Liu and the Bird: A Journey in Chinese Calligraphy
Kindergarten-Grade 4-A bird guides a small Chinese girl on a journey to visit her grandfather after he summons her in her dream. She passes through a traditional Chinese landscape-river, forest, field, mountain, and bamboo grove-to find the man waiting for her to join him in drawing. The story's conclusion is inspired by the traditional Chinese belief that pictures may come to life. The events of Liu's journey serve the purpose of introducing one or more Chinese characters. Striking, richly colored linocuts combined with torn paper and framed in black line incorporate, in a handsome page design, a series of three squares, each tracing the evolution of a character. The first square shows a picture; the second, an early pictograph; and the third, a modern character. The accomplished calligrapher uses standard rather than simplified characters. Huy Voun Lee's books introducing Chinese characters-In the Leaves(Holt, 2005), for example-follows a more coherent story line, as a Chinese boy shows his friends how to write and pronounce the characters. Louis's title provides a handsome counterpoint, both evocative and educational.-Margaret A. Chang, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, North AdamsCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.