Bronze and Sunflower

by Cao Wenxuan (Author) Meilo So (Illustrator)

Reading Level: 4^th − 5^th Grade

A beautifully written, timeless tale by Cao Wenxuan, best-selling Chinese author and 2016 recipient of the prestigious Hans Christian Andersen Award.

Sunflower is an only child, and when her father is sent to the rural Cadre School, she has to go with him. Her father is an established artist from the city and finds his new life of physical labor and endless meetings exhausting. Sunflower is lonely and longs to play with the local children in the village across the river. When her father tragically drowns, Sunflower is taken in by the poorest family in the village, a family with a son named Bronze. Until Sunflower joins his family, Bronze was an only child, too, and hasn't spoken a word since he was traumatized by a terrible fire. Bronze and Sunflower become inseparable, understanding each other as only the closest friends can.

Translated from Mandarin, the story meanders gracefully through the challenges that face the family, creating a timeless story of the trials of poverty and the power of love and loyalty to overcome hardship.

Common Sense Media Review

Select format:

Paperback

$9.99

Out of stock

Quantity

Paperback

$9.99

Locate at a Library Near You

WorldCat is the world's largest library catalog, helping you find library materials online.

Add to Wishlist

Find books about:

Publishers Weekly

Hans Christian Andersen Award-winner Wenxuan's moving story of a friendship between two lonely Chinese children, orphaned Sunflower and mute Bronze, bears all the elements of a classic: an inviting and solidly constructed setting, a close-knit family, and a kindhearted community (there's even a pet buffalo). Traversing five years, the book is beautifully translated into lyrical prose that brings to life the riverside village of Damadai ("The glints of sunlight on the water rippled into a golden glow that rose and fell with the river") and its inhabitants, especially Bronze's impoverished family, who adopt Sunflower—a stranger from the city—after her father's drowning. The two children grow inseparable, becoming each other's protectors as the family and community persevere through the small and large dramas of life in rural China. While the story seems timeless, a closing note explains that it takes place during the Chinese Cultural Revolution of the late 1960s and early 1970s, and describes the cadre schools that brought people like Sunflower and her father from the city to the remote countryside. Ages 9-12. (Mar.)

School Library Journal

Gr 4-6—The landscape, captured in lyrical, evocative prose, takes the leading role in this episodic novel set during China's Cultural Revolution. From the start, readers are drawn into the tiny village of Damaidi, a world circumscribed by a seemingly endless reed marsh, a "vast ocean, rippling with green waves." A broad river serves as the symbolic and literal divide between the village and the Cadre School, a settlement of city dwellers sent to the countryside to tame the wilderness. Against this backdrop, we meet lonely Sunflower, age seven, who has accompanied her father to the Cadre School, and Bronze, the 11-year-old son of the poorest village family, who is unable to speak. When Sunflower's father drowns in an unusual and unfortunate sequence of events, the girl is adopted by Bronze's family, and the pair become fast friends, accompanied in their adventures by the family's water buffalo, a delightful sidekick, "more placid and better natured than most humans." Long as this work is on eloquence and charm, its core strength is its unflinching portrayal of the harsh realities of life in rural China. The family suffer through several catastrophes, including near starvation following a plague of locusts, but perhaps more telling are the endless small embarrassments of poverty. In one sequence, Sunflower pretends to visit friends when in reality she needs a place to do homework because her family can't afford oil for their lanterns.

Kirkus

Starred Review

In Wang's translation of his leisurely, languid prose, Hans Christian Andersen winner Cao captures both the infinite joys and harsh realities of rural farming life...While seemingly idealized, the story and its protagonists reflect the Confucian values of filial piety and society above self--the very foundation of Chinese culture. Readers of all ages should be prepared to laugh, cry, and sigh with satisfaction.

Review quotes

"To read [Bronze and Sunflower's] adventures is to be embedded in the Chinese countryside — for good and bad. The daily circumstances of their lives may be different from those of American children, but the emotions and relationships are universal." —The New York Times Book Review

"Capturing a distinct time and place as well as moments of bittersweet universality, this vivid and accessible novel for 9- to 12-year-olds would make for a superb family read-aloud." —The Wall Street Journal

"Told in spare yet glimmering prose, this story is a testament to all that love and loyalty are able to overcome... In a time when our divisions seem to be drawn more forcefully than ever, Bronze and Sunflower's unlikely bond serves as a beacon of hope." —BookPage

"The details about rural Chinese life are a revelation...Cao shows English-speaking readers a foreign world where time is measured in the seasonal comings and goings of the swallows, but also a familiar one where the fabric of family is woven from shared hopes and unexpected acts of kindness." —Shelf Awareness Pro

"These beautiful moments of love abounding in the midst of hardship and poverty are timeless and will appeal to all readers." —School Library Connection

"Two lonely children, scarred by tragedy, form an inseparable bond in this lovely novel from a beloved Chinese author set in the Chinese countryside during the Cultural Revolution." —Buffalo News

"The constant hardships of rural poverty are balanced by selflessness, love and the beauty of nature. The story's ending is both heartbreaking and transcendent, reminiscent of the best fairy tales." —Plain Dealer

"Ideal for bookclubs, this is one of the finest translations I've ever encountered and undeniably the best Chinese middle grade novel I've ever read." —A Fuse #8 Production (blog)

Cao Wenxuan

Cao Wenxuan is one of China's most esteemed children's book writers and has won several of China's important awards for children's literature. Bronze and Sunflower is his first full-length book to be translated into and published in English. A professor of Chinese literature at Peking University, Cao Wenxuan has seen many of his books become bestsellers in China, and his work has been translated into French, Russian, Japanese, and Korean.

Helen Wang studied Chinese at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London and is now a curator at the British Museum. She has been a translator for more than twenty years. She lives in London.

Classification

Fiction

ISBN-13

9781536206371

Lexile Measure

790

Guided Reading Level

Publisher

Candlewick Press (MA)

Publication date

April 24, 2019

Series

BISAC categories

Library of Congress categories

Find books about:

Subscribe to our delicious e-newsletter!

Purchase eWallet Credit