Bamboo by Paul Yee, illustrated by Shaoli Wang, 2006.

Bamboo is a young farmer. He falls in love with a girl called Ming and marries her. His brother, Banyan, approves of the marriage, but Banyan’s wife, Jin, doesn’t like Ming. When Bamboo and Ming marry, Ming gives Bamboo some bamboo seedlings, and they plant a bamboo grove.

The two couples, Bamboo and his wife and Banyan and his wife, tend the farm together, although Jin complains frequently about the farm work. Then, Jin gives birth to a son, and Bamboo thinks that their growing family can use more land. He decides to go to the New World to earn more money to buy land.

Although the two brother have shared the farmland between them, Jin convinces Banyan to claim the best parts of the farm for them while Bamboo is gone. Her argument is that Bamboo will likely return rich, and Banyan needs to provide for his family. They leave very little for Ming to use to support herself in Bamboo’s absence.

However, the bamboo that Bamboo and Ming planted is magical, and it tills the soil for Ming. When Jin discovers that, she tries to steal the bamboo poles, but they hit her instead. In retaliation, she gets Banyan to throw the poles in the river. Ming cuts a new pole, and it helps her by carrying water. Angrily, Jin gets Banyan to destroy all the bamboo, but Ming’s field still grows rice, and the bamboo grows back.

Bamboo writes to Ming that he is returning with gold, but then, she gets word that his ship has sunk. Still holding onto hope that he will return, she keeps going to the dock to wait for him. The kind villagers bring her food while she waits, but Jin eats it. While Jin is eating, her young son falls in the water, and Ming jumps in to help him. She saves the boy, but she is swept away by the current.

However, Bamboo saves her, and Ming discovers that Bamboo and the others on his ship were rescued by the bamboo poles that Banyan threw in the river.

The book is available to borrow and read for free online through Internet Archive.

My Reaction and Spoilers

This story is written in the style of a folk tale or fairy tale, although I don’t think it is a folk tale. The book didn’t mention that it was based on a folk tale or a retelling of an old story. It does have some similarities to fairy tales, with the cruel, greedy, and jealous relative; the kind and patient woman who is mistreated; and magical objects that help the good woman with her problems.

The trip to the “New World” and finding gold sounds a little more modern than most folk tales and fairy tales, like something that might have happened in the 19th century, but the idea of the husband being away on a long journey sets up the situation for what happens to his wife while he’s away. Like in fairy tales, everything works out for the best in the end. The bamboo poles that Banyan threw in the river save his life when they reach him, and when Ming saves her young nephew’s life, Jin apologizes for the way she’s been treating her. The story’s familiar themes are comforting. Readers can be confident that there will be a happy ending, and I liked it that the very act of throwing the bamboo poles in the river, which was meant to be a punishing act, is what saves the day.