Author: Claire Huchet Bishop
Illustrator: Kurt Wiese
Original Publication: 1938
Intended Age Level: Kindergarten through Second Grade
Description: In this book, five identical brothers live with their mother in China. Each brother has a special talent that prevents things from happening to them. The first brother takes a young boy out fishing, and when he uses his talent to swallow the sea the young boy does not listen to him as he signals to return to shore. The first brother releases the sea from his mouth, the young boy is lost, and the village arrests him, and condemns him to have his head cut off. The brothers each take turns tricking the executioners by asking to go home and say goodbye to their mother and switch places to avoid the death sentence. In the end, the brothers were assumed to be innocent and sent on their way home to live happily for the rest of time.
The individuals in this book are characterized as looking the same, much like the stereotype of all Asian individuals looking exactly alike, regardless of which country and region they originated from. The drawing style shoes all characters in the book with yellow skin, slanted lines for eyes, and the exact same wardrobe choice. The author was born in Switzerland and the illustrator was from Germany, which leaves these two to be outside of the culture represented in this story. It was interesting to see that the author did thank her father on the acknowledgements page for making her love China which makes me curious about the background that helped create this storybook (Bishop, 1938).
I selected this book initially when I saw it on the suggestion list because I remembered my Grandmother having it at her house when I was growing up. Since it was originally written in the 1930s, almost 60 years later when it was read to me, it was already well past the decade mark mentioned on the Evaluating Children's Literature list (Bliss, 2014). There is no mix of culture shown in this story, as it remains based solely in China and about the five brothers. When looking at who might hold the power in this story, at first it appears the judge as they are trying to execute the first brother but in a turn of events it seems as if the brothers take the power from the authorities to avoid the punishment from an act that turned out to be a complete accident since the young boy ignored the signals from the first brother.
I looked at many public responses to this book on forums, and many people commented on the yellow skin, the identical look of the brothers and the stereotypes shown were considered to be demeaning. I found myself looking high and low for support of these statements in a literary article, but instead I came across one that was supportive of this book. Selma Lanes comments about the skin color shown, and how others previous to her discussed it as "bilious and vile" but instead she sees it as "being the color of sunshine or butter, cheerful and highly appealing" (Lane, 1977) I also find it interesting that she discusses that the country is almost irrelevant to the story line, as it could take place in any country. She states that the fact the brothers all look alike is in part to the trickery on the judge and public and not to comment on the stereotype that all Asian individuals look the same (Lane, 1977). Personally, I feel looking at this book now versus when I was a child, I can understand where both sides could be coming from. I think that if this book was written as it is, but illustrated by a traditional Chinese artist, it may have a completely different reaction from current audiences.
Looking at this book now, I think the larger issue might be looking at discussing what exactly an execution is with young children. This heavier topic may be unfamiliar to children, and might be harder to explain than the answers we could give when a child asks about why certain people look different. The five brothers then resorted to trickery to avoid the punishment the first brother was to receive, which in a sense could confuse a child over what to do in the case of something happening accidentally. The young boy ignored the signs from the first brother which caused him to disappear (presumably drowned) and lead to the trial. While there were no witnesses to this incident, we as the reader see that the brother was not intentionally harming the little boy. The story ends in such a way that after all the ways the brothers switched places to avoid death, they lived happily with their mother for many years. While it shows that they were able to have a happy life in the end, it still avoids any conversation about what happened to the young boy in the first place.
While this story is primarily intended to be fun, there are some certain things to it that I feel would render it unfit for young children. There was still an uneasy feeling about the illustrations in this book being exceptionally outdated, despite the authors who tried to put a positive spin on things. Combined with the book being originally written 76 years ago, I feel it is safe to say there are better books out there to use in early childhood programs. I thought it was interesting that when I searched for this book through the Placer County library I couldn't find it available anywhere but when I searched the Sacramento Public library, there were multiple copies available to check out.
References:
Bliss, Professor Kelly. (2014). Evaluating Children’s Literature. Retrieved from https://sierra.instructure.com/courses/245205/assignments/2570955
California Department of Education, Council on Interracial Books for Children. (1998). 10 Quick Ways to Analyze Children’s Books for Racism and Sexism [Brochure]. Sacramento, CA: Bill Honig.
congerjan, (2014, September 18). The Five Chinese Brothers. [Video File]. Retrieved from http://youtu.be/j2Fb3842OjY
Lanes, S. G. (1977). A Case for The Five Chinese Brothers. School Library Journal, 24(2), 90.
