A Song for Ba

by Paul Yee, Jan Peng Wang

In the Chinese opera, men traditionally sing both male and female parts. Wei Lim's father, Ba, however, usually plays masculine characters and sings in a deep bass voice. But Wei's grandfather played female roles, and has secretly taught Wei to sing these difficult parts. When the New World's entertainments begin to cause a shrinking audience for the opera company, and Ba is forced to play female characters, which can help him learn to sing in such high tones? Color illustrations help bring Wei's tale, and this ancient art form, to life.

Genres: Childrens, Picture Books, Asian American

32 pages, Hardcover

First published April 13, 2004

About the author

Paul Yee never planned to be an author but got published in 1983 and followed up with over twenty books in his area of obsession: Chinese immigrants to North America. He wrote mostly for young readers, from picture books to Young Adult fiction, as well as histories for everyone. His university degrees in history, plus working as an archivist, plunged him into researching the past. His work has been translated into French and Chinese, and used in animated films as well as stage plays. Born in small-town prairie Canada, he grew up in Vancouver, British Columbia, but Toronto tempted him away from that west coast paradise in 1988.

Reviews

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though this book didn't have a tidy happy ending like most of the stories I like, this one portrays the characters and the circumstances of the story with unyielding honesty. It reflects on the values that a family newly immigrated to California might possess. It's a shames that the old ways were dying though and that training to be in the Chinese Opera wasn't a feasible career option because it seemed that the boy's heart was really in it if only he'd had a chance. Nice book.

[Lucia Benzor · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book actually taught me something about Chinese culture! I can't even describe how different the illustrations look but it is definitely worth looking at. A boy learns confidence, has conflicting thoughts regarding his old country and new country.