The Five Chinese Brothers

The Five Chinese Brothers

by Claire Huchet Bishop

and

Kurt Wiese

This children's picture book is the retelling of a Chinese folktale about five Chinese brothers that look exactly the same but each brother has his own superhuman power. The First Chinese Brother could swallow the sea and in doing so he was accused of drowning a boy and was condemned to have his head cut off. The Second Chinese Brother comes back in his place because he has an iron neck so the judge is unable to cut his neck off. The story goes on as the judge tries to drown him, burn him, and smother him all while the identical Chinese brothers switch places so none of them die. The Five Chinese Brothers has been placed on many controversial book lists because some people believe this book is racist due to the fact that the five Chinese brothers all look identical. There is also criticism because the illustrations draw the Chinese men's skin with a yellow hue and with slit and slanted eyes. The drawings in this book can be seen as stereotypical, but I find them to take on the common cartoon-like look that is often seen in folktales and fairy tales. This story is about five identical Chinese brothers, but what is to say that they are not quintuplets that are identical. Why must we look for the bad and assume it is because of their race that they look identical. I believe it would be more important to bring this into the classroom to see another culture's folktale, rather than ban this book because some think it may be stereotypical. If all books were nit picked this much we probably would only have one type of book that fit a mold so tight that hid so many things picture books can teach us. If books are edited so much we may not have many folktales because they are too harsh, violent, or racist in some way. I think books such as this one are fine in the classrooms if they are prefaced with the right conversations.

Intended Age 4-8