Paul Yee, illustrated by Jan Peng Wang,
A Song for Ba.
Grounwood Books, 2004

Rating: E*

Wei Lim lives with his father and grandfather in “the Chinatown of a large city by the Pacific Ocean.” Wei wants to be an opera singer like his father and grandfather. In Chinese opera men sing both male and female roles. Wei’s father, Ba, always played the role of a general wearing a resplandecent costume and helmet with a brace of four flags. The role of general involved sophisticated acrobatic maneuvers. In China grandfather had played the female roles of princess and maiden. Despite Wei’s interest Ba feels that there is no future in opera because of the changing technologies in the New World. He refuses to teach Wei the movements and songs, telling Wei to focus on doing well in school.

When Ba is on tour, grandfather teaches Wei the songs of the female roles. One day, grandfather returns to China and Wei stays with the wardrobe master while Ba goes on long and unsuccessful tours. When the opera company “… finally sputtered home in their run-down jalopies and rusty trucks”, Wei is shocked at how thin and tired Ba is. The opera company decided to prepare for a grand new opera to rekindle interest and pay for their debts, more singers have returned to China, and Ba must play the role of a princess. He finds it very challenging. At the height of Ba’s despair wei teaches his father how to sing the songs. The opera is a success. The story concludes with Wei thinking he didn’t know whether there would still be a Chinese opera when he grew up, but on that night, he, too, was a star.

Jan Peng Wang’s beautiful oil paintings complement the text with a sense of nostalgia for the past. The paintings are so textured at times that the reader may be tempted to run his fingers across the page in the hopes of feeling the paint. Jan Peng Wang has painted the pictures of Wei’s simple home life in subdued colors shown in sharp contrast to the richness of the scenes of the opera.

Paul Yee tells a powerful tale of the hardship of Chinese immigrants and how change affects culture. He also tells a touching story about the evolving relationship between father and son.

This book is highly recommended for both school and public libraries. It is suitable for curriculum units involving art, history, multicultural studies, and family.

Thematic Links: Chinese Immigrants, Father and Son relationships, Canadian History, Chinese Opera.

Laura Reilly
Vol. 10, number 1
October 2004

*Rating System:
E - Excellent, enduring, everyone should see it!
G - Good, even great at times, generally useful!
A - Avarage, all right, has its applications.
P - Problematic, puzzling, poorly presented.