From School Library Journal
PreSchool-Grade 4–On a dazzling autumn day, Xiao Ming's mother takes him and his friends to visit a farm. There, the child shows his friends the beauty and fun of writing Chinese characters by drawing them in the dirt for the things they see. The story unfolds while gracefully showing the relationships between actual objects and the characters used to represent them. As Xiao Ming draws the symbol for grain next to the one for mouth, he tells his friends that it creates the word for harmony. I am always happy to have lots to eat, just like I'm happy to have lots of good friends to eat with. The splendid cut-paper collages portray the action while illustrating the origin and history of the characters described. As Xiao Ming explains fire, depicted by two sticks together, the illustrations show farmers in the field building a fire. Together the art and text create a picture of Chinese writing that is easy to understand and leaves readers eager to create their own characters.
–Rebecca Sheridan, Easttown Library & Information Center, Berwyn, PA Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
K-Gr. 3. Xiao Ming is excited about a fall outing to a farm with his friends--and about showing everyone the Chinese characters he knows. He explains how the characters for
grain and
fire echo their shapes, and he talks about the meaning behind the character for
family. Lee, who featured Xiao Ming in two previous books--
At the Beach (1994) and
In the Snow (1995)--introduces 10 new Mandarin Chinese characters here, using simple, descriptive text, interspersed with dialogue, to clarify the visual elements. She makes fine use of textured papers and pattern play in her collages, both in the large scenes and in the rich, earth-tone borders, and effectively uses basic shapes and intricate cuts to depict a multicultural group of kids enjoying the learning experience. An illustrated pronunciation guide (the first five characters in the story appear on the front endpaper, the last five on the back) is a nice bonus, although incorporating the information into the main text would have saved kids from flipping back and forth between the story and the guides.
Shelle RosenfeldCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
