The Runaway Wok: A Chinese New Year Tale by Ying Chang Compestine

The Runaway Wok: A Chinese New Year Tale by Ying Chang Compestine, illustrated by Sebastia Serra

Rating: 4.5 stars

Yesterday I was itching to get out of the house, so when I put Ben down for his nap Lorelei and I scooted out the door to go to the grocery store...and hit the bookstore on the way there.  We almost didn't make it to the grocery store--there were too many good books to read!  We'd were ready to leave but then she'd find another book and say, "This is the last one, Mommy!" and then I'd see another I wanted to read and say the same thing back to her.  When I told my mother that we were there for about 90 minutes, she asked if there was a sale or something.  No way!  We didn't buy anything.  We just went to read.

While I wonder if Lorelei is related to me when she pushes away an uneaten dessert, I know she's mine when we can spend hours at a bookstore.  Together! 

Anyway, this was one of the books that caught my eye and I just couldn't leave without reading it.  I have a special spot in my heart for anything Asian--I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Thailand and I have a graduate degree in Southeast Asian Studies (that is gathering dust!).  The Chinese New Year is coming up (3 February 2011) so there was a small display of Chinese books. 

The Runaway Wok is a story of sharing, a Robin Hood-style tale where a rusty old wok steals from the richest family in Beijing and gives to the poorest family in the city.  Of course, the rich family never shared any of their food, toys, and money, and of course the poor family shares all of the food, toys, and money that come their way.  The illustrations are high-spirited to say the least, and the scenes were just so different than what Lorelei is used to seeing, that these alone would have kept us in the bookstore for another hour.

"What's a wok, Mommy?"  Proudly, I said: what we used to make bee bim bop last night! 

"What are those lanterns for?"  They are decorations for the new year festival, or party.

"What's that dragon?"  A big puppet-like thing that walks and dances through the street!  Cool, huh?

"Can we see one sometime?"  Ok!  You got it!  Let me figure out where we can go!

THIS is why a book like this is so wonderful--to start conversations like this, to start thinking a bit differently, to just broaden--if only ever so slightly--the horizons of a young child.

I think my only mild critique is the way the rich family gets carried off.  The wok tricks them into chasing it and falling in, and then carries them away from the city forever.  For not sharing!  But I think it's appropriate and wouldn't change it--it's a fable, after all, and if it makes Lorelei a better share-r (to fear that Mommy's wok will magically whisk her away forever), well...that's not bad!