The Runaway Rice Cake

by Ying Chang Compestine

Book Overview

It's the Chinese New Year, and the Chang Family has only enough rice flour to make one ni?n-g?o, a special New Year's rice cake, for the entire family to eat. But this delicious little ni?n-g?o has other ideas. "Ai yo! I don't think so!" it cries, coming to life and escaping.
Ming, Cong, little Da and their parents chase the ni?n-g?o all over the village until it runs into a hungry, old woman and sends her tumbling to the ground. Though Da is...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0689829728
• ISBN13: 9780689829727
• Release Date: January 2001
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
• Length: 40 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 8.8" x 11.2"
• Age Range: 5 to 8 years
• Grade Range: Preschool to Grade 3

Customer Reviews

Great for the classroom!

I teach 3rd-4th graders with learning disabilities who often also have short attention spans. This book held their interest until the very end. Our class made the recipe for rice cake that is provided in the book. We baked it while I read the story. It is a beautiful story with a nice moral about being unselfish. Illustrations are wonderful too. I loved it and so did the kids. I highly recommend.

Perfect for Chinese New Year !

Great story to read for storyhour for 3-5-yr.olds. It's the Gingerbread Man on Chinese New Years Day, and the miracle of the Loaves and Fishes, all rolled into one.My storyhour children were totally caught up in the Chang Family's chase of the runaway rice cake all through the village.

a lesson in giving and generosity for lunar new year

In the footsteps of the runaway gingerbread man, the giving tree, and the runaway latkas, this tale for the lunar new year is colorful and interesting, it rhymes in many places, and teaches the lesson of generosity and how giving will reward you spiritually if not materially in the future. It includes recipes for baked and steamed nian-gao.

A Runaway Good Story - on Lots of Levels

Reviewed by A. Rooney In the tradition of other great storytellers, Ying Chang Compestine begins her tale, Runaway Rice Cake, with the introducer, "It all happened one Chinese New Year's Eve." Compestine then serves up more than just rice cakes; she gives young readers whimsy, adventure, magic, family fun, language, rhyme, a geography lesson, and an easy-to-handle moral to cap it off. All in the space of 30 beautifully illustrated pages. A father, mother, and three sons in old China are set to enjoy the Chinese New Year. The mother cooks them a special seasonal treat, a rice cake, with the remaining flour in the cupboard. When she pronounces it done, they stand ready to share it. But wait - the nian-gao (rice cake in Chinese) suddenly comes to life and bolts for the door. The boys, with mother and father in tow, chase it through farmyards, markets, a celebration, and the village center. The chase finally ends when the runaway rice cake bumps into a "grandmother," an old woman in the town. She has not eaten for days and Da, the youngest, offers to share the prize cake with her. In her hunger she accidentally devours the whole thing and embarrasses herself in the process. When the family arrives home, villagers have heard of their plight and are waiting with baked buns, dumplings, and oranges, and magically empty bowls are transformed into full ones of noodles, fish, vegetables, and rice. What makes this such a great story is that it arrives in layers: first the tale, then the magic and whimsy, then the language and geography, then the lesson. Young readers are innately curious about children and customs in other lands, but they want the information on kid level. Compestine's book delivers that along with a nice helping of fun. Because of the fun factor, Runaway Rice Cake will score high marks on the bedtime read-together scale. And if that isn't enough, there's a bonus at the end. In the final two pages, in a kind of addendum or epilogue, the author has included background and history of the Chinese New Year and a recipe for the holiday rice cake. A great story by an author who was a witness to China's unfortunate Cultural Revolution and can share a little of her country's 6,000 years of language and tradition. I look forward to her next offering.

Thumbs Up!

The Runaway Rice Cake was a delight to my 6-year-old daughter and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it to her. Since the main story line is a familiar one it was fun for her to draw comparisons to the gingerbread man and the shortbread girl, both tales she has enjoyed in the past. This version of the tale also brings with it a message about sharing. (Makes Mom happy!) At the end of the book there is a page long description of how Chinese New Year is celebrated which was interesting to us both. My daughter was particularly excited about the bonus of two recipes for Nian-Gao. She loves to help in the kitchen and the recipes appear to be simple enough that she can do the measuring and mixing on her own and my contribution should be minor. I give this book a hearty 'Thumbs Up'!