Award: Bluebonnet
Exposition: Ming-Li is told by her father and brother that
they are to make a lot of noise for the next 3 days to kill the sparrows due to
proclamation by leader of country. The birds were supposedly eating the grain
and the leader thought the way to save the grain was to get rid of the birds.
Conflict: Ming-Li has a tender heart toward animals and
doesn’t want to kill the birds.
Rising Action: Areas residents go about banging pots, drums,
and setting off firecrackers to make birds go away. They instead start falling
out of sky dead from exhaustion.
Climax: Ming-Li has saved 7 birds and has been keeping them
in an abandoned barn. The local men are meeting near the barn to discuss the
problem of crops being eaten by bugs.
Falling Action: After going to the barn to see what will
happen, Ming-Li overhears their conversation, and tells her father about the
birds.
Resolution: The men set the birds free so that the problem
that arose from the killing of birds can be resolved. Ming-Li is given the name
Sparrow Girl.
Illustrations: The illustrations are exceptionally done. You
can tell they are watercolor paintings but they have depth, so that you can see
the expressions on the faces of the people and even the birds. Most of the
pages are full-page illustrations with the text written on top. This story is true,
which I found interesting, as I had never heard of this event which happened in
1959 in China.
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