A Musical Journey: From the Great Wall of China to the Water Towns of Jiangnan [Hardcover]

Liow Kah Joon (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 7 and up | Grade Level: 2 and up

**Chosen as an American Booksellers Association autumn 2004 Book Sense Children’s Pick!** A Musical Journey is a new children's book that takes young readers on a musical tour that celebrates the diversity of China’s land and its people. This beautifully illustrated book is both educational and entertaining. The CD of folk songs that comes with the book includes 12 musical themes that correspond to the fact filled text. A Musical Journey is a trip the reader/listener will enjoy taking many times over. The musical selections are fun for all; the text is suggested for children age 6 and over. -- Nanci Carlson, President FCC-AZ Chapter & Newsletter Co-editor

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 2-5–Ming and Kim, two children who are not particularly Chinese in appearance, guide readers through various regions of China. The territory covered is shown on an imaginatively drawn map that lacks most of the country's physical features. Each two-page section contains some geographical, cultural, and historical facts about a specific area; an illustration of one of the young guides dressed in an appropriate costume of a minority group; and a large painting of a well-known landmark or local scene. The informal text is choppy and the brightly colored paintings are of varying quality. The book includes a CD with 12 lively and delightful musical selections representing each of the highlighted regions. Though the pieces are original, some are based on folk melodies. The songs are introduced on an appended spread along with sketches of the Chinese instruments used. Unfortunately, the information is brief, and there is no listing of all of the instruments played on each track. In addition, no sources for any of the textual material are listed. Song Nan Zhang's beautifully illustrated The Children of China (Tundra, 1995) presents a more authentic look at the youngsters of many of China's minority groups.–Barbara Scotto, Michael Driscoll School, Brookline, MA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From the Author

"I started working on A Musical Journey two years ago with a team made up of a music composer, an artist, a designer, a researcher and an editor.

Our goal was to create a unique and high-quality children's book about China which celebrated the diversity of China's land and people. I believe we've achieved that with A Musical Journey.

I get letters and emails all the time from readers who tell me how wonderful the book is and how it touched some part of they and their children's lives. That is the biggest reward I get from this book.

And if you haven't heard the music yet, you must! Because it is absolutely beautiful. I say that because every reader has felt the same way about the music. They tell me they haven't heard anything like it and that's the truth. You won't find music like it anywhere else."

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 7 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: SilkRoads Networks Inc. (July 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0973349212
• ISBN-13: 978-0973349214
• Product Dimensions: 10.5 x 8.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,997,317 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great music and drawings!, September 8, 2004

By 

K. Ball "M&K's mom" (VA, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Musical Journey: From the Great Wall of China to the Water Towns of Jiangnan (Hardcover)

This book has great colorful pictures for kids and is written in a way that kids will find it interesting. It's hard to cram so many years of Chinese history into a short children's book but the author has done a good job of hitting the interesting high points. The accompanying CD has some wonderful original compositions. This is a welcome addition to the library of children's books on China.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fact filled book & beautiful CD, October 8, 2005

By 

KSL "emma-and-me" (Florida, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Musical Journey: From the Great Wall of China to the Water Towns of Jiangnan (Hardcover)

You and your child will be guided throught this amazing book with Ming & Kim who are also dressed in costumes of minority tribes through out the Peoples' Republic of China. This is how the book breaks down. Each page also has it's very own music track. The music is absolutely beautiful and is unlike any Chinese music cd that we own! The more we listen to this cd we really love it! My daughter actually requests to hear certain songs, our favorite has sounds like running horses!

CD -
Great Wall of China - The Chinese Dragon
The book and music speaks of how on Chinese New Year there is a big dragon dance to celebrate the New Year. It talks about how Chinese drums & cymbals give you a feeling of happiness. " This Asian adaptation of music that is played during festive occasions".

Silk Road
It's music has foot bells and a tambourine in this original composition.

Inner Mongolia
This track is suppose to make you feel like you are racing across the plains on horseback and uses traditional Mongolain music with a horse head fiddle. ( It's doesn't look like a horse head at all. Imagine a square guitar with a long neck and curved handle like a cane).

XinJiang
This track has an instrument called a Rawap and is suppose to convay a young Uyghur girl dancing during a festive occasion. there is a small drawing of what a Rawap looks like as well as other instruments in other songs.

Tibet
This track has banjo, Tibetan drums and a bamboo flute and is supposed to make you think of children celebrating.

Sichuan
This melody is an updated folk music and it has a Bawu which is a type of Chinese clarinet.

Guizhou
" Maioa people relay messages, including expressions of friendship and love, to each other through song. These songs echo through the mountain ranges. A Miao girl plays the Lusheng" instrument.

Guilin
This track features a copper drum in the background and is suppose to take you to a woman who is picking tea leaves in the spring morning sun.

Yunnan
" The bamboo dance is a popular dance among the minority tribes of Yunnan. Dances move deftly between bamboo poles accompanied by the rhythmic beats of copper and wooden drums".

Dongbei
The main instrucments in this track are Chinese drums, cymbols, erhu and banhu. This track is known as Yang Ge and is played in parades during festive celebrations where thousands of people line up to watch the parades.

Central Plains
The bamboo flute in this track imitates a singing bird and also includes an instrument called a Pipa. It is suppose to make you think a grandfather laying under a big shade tree playing his flute while his grandson chases a small bird around the tree.

Jiangnan
This track is a new version of a 200-year-old Jiangnan folk song called Jasmine Flower. The song uses the Erhu which is kinda like a violin and the Pipa. Jasmine flowers are small and white and have the sweetest scent. You are suppose to imagine sitting in a boat on the canal in Zhouzhuang.


The information in this book is unbelieveable and combined with the cd makes this set a must have for anyone who loves China! Defiantely worth adding to your home library!

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful!, May 27, 2006

By 

Lina K. Lee (South Pasadena, CA, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Musical Journey: From the Great Wall of China to the Water Towns of Jiangnan (Hardcover)

We love this book! Not only was the book thoughtfully written, the painting were beautiful, and the characters in this books were so cute. We really appreciate the CD that accompanies the book. The music that comes with the book makes reading it a joy, and a fun expereince for the children. We learn a lot about China through this book, thank you!