Brilliant paintings illuminate this retelling of a popular Japanese folktale. Coveting a mandarin duck for his plumage, a greedy lord captures and cages him. The kitchen maid releases the bird and is sentenced to death. How the grateful drake returns the kindness, and outsmarts the capricious lord makes for a wondrous outcome. An ALA Notable Book.
Wrtitten by Newbery Medalist Katherine Paterson with painting by Caldecott winning illustrators Leo and Diane Dillon

A beautiful mandarin duck is captured and caged by a greedy lord who wants to show off the bird's magnificent plumage. But the wild creature pines for his mate. When Yasuko, the kitchen maid, releases the bird against her lord's command, she and the one-eyed servant, Shozo, are sentenced to death. The grateful bird intends to return their kindness, but can he outsmart the cruel lord?

Winner of the Boston Globe/Horn Book Award for Illustration, and a New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Book of the Year.