This month we continue with a lovely book about Chinese zodiac mythology part of the Treasures of the Twelve book series as we continue to highlight books that feature authors, characters and stories from different cultural and ethnic groups.
The Twelve by Cindy Lin.
Publisher: Harper Collins
Originally Published: July 2, 2019.
Summary:
Usagi, a 12-year-old orphan, lives in hiding with her little sister Uma and her friend Tora. They have to steal food in order to survive because if the Dragonlord’s strikers find them, children with Zodiac powers, they will be taken away. Tora and Usagi try to be careful with the use of their powers, but Uma is young, very powerful and reckless, and this gets her, Tora and another child captured. As Usagi tried to flee she gets rescued by a group of traveling entertainers, but she realizes she has seen them before, they have zodiac powers as well, and now with their help she must find a way to improve her skills and rescue her sister and her friends.
Her review:
My opinion about The Twelve is that is is super cool. My favorite part is when Usagi gets to Mt. Jade and joins the other people with zodiac powers, it was important for her to meet others with zodiac powers so she can improve them. I love that part because it is interesting what people can do with zodiac powers and I learned about the Chinese Zodiac. People with zodiac powers could control water, wood, metal and they could use them to defend themselves.
My review:
During the past year reading MG books with my daughter I’ve noticed many of her book choices revolve around the fantasy and magic themes. The ones she has enjoyed the most usually have a different take on them, by highlighting or using elements of different cultures.
The twist in this book is by way of using the Chinese zodiac animals as sources for special abilities in the people born under each sign, along with some elemental power from the five elements: wood, fire, earth, metal, and water that are believed to be the fundamental elements of everything in the universe. Usagi was born in the year of the rabbit and her element is wood, when the story starts Usagi has the ability to do a rabbit leap but fails and hurts herself often and has very strong rabbit hearing which she masters well, hearing things that are miles away. As the story progresses she is helped by her new friends improve her jumps, master the rabbit run and she discovers her new elemental power and learns how to use it.
In this story then we found many things we value: family love, loyalty, friendship, perseverance, bravery, strength, kindness. There is also the things they are fighting greed for power, deceit, betrayal. We see as Usagi grows in the story and to me it did not sound as a forced growth, she struggles and follows the advice of her friends to get better, she makes mistakes and she apologizes and tries to fix them. I love how Usagi’s focus remains firm, in saving her sister and her friends, and how the love for her family is the main driver throughout. There was a part of the story where I picked up an upcoming twist before it happened, this by no way ruined the book as the twist ended up being much more complex than I explected. Finally this was a book I knew was the first of a series when I read it, so I was not surpried when most plot lines did not resolve by the books end. Despite this, I think the conclusion was very well written.
Overall I enjoyed reading this book very much and I’m looking forward to the following book in the series.
Have you read this book? Let us know what you thought about it or if you are interested in reading it in the comments.
For our next book we will be reading Ghost Squad by Claribel Ortega, perfect for a #spooktober read and one of our picks for Hispanic/Latinx Heritage month, I hope you can read along.
For the love of Libros 