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What Members Thought
I read the book in one sitting. I think the book is very successful in telling a complex and rewarding story in very few pages. I love how Coatsworth combines the life of the artist with tales of Buddha's lives (Jataka). I think the Jataka stories would appeal to children because of their riddle-like nature (the spiritual version of Stories to Solve). Buddha is a bit of a trickster because the choices he makes are surprising, almost shocking, for instance when he chooses to sacrifice his lives f
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My first real miss of the Newbery canon that I've been reading. All of the other books so far I've been able to appreciate what the committee saw in the book to have honored it. But this one just leaves me cold. I didn't think the prose was particularly spectacular. I didn't think the setting was particularly stellar. It gives a generic "Asian" setting, but I don't think it felt exclusively Japanese, other than the one offhand comment about samurai. Also, the title is not very culturally accurat
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Rated G.
I didn't expect to like this, but, to my surprise, I was hooked by the story, the illustrations, and the interspersed poetry. Well done! ...more
I didn't expect to like this, but, to my surprise, I was hooked by the story, the illustrations, and the interspersed poetry. Well done! ...more
I thought this was wonderful. I absolutely plan to share this. I wonder very much what the chances are of this opinion being shared by a child in the age group. I'm thinking this could be found very interesting and spur a curiosity of the culture by some and be found very boring and unliked by others. I hope I get a chance to find out.
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Feb 20, 2011
Jessie
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Jan 11, 2014
Lindsay
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Sheri
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Apr 28, 2018
Sandra Turton
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Nov 13, 2020
Caitie
marked it as to-read
