#438 of 1001 · October 12, 2021

Here’s a dazzling story of pride, bravery, and true love: Marilyn Singer and Wenhai Ma’s The Painted Fan. When a soothsayer predicts his reign over the Land of the Seven Caves will be undone by a Painted Fan, Lord Shang commands all fans in the realm to be burned. Years later, he encounters a young woman named Bright Willow and arranges to have her brought to the palace to marry him, but the unwilling bride develops a secret friendship for a kindly groom nicknamed Seahorse. When the haughty monarch discovers the relationship, he retaliates by sending Bright Willow to the Purple Shadow Cave to retrieve the legendary Great Pearl from the clutches of Red Fang, a fearsome demon guardian. What Lord Shang does not know is that in Bright Willow’s possession, passed down in her family for generations, lies the prophesied instrument of his downfall—the Painted Fan. Singer tells her original story with elegant and vividly descriptive language, while Ma executes his lively, expressive art in soft washes of watercolor. #painted #fan #pearl #cave #demon #magic #book #books #childrensbooks #beautifulbook #beautifulbooks #picturebook #picturebooks #picturebookillustration #picturebookillustrations #picturebookart #childrensbookillustration #childrensliterature #illustration #kidlit #kidsbooks #bookworm #booklover #booklovers #bibliophile #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookstagrammers #instabook #instabooks