This book was about a young boy that wondered how it would be if he lived in fame. He had gotten lost and stayed in the inn of a magician. He told the man that his family lived in poverty and that it must be nice to live in fame. The man gave him a magic pillow to sleep on throughout the night and he said that all of his dreams would come true. The young boy, Ping experienced being a ruler and have a rich life. Once he woke up he realized that fame did not matter that he was happy just the way he was. ( )

The Magic Pillow tells the story of a poor boy named Ping. He is given a magic pillow by a mysterious magician. The boy dreams of a lifetime of wealth and power would be like, and discovers that the riches of family and freedom are much more valuable. It is an easy read for a read aloud and can be given to upper level elementary. ( )

Summary: Ping is from a poor family, and when he comes across a magician and sees magic, he wishes he can have his life changed. The magician decides to let him sleep on the magic pillow, and it shows him what his life would be like if he and his family were not poor. Ping wakes up and realizes he has all that he could ever want, and is content with his life. ( )

This Chinese folktale is about a poor boy who finds peace and contentment with his life after dreaming about the realities of fame, power, and wealth. I like this book for three reasons. To start, I like how Demi uses his illustrations to reflect Ping’s enlightenment. The pictures, all framed with gold circles, have backgrounds that become dark blue when Ping reveals his initial yearning to have wealth and fame. As he dreams, the backgrounds slowly get lighter in color, until he finally wakes up, telling the great magician that he no longer feels the need for those things. I also like how the descriptive language of the book uses similes to describe Ping’s clarity. Towards the end of his dream, the text reads, “Money was like a flash of lightning in a summer cloud, power was like a flickering lamp, and fame lasted no long than a bubble in a stream.” To finish, I like how aspects of the Chinese culture emanate from this book, namely in the illustrations. A great example is Demi’s depiction of the yin yang, the famous Chinese symbol, on the magic pillow, which is employed to represent the point between reality and a magical dream world. ( )

The author wrote this book from an old Chinese short story. The lesson of the story is that greed, power, and being wealthy are not always the best. Being satisfied with who you are and what you have is what matters. The story and illustrations were also put into circles. However, the last sentence of the book was outside the circle.This would be a good story to read to students to teach them that the best things in life are free.I would read this book to a child no matter what age. ( )