The Empress and the Silkworm

Author: Lily Toy Hong
Illustrated by: Lily Toy Hong
Hardcover: 32 page(s)
Age Range: 4 - 8

Book Description:

Almost five thousand years ago, the young Chinese empress Si Ling-Chi was having tea in the garden. Suddenly - plop! - something small and round and white fell into her cup. It was a cocoon from a mulberry tree. Through a dream and her persistence, the first silk cloth was made.

- Pick of the Lists, American Bookseller

Publishers Weekly
Falling into the truth-is-stranger-than-fiction category, the story of silk - its path from pupa to necktie - is inherently pretty interesting. But toss in a 5000-year-old Chinese legend about the discovery of silk, and the story becomes even more intriguing

School Library Journal
In Hong's well-paced narrative, the empress is a creative, curious, and determined woman who heeds omens and dreams. . . . An endnote summarizes what is known about the history of Chinese silk and explains how it is made. The illustrations feature Hong's soft, clear blocks of color and static, doll-like figures. . . . A useful addition, particularly in elementary schools where China is studied.