my husband loved from his childhood, I purchased this for him to relive the moment. The five brothers each have a special gift/power, when used at the right time, it will save one of them from an unjust death. ( )

I always loved the humour of this book as a child and yet struggled with the moral: five look-alike brothers with unusual features each escape the death penalty for the first brother's crime by tricking the executioner. As I look back on this book as an adult, however, I see that there is an open door here for discussion with children of the issue of wrongful punishment, social justice, accidents versus intentional crimes, and how God might cosmically alter circumstances so that the innocent do not suffer. These are big issues for such a small book, of course, but this is one of those books in which you instantly fall in love with the characters and then ask yourself later, "why I am rooting for them after all that they're doing?" As such, this would be a good gateway for discussion of this type of issue in understanding other literature: how authors can sometimes make the bad guys seem good, and vice versa, and how or whether one can decide what is really in a person's heart. Beyond that, the story gets children anticipating patterns as they see the same sort of thing happening from one brother to the next, and wonder exactly how it will play out, developing their problem-solving skills as they see the unique solutions. It is always fun to revisit this book, and I have never met a child who didn't love it. ( )

A story about 5 brothers who all have special powers. They all find a reason to use their powers in one way or another. A great book to keep childrens attention. ( )