In the Snow [Hardcover]

Huy Voun Lee (Author, Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 15, 1995 | Age Level: 7 and up

"The textured paper, vibrant winter clothing, animals in their fur and feathers, and snowflake-decorated colored borders create a lively atmosphere for this memorable lesson in Chinese writing." --Booklist

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

As Xiao Ming and his mother walk through the winter forest, the fresh snow-white and smooth as paper-inspires an educational game. While his mother scratches Chinese characters with a stick, Xiao Ming guesses what the symbols represent. Through careful teaching, the mother links characters and words so that they make sense to a child. For example, "forest" is comprised of two characters for "tree." And the symbol for "snow" combines "hand" beneath "rain"-signifying a form of rain that can be held. Focusing on 10 words, Lee (At the Beach) introduces an often daunting language as a tantalizing system built on images and common-sense connections. Thoughtfully composed cut-paper collages convey the same clarity as the text. An author's note explains that, while over 800 Chinese dialects exist, the written language is uniform. Ages 4-8.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 2 Up?A delight to the eye and the intellect, In the Snow, like At the Beach (Holt, 1994), is an impressive and successful description of selected Chinese characters. A walk through a forest on a snowy day offers opportunities to illustrate 10 pictographs?tree, forest, pond, rest, rain, snow, sun, moon, sparkling, and bright. The colorful cut-paper pictures are a mix of intricate detail and striking design. Children and adults will marvel at the creativity and skill of the artist. The illustrations offer much to contemplate so that even those giving the book a casual glance will find themselves intrigued. The glossary is an excellent resource; it includes a cut-paper picture, the character, its meaning in English, a transcription in Mandarin Chinese, and "approximations" of pronunciation.?Susan Middleton, LaJolla Country Day School, CA
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 7 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR); 1st edition (September 15, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805031723
• ISBN-13: 978-0805031720
• Product Dimensions: 10.4 x 9.8 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,086,763 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A beautiful and unique book!, September 4, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: In the Snow (Hardcover)

This book is beautiful to look through and read. Huy Voun Lee tells a story of a mother and son taking a walk on a winter day. During their walk the mother teaches her son different Chinese characters. Lee not only provides the characters, but the symbolism behind them. The story line is simple and Lee provides ten characters, so this book is great for young readers. My two year old loves to thumb through it. Lee's cut paper artwork makes this book not only beautiful, but unique. In The Snow has not only brought joy to our family but added diversity to our bookshelf.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book for Understanding Chinese Writing!, December 30, 2001

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: In the Snow (Paperback)

This books provides a great introduction for students and teachers to the Chinese language.

5.0 out of 5 stars Chinese Writing through Nature, October 29, 2010

By 

Reflection Haiku "Lily Wang, Author" (California, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: In the Snow (Paperback)

The Chinese writing lesson continues with IN THE SNOW which teaches young readers another 10 forest-snow related Chinese written characters. More advanced than IN THE SAND, these ten beautiful and picturesque Chinese words ranges from 4 lines to 12 lines and there is a pronunciation guide included so kids know how they sound like as well. A wonderful day for Xian Ming and his mom to take a walk in the forest is also a trip to learn how to write the natural objects they see in Chinese: "mu" (tree) shapes like a cross with two branches hanging down; putting two trees together is to write "lin" (forest). When you add three strokes to the left of the word "forest", you will come up with the word "to drench" and add a symbol of "person" to the left of "tree" is to write "xiu" (rest) just as a man leaning on a tree for some rest. In the middle of the walk, the sky starts to rain. And to write "rain", you first draw a line, add a canopy and put four strokes underneath to symbolize raindrops. Add a symbol of "hand" beneath the "rain", you will be writing "xue" (snow) for we can hold snow with our hands.

What's fun about this book is that it shows how to combine single Chinese character to make new words. The last four words have to do with "Sun", "Sparkle" (put three suns together), "moon" and "bright" (add sun and moon together). This book reinforces what I taught my kids in the past regarding these words and now they see mom's lessons printed in a book further help them remember firmly and motivate them to know more.The gorgeous cut-paper collages and delightful storyline make this book a very attractive educational book for readers of all ages and all ethnicities to learn the basics about writing Chinese words which is like drawing pictures that makes one feel like a natural artist.