Review: Raggedy Chan by Camille Picott

THE STORY:

Emma Chan-McDougal receives a special gift from her Auntie Gracie: a rag doll named Raggedy Chan. But Raggedy Chan is no ordinary doll. She is a beautiful Chinese princess who lives in a jasper palace on the enchanted isle of Kunlun. The peace of her island home is threatened when Drought Fury steals Winged Dragon, bringer of rain. Without Winged Dragon, Kunlun will wither and die. To save her stricken homeland, Raggedy Chan sets forth alone. Her quest leads her to America, where she meets people who distrust her because she’s different. Can Raggedy Chan adapt to the strange ways of this new land and rescue her beloved dragon? In this 10,000-word modern fairy tale, Chinese-American author Camille Picott draws on her heritage to weave a story of magic, adventure, and sacrifice.

MY THOUGHTS:

It's All In The Plot

Raggedy Chan is first and foremost an adventure. Though it's aimed at younger children, I couldn't help but admire how incredibly complex it was. It's got notable mythical animal characters to entice children and exciting plot twists for those of us who are on the other side of childhood (sniff).  Just when I thought things were going to be smooth sailing another obstacle would arise and Raggedy Chan would have to think of a clever way to resolve the dilemma. The Princess/Raggedy Chan shows all the desirable qualities of a strong heroine who would do anything to protect those she loves. 

Themes And Symbolism

I'm the first to admit that when I read it's purely for pleasure. Mostly because 1. I don't care if your book is a satire of the current political climate/trendy social justice topic. I can see that stuff on the news and I deal with it every day at work. 2. I'm not deep enough to delve into your heavily embedded symbolism so if you tell me your farm is run by pigs that's all I'm going to get out of it. With that being said, I couldn't help but notice that I actually got this book. Like, really got it. Camille has added just the right blend of storytelling, thematic influence and symbolism for the book to be both a compelling adventure story and a useful learning tool. This is a book that's not just for children my friends.

Everyone Is A Bit Racist

I think it's high time the whole world admitted to this fact. Heck, I'm half Chinese and I felt slightly racist reading this book. I kept thinking to myself, "why is Auntie Gracie talking like that?" and then I realised that both my parents speak exactly the same way and if I was having that kind of reaction imagine how other people would view it? Camille does such a great job of integrating her cultural influences into this book and I would argue that the skeleton of Raggedy Chan could be used to highlight the experiences of any immigrating culture. Kudos for the use of food as a way to teach about a culture. I think we can all agree that food brings everyone together.

Fish Out Of Water
What's truly genius about this book is that at one time or another in our lives we will all feel the way Raggedy Chan did after returning home from abroad. Whether it be from an adventure/travel/moving house/moving school. For a short time we feel tethered to both the past and the present, who we were and who we've become and life gets confusing and even scary. So much so that we consider not going forward to save ourselves the worry. Raggedy Chan does a marvelous job of reminding us that it's a scary world out there but we're missing out on great friendships and big adventure if we close ourselves off to it. We all want to belong and sometimes it's only by leaving the place we're most comfortable that we find where we truly fit in.

 THE RATING

5/5