The Long Silk Strand: A Grandmother's Legacy to Her Granddaughter
Common Sense Note
The story of grandmother's love flows from page to page. The quiet art of cut paper adds depth, movement, and an unusual dimension. Note: this book may prompt questions or a discussion about death.
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Whitney Stewart
This cultural tale answers universal questions about death and the importance of life. Yasuyo climbs into the clouds, where she finds her grandmother. Standing above and looking down on her family, Yasuyo realizes the importance of her life with them, and her grandmother reaffirms the power of living.
She doesn't tell her granddaughter what to do, but she does help her make her decision to return to the world of the living. The symbol of the threads tied together to reflect Grandma's life is beautiful and adds concreteness to the abstract concepts.
Illustrator Grayce Bochak is brilliant at choosing unusual angles for her scenes. In her cut-paper pictures, she makes ordinary life look heaven-like, and the cool pinks and greens of the color scheme create just the right tone to match Williams's pacing and otherworldly scenarios.
For an even more unusual and gorgeous picturebook about a grandparent's death, read Allen Say's Stranger in the Mirror, which may have a stronger appeal for boys.
From The Book
Yasuyo took the piece of thread and hugged her grandmother for the last time. Slowly she climbed back down the long silk strand made up of many shorter pieces of thread. As she passed down over each knot, the piece above her disappeared as if it had been a dream.
Plot Summary:
A Chinese girl, longing to connect to her deceased grandmother, climbs a thread to the afterlife to learn what is or isn't there. Children everywhere wonder what happens to dead relatives, and this picture book succeeds as a book about death, as a story of trust and bravery, and as a stunning work of paper art.
Rate It!
| Content | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CS | adults | kids | ||
Sexual Content |
 |
|
||
ViolenceDeath is a theme here. |
 |
|
||
Language |
|
|
||
Message |
|
|
||
Social Behavior |
 |
 |
||
Commercialism |
|
|
||
Drug/Alcohol/Tobacco |
|
|
||
