Synopses & Reviews
This series of historical accounts profiles strong women who took extraordinary measures to achieve and maintain powerincluding murder, deception, and black magicexamining the womens reputations in the context of their eras. Just how wicked were they? The books allow readers to decide for themselves if these infamous ladies were indeed heartless and evil or simply out of touch and making the most of their circumstances.The last empress of China, Cixi fought ruthlessly to isolate her country from the West while cloistered inside her lavish Forbidden City, ignoring the needs of her people. Her extravagant lifestyle, bouts of bad temper, and brutal punishments earned her a reputation as a cruel and ignorant leader. An exploration of Cixi's daily lifeincluding what she ate and how she dressedthis story explains how she became one of the most notorious figures of the Qing dynasty.
Synopsis
The last empress of China, Cixi fought ruthlessly to isolate her country from the West, while cloistered inside her lavish Forbidden City, ignoring the needs of her people. But was the Dragon Empress evil or just out-of-touch?
Gorgeous illustrations and an intelligent, evocative story bring to life a real dastardly dame whose ignorance brought a centuries-old dynasty crashing down, ending the imperial system that had ruled China for millennia.
About the Author
Natasha Yim is a childrens author and an accomplished playwright. Her books include Otto's Rainy Day, published by Charlesbridge Publishing and selected as a Kids Pick of the Lists, Cixi The Dragon Empress” in The Thinking Girls Treasury of Dastardly Dames, and Sacajawea of the Shoshone in the The Thinking Girls Treasury of Real Princesses. A new picture book, Goldy Luck and the Three Pandas, is due out from Charlesbridge in 2014. Natasha has also written plays that have been staged in the U.S. and abroad. She lives in Northern California with her family.
Peter Malone has illustrated over twenty childrens books for such publishers as Chronicle, Knopf, Putnam, Running Press, and Scholastic. In addition to creating gorgeous illustrations, he wrote the book, Close to the Wind, about the use of the Beaufort scale for measuring wind force at sea. School Library Journal called it informative and utterly charming.” He lives in Bath, England, with his wife, a restorer of paintings, and their two grown daughters.