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Grace Lin
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The Red Thread: An Adoption Fairy Tale Hardcover – Picture Book, January 1, 2007

by Grace Lin (Author)
4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 79 ratings
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A king and queen should be full of joy and contentment, but they both feel a strange pain that worsens every day. Then a peddler's magic spectacles reveal a red thread pulling at each of their hearts. The king and queen know they must follow the thread.
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Previous page
  1. Reading age
    2 - 6 years, from customers
  2. Print length
    32 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Lexile measure
    AD720L
  5. Dimensions
    10.75 x 0.36 x 8.5 inches
  6. Publisher
    Albert Whitman & Company
  7. Publication date
    January 1, 2007
  8. ISBN-10
    0807569224
  9. ISBN-13
    978-0807569221
  10. See all details
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The Amazon Book Review
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Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Grade 3—Lin offers a contemporary fairy tale, using a story within a story to weave in a Chinese belief that "an invisible, unbreakable red thread connects all who are destined to be together." It begins with an Asian girl, who looks no older than five, asking her Caucasian parents to read a favorite story "again," thus introducing the main story: a royal couple both suffer a mysterious pain in their chests that nothing can remedy or explain, until a peddler gives them magic spectacles that allow them to see a red thread bound tightly around their hearts. They follow its loose end for days, crossing a sea, the pain gradually easing, until they reach a small village in a foreign land and find a gurgling, smiling baby at the end. A wise old villager tells them, "This baby belongs to you." Bright illustrations and vivid language will likely appeal even to preschoolers, though some children will need to have the connection to adopting a baby from China made more explicit through additional discussion. Karen Acres's Little Miss Ladybug & Her Magical Red Thread (Ladybug, 2003) also deals with this theme. This lovely book has general appeal, but it's particularly suitable for patrons requesting adoption titles, and especially transracial adoption of children from China.—Deborah Vose, Highlands Elementary School, Braintree, MA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

"This is a good tale to open adoption discussions."

Booklist

"The illustrations are painted in deeply rich colors and are imbued with details that lend a fairy-tale ambiance."

Starred, Kirkus Reviews

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Albert Whitman & Company; Reprint edition (January 1, 2007)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 32 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0807569224
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0807569221
  • Reading age ‏ : ‎ 2 - 6 years, from customers
  • Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ AD720L
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 14.6 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 10.75 x 0.36 x 8.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 79 ratings

About the author

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Grace Lin

Grace Lin

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Hello! Thanks so much for your interest in me and my books!

I grew up in Upstate NY with my parents and 2 sisters, whom are featured in many of my books, including "Dim Sum For Everyone!" and my novels, "The Year of the Dog" and "The Year of the Rat." My mother and I were the star characters in my first book, "The Ugly Vegetables"--I cut both my sisters out of that story! They were quite upset with me and made me promise never to cut them out again. And since then, I haven't...yet.

While many of my books highlight my family, not all of them do. My Newbery Honor-winning novel "Where the Mountain Meets the Moon," is an Asian inspired fantasy that some people call a Chinese 'Wizard of Oz,' and my early reader "Ling & Ting" is inspired by the old 'Flicka, Dicka & Ricka' books I read when I was young.

I hope you enjoy my books. Please visit my website: www.gracelin.com for more info about them (behind the scene stories and pictures) as well as other amusing anecdotes!

Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
4.7 out of 5
79 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

KSL
5.0 out of 5 stars Sure to tug on your heartstrings & be a much loved & requested book!
Reviewed in the United States on September 24, 2007
Verified Purchase
Our story begins with a Mom & Dad sitting on a red couch amid a box of dress up clothes and some of Grace Lin's beloved books in our home placed close by. Their little daughter brings her mother a beloved and much read book, to which her mother replies as we often do......" This story again? You've heard it a hundred times. Are you Sure? Okay, I'll read it to you again, " thus begins Grace Lin's newest book Red Thread: An Adoption Fairy Tale.

Everyone who has adopted a child from China now a days knows the ancient Chinese belief of an unbreakable & invisible red thread that connects two people who are destined to be married to each other and the adoption community who took this story and added to their child .

I like how Grace Lin took this and created a wonderful book in which to me she put much thought into creating it and the little details in the book that most of us felt during the journey to our children. I love that the parents are sitting on a red couch, how the page with the king & queen staring up into a tree where their red threads are tangled... I know I felt the frustration of all the red tape, paper work & things we have to do to follow our invisible heart strings to China. I love that this story ends with the family sitting on their red couch closely together and everyone is wearing a golden crown! How true, we are so blessed and enriched by our child!

Grace Lin has written another wonderful book that will tug on the heart strings of all adoptive parents and show their children how just like their parent's heart strings, it took them on a journey of a thousand(s) of miles to China to find the very sole that will tug on our hearts for ever. Our daughter enjoys hearing her story & our adoption journey to China. I Think that Grace Lin's has created another wonderful book that will be also much read and requested in our home as well.

Keep up the terrific work Grace!
5 people found this helpful
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J. S. McRoberts
5.0 out of 5 stars My daughter and I both love this book
Reviewed in the United States on August 18, 2010
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Like one of the other reviewers, we first found this book at the library. My daughter loved it so much that we checked it out twice, and now it's time to buy it. As a parent, I especially like the framing story of the parents telling the daughter the transparently allegorical fairy tale, and it was obvious from the first reading that my daughter identified with both the girl who's hearing the story and the baby who gets adopted by the "king and queen."

There aren't many kids' books that can moisten this crusty old dad's eyes, but this one did as it brought back memories of waiting for, and then finally meeting our amazing daughter. Reading this story to her now is a wonderful privilege (as is listening to her read it to me), and I highly recommend it for any family touched by adoption--or better, for any family at all.
5 people found this helpful
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Anne Dahl
5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect
Reviewed in the United States on August 24, 2008
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I am a mother of a 4 year old boy adopted through the foster care system at two years. We have read many books about adoption together. Very few books relate to his story and he's never "loved" any of them. This story is beautifully writen and poetic. The visual of the red thread was so powerful that we talk about "our threads" now. While this book is about a girl adopted from China, it is a fairytale with Kings and Queens and captures attention from the begining of the story. It also touches the one thing that most books miss; the parents and child are meant to be together regardless of how. The look on my son's face when I explained how I felt before and after we found each other, was priceless. By the way, this is the first book I've ever felt the need to review.
33 people found this helpful
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J. Graham
5.0 out of 5 stars My daughter's favorite!
Reviewed in the United States on April 23, 2008
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My daughter Gracie joined us from China when she was ten months old, and she is now 4. Her favorite author is Grace Lin, she loves all of her books and her decorative swirls! The first night we read this, Gracie asked me to read it five times. The beautiful story is lyrically told in classic fairy tale fashion. Not at all heavy-handed like some adoption stories tend to be, but subtle and metaphorical. Gracie was very moved by the part where sharp rocks poke through the King and Queen's shoes, their clothes rip, and it snows, but still they go on. This book and "A Mother for Choco" are our two favorite adoption stories, probably because both focus on the feelings of love involved in adoption rather than more mundane matters. A true find!
5 people found this helpful
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L's Mom
5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful story for all adoptive families
Reviewed in the United States on May 23, 2008
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My 3 1/2 year old daughter was adopted from South Korea, not China, and this story is just as relevant for us. We look for our invisible, unbreakable red thread and talk about the connection we have. This is a good bedtime, snuggle story - not too long and not too short - with good vocabulary words to learn (famine, drought, peddler, spectacles, etc.) I change a few of the words towards the end: "Who does this baby belong with?" (instead of "to") and the people in the strange land "speak" (not "chatter"). These are minor issues in this overall wonderful book.
One person found this helpful
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Anna
4.0 out of 5 stars Such a cute story about a king and queen that ...
Reviewed in the United States on September 26, 2016
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Such a cute story about a king and queen that had a red thread connecting them to a little girl far, far away. I bought this as an adoption gift and I was have tempted to keep it for myself.
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Jennifer Labin
5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful and Touching
Reviewed in the United States on November 1, 2013
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We originally checked this book out of the library to help explain to my toddler about one of her friends. I loved it so much I had to buy it to have forever. This story is about adoption - but it is really about the bonds that connect us in any capacity. It's beautiful and I highly recommend it.

My only wish is that the author would consider writing a few versions where the baby has a different skin tone, etc. Then I would buy this for all of my friends too!
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Bekki861
5.0 out of 5 stars A beautiful story
Reviewed in the United States on April 24, 2014
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This book does a good job explaining in a very loving way how an adoptive couple comes to find their child. The story is told as a fairy tale but the message is real and very relatable to real life. A very young child will surely only see it as another fairytale story, but the more it is read, and the more the reader initiates conversation around the story each time it is read, any child could clearly see the meaning. It does a beautiful job of explaining how loved and wanted the child is
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Top reviews from other countries

Laurel Glanfield
5.0 out of 5 stars This is a very sweet book, beautiful to show the parents pain taken ...
Reviewed in Canada on August 1, 2015
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This is a very sweet book, beautiful to show the parents pain taken away when they get to the end of the red thread. It is a very applicable and suitable read for adoptive families regardless of the distance travelled. Each family travels a unique journey, this is relatable for local adoptions as well as foreign. Leaves room for imagination, not too preachy, its beautiful and touching.
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Dan Bradley
5.0 out of 5 stars There aren't enough of these...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 11, 2013
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I was looking for something that is a story with themes of adoption that isn't too heavy handed and labouring the point. I think this is ideal (reads like a fairytale/myth) for reading to any child, regardless of whether they are adopted or not, but on top of that, I think it's lovely as a book that can just make adoption more 'normalised' for want of a better word. Something that is just around and in the child's sphere of experience without it being a big, looming topic.
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N. Iwabuchi
5.0 out of 5 stars beautiful book
Reviewed in Canada on April 7, 2014
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I love this book. It's one of my go-to-gifts for anyone who has adopted a baby. It's very touching :)
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Fran Todd
5.0 out of 5 stars Child of my heart!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 19, 2011
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Change the personal pronouns and the countries involved to suit when you read it to your child, and this is a powerful book about the intimate connection between adopted children and their forever parents. Described in our house as a 'love book'.
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Julie Crouse
5.0 out of 5 stars A gorgeous book
Reviewed in Canada on May 5, 2013
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Beautiful story particularly for those adopting from china. Lots of great artwork, and an easy story to read to your child
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