Enjoy fast, free delivery, exclusive deals, and award-winning movies & TV shows with Prime
Try Prime
and start saving today with fast, free delivery
Amazon Prime includes:
Fast, FREE Delivery is available to Prime members. To join, select "Try Amazon Prime and start saving today with Fast, FREE Delivery" below the Add to Cart button.
Amazon Prime members enjoy:- Cardmembers earn 5% Back at Amazon.com with a Prime Credit Card.
- Unlimited Free Two-Day Delivery
- Streaming of thousands of movies and TV shows with limited ads on Prime Video.
- A Kindle book to borrow for free each month - with no due dates
- Listen to over 2 million songs and hundreds of playlists
- Unlimited photo storage with anywhere access
Important: Your credit card will NOT be charged when you start your free trial or if you cancel during the trial period. If you're happy with Amazon Prime, do nothing. At the end of the free trial, your membership will automatically upgrade to a monthly membership.
$7.99$7.99
Ships from: Amazon.com Sold by: Amazon.com
$7.19$7.19
Ships from: Amazon Sold by: Jenson Books Inc
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
OK
Audible sample Sample
The Remarkable Journey of Prince Jen Paperback – November 18, 2004
Purchase options and add-ons
- Reading age8 - 12 years
- Print length273 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- Grade level3 - 7
- Lexile measure790L
- Dimensions7.6 x 5.1 x 1 inches
- PublisherDutton Books for Young Readers
- Publication dateNovember 18, 2004
- ISBN-100142402257
- ISBN-13978-0142402252
Frequently bought together
Similar items that may deliver to you quickly
Editorial Reviews
Review
About the Author
Product details
- Publisher : Dutton Books for Young Readers; Reprint edition (November 18, 2004)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 273 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0142402257
- ISBN-13 : 978-0142402252
- Reading age : 8 - 12 years
- Lexile measure : 790L
- Grade level : 3 - 7
- Item Weight : 7.6 ounces
- Dimensions : 7.6 x 5.1 x 1 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #229,207 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #80 in Children's Asian Literature
- #5,110 in Children's Fantasy & Magic Books
- #6,550 in Children's Action & Adventure Books (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Few writers have inspired as much affection and interest among readers young and old as Lloyd Alexander. At one point, however, it seemed unlikely that he would ever be a writer at all. His parents could not afford to send him to college. And so when a Philadelphia bank had an opening for a messenger boy, he went to work there. Finally, having saved some money, he quit and went to a local college. Dissatisfied with not having learned enough to be a writer he left at the end of one term. Adventure, he decided was the best way. The United States had already entered World War II. Convinced that here was a chance for real deeds of derring-do, he joined the army -- and was promptly shipped to Texas where he became, in disheartening succession an artilleryman, a cymbal player in the band, an organist in the post chapel, and a first-aid man. At last, he was assigned to a military intelligence center in Maryland. There he trained as a member of a combat team to be parachuted into France to work with the Resistance. "This, to my intense relief, did not happen," says Alexander. Instead, Alexander and his group sailed to Wales to finish their training. This ancient, rough-hewn country, with its castles, mountains, and its own beautiful language made a tremendous impression on him. But not until years later did he realize he had been given a glimpse of another enchanted kingdom. Alexander was sent to Alsace-Lorraine, the Rhineland, and southern Germany. When the war ended, he was assigned to a counterintelligence unit in Paris. Later he was discharged to attend the University of Paris. While a student he met a beautiful Parisian girl, Janine, and they soon married. Life abroad was fascinating, but eventually Alexander longed for home. The young couple went back to Drexel Hill, near Philadelphia, where Alexander wrote novel after novel which publishers unhesitatingly turned down. To earn his living, he worked as a cartoonist, advertising writer, layout artist, and associate editor for a small magazine. It took seven years of constant rejection before his first novel was at last published. During the next ten years, he wrote for adults. And then he began writing for young people.Doing historical research for Time Cat he discovered material on Welsh mythology. The result was The Book of Three and the other chronicles of Prydain, the imaginary kingdom being something like the enchanted land of Wales. In The Remarkable Journey of Prince Jen Alexander explored yet another fantastic world. Evoking an atmosphere of ancient China, this unique multi-layered novel was critically acclaimed as one of his finest works. Trina Schart Hyman illustrated The Fortune-tellers as a Cameroonian folktale sparkling with vibrant images, keen insight and delicious wit. Most of the books have been written in the form of fantasy. But fantasy, Alexander believes, is merely one of many ways to express attitudes and feelings about real people, real human relationships and problems
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on Amazon-
Top reviews
Top reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
As other reviews have noted, the story (actually, stories within stories) is richly endowed with myth and legend. I don't know how much of the mythic/fantastic content is a retelling of traditional Chinese folklore and how much of it is direct from Alexander's imagination, but in any case, he brings a refreshingly light and skillful touch to telling stories with deep roots.
The book does leave me curious to explore traditional Chinese myths and legends - a vein of folklore with which I'm not very familiar but which based on this book may well hold storerooms of hidden treasures.
The story Alexander tells concerns the inner journey just as much as it concerns an outer journey. There are a number of quotes from Taoist and other mystical tradition that indicate Alexander is aware of this, but he is too good a writer to be heavy-handed about it.
Stories in the myth/legend genre risk falling into stereotypical characterization - good guys versus bad guys - and Alexander doesn't entirely escape this. However, the main characters do do have some complexity and life, they can do unexpected things and they can change. Even the main Bad Guy has some good traits at the beginning, although by the end he is simply vain and vicious. The minor characters are fun to read about but for the most part they are streretypical - particularly the greedy merchants, the vacuous officials and the wandering sages.
Whether you are reading this book for yourself or reading it to your child you will be glad to know that this book is written with a good heart. It is an invitation to life, wisdom and compassion told with keen observation and a great sense of humor.