Love the story; illustrations are not my favorite though. ( )

Note that Grace Lin is also the author of the award-winning books Where the Mountain Meets the Moon and Starry River of the Sky

Based on an old Chinese tale, the theme here is the bond between those who want to adopt a child, and the child that longs for adoption. Consequently, there is an invisible red thread, which is also unbreakable and it connects those who are destined to be together.

When the king and queen experience hurt in their heart, Fortunate, yet wondering why the pain in their heart exist, a peddler arrives in their kingdom and provides glasses to them so they can see and find the red thread that binds them.

Placing the glasses on their eyes, the red thread becomes visible. Beginning on a long journey wherein day after day and night after night they travel until their clothes and shoes and thread bare. It was a harsh journey, yet as they traveled many, many miles the thread began to grow shorter.

Traveling over mountains, rowing a boat through water, finally the arrive at the end of the red thread to find a baby girl in a bundle inside a cradle. Their hearts were warmed and painless.

Now filled with joy, they brought their baby girl home. ( )

This is about an ancient Chinese fairy tale that talks about an unbreakable thread that brings people who are destined, together. The thread weakens as people grow further apart, when they should be together. In order to keep the thread strength high, the king and queen need to follow it, no matter the path that it takes.

Very sweet story of a king and queen who feel a pain in their chests and can't understand why until the doctor looks with special spectacles and sees that there are red threads tugging on their hearts. They follow the threads to find their baby. ( )

The main idea of this book is that adoption connects parents and their adopted child; they are destined to be together and bring each other happiness.
I really enjoyed this book for many reasons. I loved the idea of "The Red Thread" taken from an Ancient Chinese proverb. The book really conveys the message that parents are incomplete without the addition of their adopted child, who makes their lives whole and happy. For example, the text reads: "One morning the queen woke up with a pain in her heart. It was a steady ache that filled her with sadness...'It's as I thought,' the [peddler] said when he saw them. 'There is a red thread being pulled from your hearts!'...They followed the red thread out of the castle..each step they took lessened the pain in their hearts." I just find this idea very appealing and heartwarming. It is also a visual representation of the "tug" between mother/father and child that I think children will really be able to connect with.
I also enjoyed this book because I found the pacing of the book very well done. The adventure of this book is very engaging and typical of a traditional fantasy novel. While the adventure is long and arduous, when the king and queen finally reach the end of their red thread (their child), it makes the ending that much more wonderful and rewarding for the reader. For me, this indicates effective pacing. For example, the king and queen first try to figure out why they are so saddened, then they try to cut the red thread but are unable to, and finally they decide they must leave their kingdom to follow the thread. They must untangle their rope through trees and cross a vast sea. When they reach a small village "their clothes [are] ripped to rags, [their] hair [is] tangled, and faces [are] as pale as the moon." I found this pacing of this book very effective and well done. And again, though their adventure is difficult, I found it heartwarming that when the king and queen were growing weary, the red thread (connected to their child) kept them going. The text reads: "they almost despaired... but the thread tugged at them." I think this is wonderful imagery for adopted children. They can understand how their parents may have had to go on very difficult journeys, but because their parents felt connected to them, they persevered through many trials. ( )