The Weaving Maiden's Mystery

China, 8th century BCE: Silk is money as well as the height of fashion, and the women who weave it can work and live independently in the state of Morning Song.

When thirteen-year old Fahng is sold to a master weaver, she's tasked with solving the meaning of a "sampler" made of string and bamboo. The sampler is more than weaving lore; it's a forgotten language of knotted patterns that she must understand to complete her apprenticeship.

Using clues from tradition and her fellow weavers, Fahng struggles to grasp the sampler's wisdom. If she can learn the weaving guild's closely guarded technique for making a rare gauze, she can secure her place in the weaver's guild and become its master.