When the Sea Turned to Silver

An evil emperor with a secret past, a grandmother/storyteller who also has secrets, a granddaughter with more within her than she guesses, a friend who can't always remember his past, horses that are really dragons, gods walking among mortals, and beautiful stories within beautiful stories. Highly

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recommended.

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I had a hard time sticking to this book. I think I should not have put it down, but read it all in one sitting. I was not entranced by the storyline. I did however enjoy reading the Chinese folk tales. I also admired the message of the story. That is, stories can bring immortality to the writer and

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the teller.

This title would be good in a multicultural folktale unit. It would be well suited to a fantasy unit as well. I would recommend this to readers interested in tales of dragons and other fantastic creatures. I would also recommend this to readers who like fantasy and adventure stories.

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Summary: Pinmei's peaceful life is shattered when the Emperor kidnaps Amah, Pinmei's grandmother. Amah is the "storyteller" and Pinmei goes out with Yishan, an interesting boy from her village, to rescue her grandmother. Pinmei faces many obstacles and begins to tell the stories that she learned

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from her grandmother along the way. She grows in her abilities and survives and lives through the multiple obstacles through the stories she tells along the way. She will do all that she can to rescue her grandmother from the tyrannical tiger Emperor.
Personal Response: I picked up this book because I absolutely loved Grace Lin's "Where the Mountain meets the Moon." I found myself confused in the telling of the tale, however, in this book. It was difficult to follow, and I kept feeling like I needed to go back and reread sections, because I thought I was missing something. I read late at night, and so I attributed that to feeling tired, but that feeling never went away. I don't feel that I can adequately summarize this book because of that. I appreciated the multiple points of view written from the perspective of different characters in many of the chapters, and I liked the post-modern feel of this book mixed with the ancient Chinese tales woven throughout.
Curriculum Connection: I used this book as an example of writing a book review to publish online with my fifth grade students this week. We talked about what needed to be included in a book review to "hook" your reader. When we write reviews we either want to convince our audience to read the book, or steer them clear of a book that they should not waste their time on. But what do we do with those books (such as this one) where we appreciate its literary qualities, yet struggle with the overall story? It was a very successful example, and the kids were able to write well-written reviews of their own chosen books.

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I’ve read all three of Lin’s wonderful fantasy Chinese fairy tales—or are they more fables because they all have a moral. She writes an engaging story that even keeps an adult up reading to find out what happens to the characters in the books. In fact, Lin’s trilogy is sort of like reading

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Harry Potter. Although they are stand-alone books, once you reach the end, it’s worth reading over, now that you know what’s going to happen, you can think more about the stories told by the storyteller in When the Sea Turned to Silver and how they impact the story. The afterword by the author telling how she created them and the importance in certain Chinese numbers only adds to the appeal of the books.

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I received this book in a Goodreads giveaway. I really enjoyed this book. I liked the journey it took me on and all of the stories within the book. I will definitely read Lin's other books.

I read this book as soon as it came out. So worth the wait.

A wonderful conclusion to the series.