Fa Mulan
Grades 3-5
Multicultural
By: Robert D. San Souci
Illustrated by: Jean and Mou-Sien Tseng
Many people
have seen the Disney movie “Mulan”, but the story of Fa Mulan goes way further
back than the 1990s. Robert D. San Souci
does a wonderful job in re-telling the story of the female warrior. The story of Fa Mulan is all about how she wants
to prove to her family that she can fight even though she is a woman. It is also about family, honor, and love for
her culture.
Fa Mulan
goes into war pretending to be her father so that he does not have to
fight. She protects her country and
becomes a great war heroine. She is
inspired to fight just like her idol, the Maiden of Yueh. Fa Mulan gets stronger and better at sword
fighting and eventually becomes a general to the Khan.
San Souci
leaves two author’s notes at the end of the story to talk about the history
behind the story. He uses the oldest
version of the story to re-tell his. He
finds many hidden symbols in The Song of
Mulan and uses them in his own re-telling of Fa Mulan.
The art in
the book is formatted to look like an ancient Chinese scroll. The second author’s note at the end of the
book describes the tradition of the art used by the Chinese and the calligraphy
they used.
I would put
this book in my classroom not only because it is a multicultural book, but
because it is inspirational and shows students that they can do anything they
put their minds to. The many hidden
messages of honor, equality, and family are great messages to have for students
to learn about.
3.3. Describe characters in a story (e.g., their
traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to
the sequence of events.
2.9 Compare
and contrast two or more versions of the same story (e.g., Cinderella stories)
by different authors or from different cultures.
8.14 Make judgments about setting, characters and
events and support them with evidence from the text.
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