From School Library Journal
Grade 2-6Chang lives on a houseboat on Chinas Li River with his parents and their cormorants, great black birds trained to dive and retrieve fish for their owners. Though he has been mute since birth, he can make sounds the birds understand. Through short chapters and simple sentences, the author traces the boys growth as he helps his father during a night catch, copes with a bully named Jinan, and makes friends with Jinans sister. When Changs father decides he is old enough to raise and train a cormorant chick, the boy is overjoyed. Jinan almost causes the precious chicks death, but Chang stands up to his tormentor and emerges all the stronger for the conflict. This story does not reach the same heights of immediacy and engagement that Ann Cameron gives to The Most Beautiful Place in the World (Knopf, 1988). The conflict seems a bit contrived and the concluding sentence is a clich, but librarians should overlook these minor flaws to acquire a rare item: a realistic story set in modern China thats accessible to readers as young as second grade, yet not too juvenile for older readers with less skill. The black-and-white illustrations offer a glimpse of the Li Rivers wondrous landscape while portraying a loving family and the hardworking birds who bring them fish.Margaret A. Chang, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, North Adams
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Chang, who was born mute, lives with his parents on a houseboat on the Li River in China. Perhaps because he was raised with the cormorants his family uses for fishing, he has developed a special relationship with the birds. Consequently, he's thrilled when his father finally agrees to let him help raise a cormorant chick. The experience is a life-changing one. Chang seems to blossom and grow right along with the chick, and his confidence is further boosted when he develops a friendship with the sister of a village boy who has always taunted him. Then comes a near-fatal error in judgment, and Chang learns the hard way that his friendship and trust must be given only to those who earn it. Youngsters, especially those with disabilities, will strongly identify with Chang, and Lesley Liu's detailed drawings capture the flavor of the Chinese landscape. Like the text, the pictures will increase readers' awareness of life in China.
Lauren Peterson
