China

Review: Little White Duck by Na Liu

| Tasha

little white duck

Little White Duck: A Childhood in China by Na Liu, illustrated by Andres Vera Martinez

This graphic novel takes a look at the changes in China during the 1970s through the eyes of a young girl.  Da Qin lives in Wahun with her family, including a younger sister.  The book opens with the death of Chairman Mao in 1976 and shows a way of life that was disappearing.  In eight chapters, Liu reveals this transitional and fleeting time in China through experiences in her own childhood.  Along with the main character, readers get to celebrate New Year, capture pests, learn the value of rice, and visit a rural Chinese village.  Throughout, it is a remarkable view into a closed society that is just starting to open itself to the outside.

Liu writes her stories with a wonderful frankness about the playfulness of childhood filled with dreams of riding on cranes, but also tied down to the earth by the everyday nature of the tales.  There is a focus on the small moments of life in China.  Some are amazing to those of us who didn’t live them, like everyone participating in catching the four pests by bringing in a certain number of rat tails. 

Martinez’s art is a study in sepia toned memories made brilliant by the colors of childhood.  Against a gray background, the bright dragon dances at New Year’s.  Orange and yellow flames cook green and brown food.  And even after the drab poverty of the rural village, there are dreams of flying on a crane high in the sky.

Informative and remarkable, this graphic novel takes a fresh and frank look at a childhood in China.  Appropriate for ages 8-10.

Reviewed from library copy.

Review: The House Baba Built by Ed Young

| Tasha

house baba built

The House Baba Built: An Artist’s Childhood in China by Ed Young

Illustrator Ed Young grew up in Shanghai during World War II.  His father managed to get them a house that was safe because he built it himself.  He made a deal with the landowner that he would build a house and after 20 years, the landowner would get it free and clear.  But in those 20 years, Ed Young’s family lived there.  It was a huge home with a swimming pool, space to roller skate on the roof, staircases to slide down, and lots of other places to play.  This is the story of growing up in that house with the war raging around them, but also feeling very safe as a family because of the house.  It is the story of welcoming people beyond their family to stay with them, giving refuge and forming a larger family unit.  It is the story of years of playfulness and joy together despite the outside forces because his father thought brilliantly and quickly.

It will come as no surprise to those who know Young’s work that this is a beautifully designed book.  Young weaves together paper cutting, sketches, painting and photographs into a dreamlike world of his childhood where some things stand out crystal clear and others are fogged by time.  It is like looking into someone else’s memories along with them.  They are beautiful and mesmerizing.

This book may have trouble finding an audience.  While the illustrations are gorgeous, the story is told in vignettes rather than one large story.  This technique will resonate more with slightly older readers than usual picture book preschoolers.  On the other hand, teachers looking for a book to inspire telling a biography in more than words will delight in this book.  It will share aloud well and the illustrations will invite readers into Young’s world.

A book for older elementary school readers who may take some encouragement to pick it up.  Once they do, they will be transported to Shanghai in the 1930s and 40s.  Pair this with Drawing from Memory by Allen Say for two artist’s childhoods in Asia.  Appropriate for ages 7-10.

Reviewed from ARC received from Little, Brown.

To Timbuktu: Nine Countries, Two People, One True Story

| Tasha

totimbuktu

To Timbuktu: Nine Countries, Two People, One True Story by Casey Scieszka, illustrated by Steven Weinberg

Travel, romance and finding oneself are what makes this book irresistible.  Casey and Steven met in Morocco, had a long distance relationship across the US, and then moved together to China and eventually Mali.  This book celebrates taking leaps of faith with one another, experiencing life to the fullest, embracing different cultures, and just being entirely human in the process.  Come spend a year with an engaging couple who teach, write, draw, and inspire.

Scieszka’s writing is frank and inviting.  She captures travel and the experience of other cultures with an honesty that is very refreshing.  From the rush of a new country and its own unique culture to the isolation and boredom that sometimes result, there is no shrinking away from even the bowel-churning portions of travel.  At the same time, she depicts a growing relationship with Weinberg that slowly deepens and naturally evolves.

Weinberg’s illustrations are equally refreshing with their rough edges, free lines and widely smiling faces.  As one turns the pages in the book, each new page is often a new story, a moment captured from their travels.  The illustrations help make this work very well.

Reading this would send me into memories of my own travels, thinking about times when I had felt the same or done something similar.  If you are a traveler, this book will speak directly to you and your experiences.  If you are hoping to become one, this book will inspire you to do it.

A winning combination of illustration and story, this book will inspire older teen readers to take a different course in life: a path all their own.  Appropriate for ages 16-adult.

Reviewed from copy received from Roaring Brook Press.