Chin Chiang and the Dragon's Dance

"Chin Chiang" is a beautifully illustrated book full of detailed pictures of Chinatown, and I really wanted to like it, but Chin Chiang's anxiety about the dragon dance (and whoever heard of a dragon that could be danced, even in rehearsal, by two people) seemed contrived, and when the old lady introduced herself to the little boy Chin Chiang BY NAME, it was too bizarre to credit. I literally shuddered with horror at that plot twist! It's hard to convey how much of a Chinese cultural taboo there is on older people's personal names, but suffice it to say that a sane Chinese-Canadian old lady would say "Call me Aunty" or "Call me Granny" or at most "My name is Aunty (Last-Name)". A woman of the elder generation who would introduce herself show more to a youngster as Pu Yee (incidentally, the name of the last emperor of China, what's with that?) would do anything, absolutely anything. I would not have been surprised, given her obvious instability, if she had been any kind of deviant, up to and including a serial killer who kidnapped little boys and rendered them down for Chinese medicinal ingredients. I couldn't get around that telling detail and despite my children's Chinese-Canadian heritage, I never read this book to them. show less

Chin Chiang and the Dragon Dance is a story about a little boy overcoming his courage-and embarrassment- to perform with his father in the dragon's dance. The book is good, but I felt it would of worked better as a short story then a picture book. The story was well written and the pictures were well drawn but I was more drawn to the words then the illustrations. After reading the book, I wanted more of Chin Chiang's back story to see why he was so scared to dance the dragon's dance.

Chin Chiang is dreading having to be the tail of the dragon dance with his Grandfather Wu -- because he feels clumsy and is afraid of disappointing his grandfather and causing bad luck for his family. He escapes to the public library to be alone and heads for the building roof. There he meets an old woman, Pu Yee. Chin Chiang teaches her the dance steps in the hopes that she will take his place. The practice helps -- and he manages to successfully perform the dragon dance with his grandfather. He also gains a new friend in Pu Yee.