Review #31: And Twelve Chinese Acrobats by Jane Yolen

Title: Yolen, Jane.And Twelve Chinese Acrobats. Philomel Books. 1994. 50 pages. Out of Print. ISBN 978-0-399-22691-5

Genre: Historical Fiction
Reading Level/Interest Level: 4.1/ Grades 3-6
Similar Titles: The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter by Arielle North Olson, The Salem Witch Trials by Jane Yolen and Heidi Elisabet Yolen Stemple

In Russia, there lived a comfortable Jewish family with eight children, one of whom, Lou, is a great story teller and, as his mama describes, a “good boy” but a “rascal.” When one of Lou’s tricks goes too far, his father sends him to a military school, which breaks Jewish tradition at every turn. Unable to adapt to his new environment, Lou is sent home after losing all his jacket buttons in an illegal card game, at which point he disappears for months, and the family assumes he is dead.

Much more is their surprise when he arrives at the beginning of Spring with twelve exotic looking men who can bend, tumble and jump like no other, with Lou as their leader. Lou explains to his parents, and his favorite little brother, “Wolf,” also the narrator,  how he could not come home in shame. Instead, he went to Moscow and found work in a circus, becoming the manager of a troop of Chinese acrobats who travelled home with him to find work and food. Their anger subsided by their joy at finding their son alive, the Yolen family welcomes the acrobats into their home, where they learn, work hard, observe the Sabbath and share their culture with their hosts, for as mama says, “Where there is love, there is room.”

In the end, the acrobats are fattened up and sent out laden with food and provisions as they are determined to continue looking for work, and Lou, the observer, the storyteller, is sent to America to find the Yolen family a place to settle where they can all grow and be themselves.

Based on the true story of how the author’s father (and subsequently written in his boyhood voice) and his family came to America from Russia, And Twelve Chinese Acrobats, while labeled as another –E- book, a designation saved for picture books, it is recommended for those in the tween age range and for good reason. This title is 50 pages long and in the compact format that most tween readers have come to understand as standard, though slightly oversized. The feature that really stands out is the black and white pencil illustrations by Jean Gralley, who studied with, and emulates a certain style element of, Maurice Sendak.

Written so beautifully, and obviously of great emotion value to the author, the work is more biographical in nature, than fiction, and could easily fit into the category of folktale someday, as a classic tale of Jewish life in Russia, the importance of family, and of finding your place in the world. As an author of many of my favorite children's picture books (Owl Moon and the How Do Dinosaurs...series for example), it is no small wonder that Jane Yolen would find her way into our older reading as well, and less surprising, that we would absolutely love it.