Charles Santore is one of my favorite artists. Each and every book I've read with his illustrations, provides stress release and joy by simply examining the beauty of his works.

In this story a young princess notes a caccoon as it drops into her mother's tea. As Princess Hsi-Ling Chi tells her mother that she will place the string around her waist and will see how far it will take her. This leads to a magical journey of many miles, a dragon, a huge black spider, the discovery of the great palace and mountains.

Tired, exhausted, the little princess looks to see the thread that tethers her to her mother, alas the string is broken. Coming upon a small hatch, she finds a man at a loom. Happy to see her, he explains that he was waiting for her and her thread to complete a beautiful robe for the Emperor. Taking a nap, she awakens to find the thread still wrapped around her waist. She returns to her mother and tells her of her adventure.

I love this story, the adventurous little girl, and the lovely illustrations.

I like this book because of the plot. I like that the author took a traditional Chinese folktale of how silk was made and put it into a book. I like that he progresses the story from the Silk Princess having a curiosity, she goes on a journey, and ends up creating a silk fabric. I also appreciate that the story started out slow and picks up towards the end which kept me interested in reading more. The one thing that I did not like about about this book is that while the illustrations were perfect, the text that was written on them was of small print and was hard to read. The big idea in this book is to explain the process of how China found out about silk and began using it in making clothing. ( )

Princess His-Ling Chi, unravels a thread that takes her on an adventure outside of the palace. She encounters many obstacles including a dragon who breaks her thread. How will she find her way back? Okay read, but tedious with the size print and font. ( )