Dragon Dancer

Description

It is the eve of Chinese New Year. Lanterns are hung in the shopping malls of Singapore and Yao is preparing to wake the ancient sky dragon, Shen Long, from his year-long sleep. From the moment Shen Long opens his great amber eyes and unfurls his silver-blue tail, Yao will be propelled on a magical journey through the skies of Singapore to battle the bad luck of the previous year and usher in the good. Will he succeed? Will his grandfather watch over him and protect him from harm? A beautiful story of a Chinese festival and its symbolism for Chinese communities everywhere, told from the perspective of Yao, the dragon dancer.

Reviews

'This is an amazing book, offering a wealth of opportunities for use in school as well as being a wonderful story to share again and again.' - North Somerset Teachers' Book Award committee; 'With evocative prose and gorgeous illustrations, Dragon Dancer brings a wonderful Lunar New Year tradition to life.' - Cindy Pon, author of Serpentine and Silver Phoenix; 'This book really is utterly stunning, told in atmospheric prose with glorious illustrations to match. As children learn about and help celebrate Chinese New Year at school here's the perfect story book to accompany those celebrations.' - Phil and Charlotte, authors of popular blog, ReadItDaddy; 'This is a book that celebrates the power of the imagination and the traditions of another culture. The illustrations waft darkly across the page, never revealing the whole picture but disclosing more the longer you look. The language is evocative and rich; it is a great book to read aloud. Together the illustrations and words compliment each other beautifully creating a dreamlike story that would also be an excellent educational springboard for exploring New Year festivities.' - Seven Stories, National Centre for Children's Books; 'Rich, atmospheric illustrations in this magical story about the celebration of Chinese New Year.' - Book Trust; 'Joyce Chng has created a magical story around the customs of Chinese New Year, accompanied by stunning ethereal artwork from French illustrator, Jeremy Pailler, that perfectly complements Chng's poetic, atmospheric prose.' - Outside In World

Author description

A Singaporean, Joyce Chng writes mainly science fiction (SFF) and YA fiction. She likes steampunk and tales of transformation/transfiguration. Her fiction has appeared in Crossed Genres, We See A Different Frontier and the Apex Book of World SF II. Her YA science fiction trilogy is published by Math Paper Press, an imprint of Books Actually. She can be found online at A Wolf's Tale (http://awolfstale.wordpress.com).