Ling Li's lantern by Steve Heron
Illus. by Benjamin Johnston. MidnightSun Publishing, 2020. ISBN:
9781925227673.
(Age: 6+) Recommended. Beautiful lanterns in soft creams and reds
greet the reader on this impressive front cover, enticing the reader
to turn the page and read about the girl, Ling Li, the face peering
from behind one of the lanterns.
She and her two brothers are given coins from their father, Da Zhi
with the instruction that each should use the money wisely to fill
one of the three pagodas by the river. Each goes off to do their
task. The first brother, Jingming, harvests bamboo and fills his
pagoda with the bamboo stems, heaping the leaves on the top. His
father is pleased that he has made a sound investment.
Miao the second child sets off for a nearly village where he buys
feathers and down from the duck farm. He fills his pagoda with soft
pillows of feathers and down and his father is pleased, telling him
he has been wise.
The third child, Ling Li is not sure what to do. She wanders through
the village. She spots a crying child who has lost the eggs he was
sent to buy. Ling Li buys some eggs to replace those lost. She sees
a child at the market who has lost its mother. She settles the child
with a bowl of rice, using a little more of her money. She gives
some money to the old ragged magician trying to make a living in the
marketplace, and hands over a little more to the old woman unable to
sell her necklaces. By now it is almost dark, and Ling Li has not
used her money to buy something to fill the pagoda. She spies a
lantern seller and with her last two coins purchases a lantern to
take home. Usually the lanterns are three coins but having heard of
her goodness through the day, the seller takes her two coins.
Arriving home she is saddened that she only has the lantern, but her
father is pleased because he has heard of her deeds in the village
and her lantern fills the pagoda with light. The light from her
heart is indeed the special wisdom that he wants for his children.
This beautiful story, reading like a fable telling us of the true
nature of wisdom, the things learnt from the tale reflect Ling Li's
traits; compassion, sharing, empathy, and these outshine those of
her brothers only interested in making a sound investment.
The stunning illustrations reflect the setting with bridges,
pagodas, people working in rice fields, marketplaces, village
squares and people in all their colourful costumes. Readers will
love picking out the detail in the background on every page.
Theme: Compassion, Task, Family, Wisdom.
Fran Knight