THE MAGIC TAPESTRY

Interestingly, this Chinese folk tale parallels Blanco's Mexican story (above). Despite complaints by her older sons, a woman works for years on a magnificent tapestry of animals and flowers while her youngest son supports them all. But when the tapestry is completed, the wind whisks it away. The older sons, sent to seek it, are diverted by wealth and disappear from the story; but the youngest perseveres, travels to the land where fairies are copying the beautiful pattern, and brings it home. There the tapestry comes to life as a paradise in which he and his mother live together with a fairy who wove herself into the fabric and now becomes the young man's wife. Demi's lavish art appears in beautifully proportioned panels on large, square pages; her delicate calligraphic lines and diminutive figures are exquisitely set off by grounds of glowing purple, blue, and metallic gold. A pleasing classic tale in sumptuous format. (Folklore/Picture book. 4-10)