• Feather
1 5

Elsewhere Editions

Feather

Feather

By Cao Wenxuan, illustrated by Roger Mello, translated from Chinese by Chloe Garcia Roberts

$18.00
$0.00 $18.00
Asian Literature Available as E-Book Children's Literature
Format
This title can be purchased from your favorite e-book retailer,
including  many independent booksellers.

Buy on Amazon   Buy on iBooks   Buy on Barnes&Noble

Cao Wenxuan’s Feather tells the story of a single feather who is swept away on a journey of discovery and belonging. Encountering a variety of birds, from a kingfisher to a magpie, Feather is hopeful of meeting the bird she belongs to. Again and again, she is dismissed or ignored. Only when she sees that there is also beauty in being close to the earth does fate offer a reunion. . . Feather is sure to charm young children with a plot at once compelling, meditative, and quietly moving. Roger Mello’s stunningly beautiful, dynamic illustrations will delight readers of all ages.

Additional Book Information

Series: Elsewhere Editions
ISBN: 9780914671855
Pages: 48
Publication Date:

Praise

“I believe a good picture book comes close to philosophy,” the great Chinese children’s author Cao writes in the introduction to this lovely and, yes, profound tale of a feather searching for the bird it belongs to. As Feather is rebuffed by a heron, a peacock, a wild goose and more, we glimpse each bird’s personality and sense of purpose, and we feel Feather’s longing for self-knowledge and a home. Mello’s striking art makes each page a bright color, each avian portrait an evocative surprise. The book’s boxlike design looks special, too.
—Maria Russo, The New York Times Book Review

Mello’s artwork offers countless delights: the plumage of the birds, contrasting backdrops that make the colors blaze, and liberal use of empty space. Cao’s story has the timeless quality of a traditional folk tale (and the brutality of one, with its offstage murder), and it speaks to the way that desires have consequences that can’t be calculated. It’s not comfort Feather’s search offers, but truth and beauty.
—Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

View full details

  • Shopping for someone else but not sure what to give them? Give them the gift of choice with a New York Review Books Gift Card.

    Gift Cards 

  • A membership for yourself or as a gift for a special reader will promise a year of good reading.

    Join NYRB Classics Book Club 

  • Is there a book that you’d like to see back in print, or that you think we should consider for one of our series? Let us know!

    Tell us about it