‘The River’ is a story within a story, there are different voices and different times telling a historical family story set against a modern-day world in China.
Hong is bored, all the TVs in Hong’s parent’s shop are tuned to the same station and she had seen every video they had at least twice. Just then Ming the shop’s cleaner appeared with a present for Hong, a small handwritten book. ‘I know how you love stories’ she said and this one is true. Hong promises to treasure it and Ming replies ‘The story is about a treasure! You’ll see…’
Hong opens the book and is transported back in time to the story of a young Chinese girl, Xian who has been entrusted with a treasure to take to her grandmother who lives many days walk away. Provided with a map Xian is told to keep to the river, ‘it’s your friend.’ That task was not always easy but Xian persists meeting both helpful folk and those who would harm her and steal the treasure.
Despite interruptions for homework and friends, Hong is absorbed by the story of Xian and what exactly the treasure is. As tale draws to its end nears disaster, the treasure is snatched from Xian and broken. Believing she has failed her mother she approaches her grandparent’s house where her grandmother explains to the heartbroken Xian that the treasure was not the blue and white jar but the tiny scroll it contained, an important story, the story of their family. Inspired by the story of Xian, Hong sets about creating a similar family treasure.
Illustrator Stanley Wong was born in China and his heritage is evident particularly in the brushstroke lettering and the faithful depiction of scrolls, furnishings and the Chinese landscape. The two interwoven stories are presented in single double page illustrations differing in style and layout.
The family is a key component of Chinese life and one aspect is the honouring of one’s parents and ancestors. The book’s use of symbolism both in the text and the illustrations explores this importance. The river in the story represents the continuity of life as both a physical and spiritual guide to Xian on her journey to deliver another symbol, the tiny scroll that tells her family’s story. Again, in the last illustration we see symbolised the old China, represented by the old blue pot referenced against the new China symbolised by the computer a coming together of the old and the new as an underlying theme. ‘The River’ could be used as an introduction to Chinese culture.
Picture Books for Older Readers
