The Seven Chinese Brothers (Blue Ribbon Book)

This books theme is that you should never give up hope. This book is a folktale and uses repetition to pique the reader's interest. It is a great book for kids, they would love the suspense of seeing what will happen to the brothers, and be happy with the ending.

Brent Hagen
Children’s Lit
Feb. 8, 08
Traditional Fantasy
The Seven Chinese Brothers by Margaret Mahy
The story is about seven brothers in China. Each of the brothers has a special power such as; hearing from one hundred miles away, exceptional sight, strength of a legion of men, bones of iron, the

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ability to tolerate excessive heat and cold, teardrops that could flood town, the strength to move mountains, and arms and legs that grew to suit the situation. The youngest brother was upset over men repairing the Great Wall of China, and sent a brother in to help. The Emperor was upset with the brother’s strength and speed and decided the brother must be done away with. As the tale progresses each of the brother’s come to the rescue with each of their special powers. The Emperor becomes disgusted and angry thinking he is dealing with just one of the brothers, when in fact he is dealing with all of them. The resolution occurred when the youngest brother started to cry, thus flooding the area.
The moral to the story would be seven heads are better than one. Another moral would be team work can accomplish almost any task that seems hopeless. The story did have a happy ending. The story did have the usual story elements; a beginning, problem to solve, climax, and an ending.
The artists, Jean and Mosien Tseng illustrated the book in what appears to be water colors. The detail renders enough portrayal of the events that lends the reader to visualize the events as they occur. The illustrations permit the reader to follow as the reader follows the story with anticipation.

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This story is the tale of seven Chinese brothers who save each other from the emperor. We do not learn much about the characters except that they each have a special “strength” that allows them to help save a brother. The plot is very simple and runs in episode form, one for each brother. First

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a brother somehow insults the Emperor and is sentenced to death. One of the other brothers goes to save him because his special “strength” will make him impervious to the death sentence. In the end the youngest brother saves them all… by crying. The setting is in ancient China. The theme is the typical good vs evil, but some of Chinese culture can be seen with the importance of family that is displayed in the story. The best part of this book is the artwork. There are gorgeous fully page watercolor paintings that help convey the story. This would be a very good book for a storytime to help introduce children to tales from other cultures. I would recommend this to a elementary library or any library’s juvenile collection.

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This story contains seven amazing brothers with seven amazing gifts: one of stellar sight, one of stellar hearing, one who had stellar strength, one with iron bones, one with evergrowing legs, one with a high capacity for heat, and one with enormous tears. They worked together to free each other

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from prison after the emperor ruled one (truly all of them) as dangerous. In the end, they all end up together, feasting on fish.

I loved the theme of this story. Teamwork helps overcome obstacles. I think it's funny that the author never named them. Throughout the story, they are referred to as First Brother or Fifth Brother. The theme of family is strong. They are not identified as individuals but as brothers. I loved the setting (China). I also loved the illustrations.

I think children would like some creative extension ideas for this book. I would ask the children to write a story about what special gift they wish they could have and why. How would they use it to help others? I also think this would be an appropriate time to do family trees of some kind, to tie in the theme of family.

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While perfectly serviceable, this book just doesn't live up to the greatness of Claire Huchet Bishop's "The Five Chinese Brothers". Adding in two extra brothers doesn't do this version of the Chinese folk-tale any favors.

If the illustrations were better, then it might be a worthy competitor to the

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all black-and-white illustrations in the Bishop version. However, the cover illustration is the absolute best and the rest of the illustrations are simply ho-hum.

The ending of the story has been changed slightly, as well, and not necessarily for the better. Do your children a favor and stick with the earlier, more simplistic version of the tale.

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This story is the tale of seven Chinese brothers who save each other from the emperor. We do not learn much about the characters except that they each have a special “strength” that allows them to help save a brother. The plot is very simple and runs in episode form, one for each brother. First

Show More

a brother somehow insults the Emperor and is sentenced to death. One of the other brothers goes to save him because his special “strength” will make him impervious to the death sentence. In the end the youngest brother saves them all… by crying. The setting is in ancient China. The theme is the typical good vs evil, but some of Chinese culture can be seen with the importance of family that is displayed in the story. The best part of this book is the artwork. There are gorgeous fully page watercolor paintings that help convey the story. This would be a very good book for a storytime to help introduce children to tales from other cultures. I would recommend this to a elementary library or any library’s juvenile collection.

Show Less

I hadn't ever heard this story before! A folktale about the seven chinese brothers each with their own unique talent that they use (unwittingly) to defeat the evil emperor. It's a fun story that is also kind of funny and might make younger children laugh. I thought the illustrations added to the

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multicultural feel of the book. The obvious connection is to a unit on folktales or multiculturalism.

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The theme of "The Seven Chinese Brothers" is that with the help of family anything can be accomplished. I liked it because it had a good message about family. This book is more appropriate for third or fourth graders.

A little bit of heroism and care makes this book a great learning experience for all elementary grades.

Each of the seven Chinese brothers have a special gift that comes in handy when trying to save each other from the Emperor. This story presses the importance of family and sticking up for each other. Story suitable for children in 3rd grade or older.

Out of seven brothers, each one had a wonderful gift, each gift is needed against the emperor who feels threatened and orders to kill one of the brothers, with wit and the gifts the brothers get themselves out of the emperors power. I like this book because its a fun tale and takes place mostly at

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the great wall. I recommend this book for ages 8 to 12.

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This text, "The Seven Chinese Brothers" is a great international folktale or story from China. Before reading, students have the opportunity to read background information about China, some historical background, some information about Chinese emperors, and some information about the Great Wall of

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China. The story starts by introducing the seven Chinese brothers, the main characters. Throughout the story, the seven brothers help each other out by working together to defeat the emperor who wants them each to be executed. In the end, their teamwork helps them to escape execution and live freely together again. This would be a great book to teach students about historical fiction, to read books about different cultures, and mostly for character mapping. Since there are seven main characters in the story who each have very different personalities, it would be great for students to practice mapping out the actions and traits of each of the characters.

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This text is a folktale from China. It is about seven brothers who work together as a team to take down the emperor. Each brother has a unique and supernatural gift that contributes to the team. This story would be great to pair with a lesson about the history of China (perhaps a lesson about the

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Great Wall). This story is the typical "good vs. evil" plot that children will enjoy because of the sequence of events that occur when the brothers try to defeat the emperor. The main message in this story is to teach children the importance of family and how your family will always have your back.

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I picked this book up because I remembered reading it from when I was younger. I remembered enjoying it very much and for this reason I chose to read it again. I think that this book would be very enjoyable for many students. This is because I believe that students would enjoy the magic or

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supernatural piece of the story that each brother has their own strength or superpower. I believe that younger readers would be interested in these characters for this reason. I also believe that the story is successful because it presents the trickery of the brothers and how they use their respective skills to save themselves and each other. There is suspense that would keep the readers engaged, but the conflict is resolved at the end because each brother utilizes his own skill. I believe that students will enjoy this book for the conflict and its resolution and also for the unity and teamwork of the seven brothers.

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Summary: "The Seven Chinese Brothers" tells the story of seven brothers who each held a special power of his own. For example, one brother had the ability to hear a fly sneeze from a hundred miles away, while another brother had the ability to sit in fires without burning up. The first emperor of

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all China, Ch'in Sinh Huang, noticed one of the brothers possessed great strength and deemed him dangerous. The emperor tried vigorously to execute the brother, but was unsuccessful in every attempt. This is because each brother would take the place of each other during each execution, to use his strength to counteract the method being used to kill the brother. Finally, the one brother who's tears had the ability to spring rivers, cried, causing massive amounts of water to appear. This provided the brothers with fresh fish and wood to make a fire. After all, they were very hungry after their long week.

Review: I really enjoyed reading this Chinese folklore. While obviously fiction, there was a bigger message being presented in the story. The message that it is almost impossible to break the bond of family. While the emperor tried drowning, burning, and beheading the brothers, he was unsuccessful. This was due to each brother using his own power against the execution being put in place. A great read for any classroom!

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The story in this book was good from start to finish. The brothers were all so clever and I believe any child would like how suspenseful the story line was. The illustrations were fantastic as well.

I did not like this book because I thought it was very difficult to follow as a reader. The seven different brothers all looked alike which made it hard to depict who was who through the illustrations and it was hard for the reader to know which brother had which power because they narrator didn't

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talk about the brother by name but rather by the number brother they were. I really liked how detailed the illustrations were of the different places in China as well of how detailed the brothers looked but that was the only good part of the book for me. It was hard for me to follow the plot with all the different events going on. If a child were to read this book I think it should be for a child in a higher grade since it is hard to follow along.

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This is definitely a children's classic to read.

Once upon a time in China there lived seven brothers who walked, talked, and looked alike. Each one possessed an amazing power all his own. But it is only when the brothers combine their special powers that they fool Ch'in Shih Huang, the cruel first emperor of all China, and save each others lives.