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by Donna Jo Napoli

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Starred Review. Napoli (The Magic Circle) takes the Cinderella story back to its roots in China, where the search for the right foot to fit the symbolic glass slipper takes on new meaning. The author sets the tale during the 14th-century reign of Emperor Hung-wu, when it was customary to bind girls' feet in order to make them more attractive as marriage prospects. While remaining true to the fairytale elements, Napoli endows each character here with three dimensions: the stepmother, for instance, is the number two wife of a recently deceased master potter, so she, understandably, puts her own daughter's welfare ahead of that of her stepdaughter, Xing Xing. The girl bears no ill will toward her stepsister, Wei Ping, but rather feels compassion for her as Wei Ping goes through the painful process of foot-binding. Through Napoli's masterly third-person narrative, told from Xing Xing's perspective, readers acquire an understanding of the events right along with the heroine. The author incorporates spiritual beliefs when a blind raccoon kit ("What terrible thing could a person do in one life to make it come back as a blind raccoon kit?" Xing Xing wonders) wounds Wei Ping, and a beautiful, gentle carp seems to watch over Xing Xing as she journeys to find a remedy for her stepsister. Even the form the godmother takes here is smoothly integrated into Xing Xing's spiritual journey. Napoli manages to grant Xing Xing an independence that remains authentic to her time, and creates both an adventure and a coming-of-age story that will have readers racing to the finish. Ages 12-up.
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Starred Review. Gr 5-9–Napoli takes the elements of the traditional Chinese version of "Cinderella" and creates a powerful and moving story. Xing Xing is left to the mercy of her stepmother after the death of her father. Focusing on a good marriage for her own big-footed daughter, the woman binds the poor girl's feet even though she is past the usual age for this painful procedure. Xing Xing's only pleasure is her daily contact with a beautiful white carp in the pond where she draws water. To her, the fish seems to be the spirit of her mother helping her endure her difficult life. When the stepmother kills it, the girl is devastated, but she retrieves the bones from the garbage heap and, in the process of hiding them, discovers a green silk gown and gold slippers that belonged to her mother. Dressed in this rich garb, Xing Xing goes to the festival where she loses one slipper in her effort to escape detection. The slipper is eventually bought by an unconventional prince; when he finally finds its owner, Xing Xing considers her options and decides to marry him. Napoli retains the pattern of the traditional Chinese tale with only a few minor changes: she sets the story in the northern province of Shaanxi during the Ming dynasty rather than in a minority community in southern China. She fleshes out and enriches the story with well-rounded characters and with accurate information about a specific time and place in Chinese history; the result is a dramatic and masterful retelling.–Barbara Scotto, Michael Driscoll School, Brookline, MA
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From BookList, December 1, 2004, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.
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*Starred Review*
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Gr. 7-12. Drawing from traditional Chinese Cinderella stories, Napoli sets this tale in a small village during China's Ming period. Since her beloved father's death, Xing Xing has become “hardly more than a slave,” serving her acrimonious stepmother and pitiable stepsister, Wei Ping, whose botched, bloody foot binding has left her perilously unwell. A dangerous trip in search of medicine for Wei Ping brings Xing Xing into the wider world, but she returns to find home more treacherous than before. Napoli creates strong, unforgettable characters--particularly talented, sympathetic Xing Xing--and her haunting, sometimes violent tale amplifies themes from well-known Western Cinderella stories, making them fascinating questions: Could ancestors serve as “fairy godmothers”? In a society that so grossly undervalues females, what does “happily ever after” really mean? Teens and teachers will want to discuss the layered themes of freedom, captivity, love, human rights, and creative endeavor within this powerful survival story, which, like the yin and yang forces Xing Xing thinks about, balances between terror and tenderness, and is both subversive and rooted in tradition.
GillianEngberg.
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