Images of the mind

Ed Young
Beyond the Great Mountains:
A Visual Poem about China
Chronicle Books, 2005

Beyond the Great Mountains is a meditative, absorbing book. Like a Chinese landscape painting, Ed Young's aesthetic is sparing in words and images. We, too, must bring our discipline and restraint to reading this book. Only that way, will we appreciate its richness. Young brings his design sensibility to bear on a series of cascading paper collages that draw upon Chinese characters. "East" (dōng 東) is pictured as a great tree silhouetted against a tangerine sun. "Boulder" (shí 石) is a great waterfall plunging from the edge of a cliff. The collage papers are alternately richly dyed, fibrous, mottled, printed, and, if you excuse the pun, absorbing.

Author's website: http://edyoungart.com/

Write Chinese

Peggy Goldstein

Hu Is a Tiger: 

An Introduction to Chinese Writing

Scholastic, 1996

Peggy Goldstein is author of the similar book, Lóng Is a Dragon, which teaches the basics of Chinese language and writing to novices. Hu Is a Tiger uses the same engaging strategies for picturing, remembering, and reproducing characters and portions of character that may be combined to form new words. In this book, Goldstein includes numbers, zodiac animals, auspicious words, and a carefully selected range of vocabulary for forming sentences. She concludes with an important idea: 人人明白仁 rénrén míngbái rén. Everyone understands benevolence.

Pint-sized underdog exceeds all expectations, and gets the girl

Helen Smith (adaptation)
Junko Morimoto (illustrations)
The Inch Boy
Puffin, 1984

After an old couple ask the Buddha for a child, they discover a one-inch-long baby crying outside their home. They name him Issonboshi for his diminutive figure, but his ambitions are super-sized. Seeking to become a samurai to the Lord Sanjo, Issonboshi proves his mettle when facing down the red demon threatening Sanjo's daughter, Makiko. Predictable in plot and stereotype, The Inch Boy is nevertheless charming.

Why roosters crow at sunrise and chase after worms

Ed Young with Hilary Beckett

The Rooster's Horns: 

A Chinese puppet play to make and perform

Collins, 1978

This charming fable stars Dragon, Worm, and Rooster. In the beginning, Dragon admires Rooster's golden horns and wishes to have ones like them. Worm intercedes as the conniving advisor to Dragon, suggesting that Dragon ask to "borrow" them. Rooster is the affable, trusting soul. Through flattery and false promises, Rooster is persuaded lend his horns for a day. But come sunrise, when Dragon is due to return the horns, and every sunrise thereafter, Rooster cries in vain. As for the sneaky worm, he has little chance what Rooster spots him.

  Ed Young's lyrical, fan-shaped illustrations accompany the story, which is followed by instructions and patterns for creating a shadow puppet play. It seems like a fine project for a grade school class or a rainy day. 

How the Darumas earned their eyes

Winifred E. Wise (author)
Beverly Komoda (illustrator)
The Revolt of the Darumas
Parents' Magazine, 1970

  Kojima and his sisters have three roly-polys, or Darumas, which they call Big D. Middle D. and Little D. Following tradition, they draw in only one eye on each Daruma, promising that if the roly-polys grant their wishes, then they will draw in the other eye. The obedient children go out to play, and that is when the malicious Tengu with the big nose goes to work making mischief. When the children return, an uneasy scene awaits. Who made a hole in the paper door? Why is the Tengu mask on the floor? Where have the roly-polys disappeared to? But as the Darumas go to work making magic, disappointment gives way to happiness and generosity among the good, while the wicked only brings harm to himself. Winifried E. Wise's story, published in 1970, is well worth revisiting. The humorous charm of roly-poly beings is timeless. Those of you have seen them croaking and hopping about the queen's castle in Murasaki's Spirited Away know this. And, like Spirited Away, The Revolt of the Darumas has moments of transcendency, as when the roly-polys spend the night in the pond turning and drifting, sometimes able to see the fish through their one eye, other times seeing the stars. I would like to see a publisher step forward to update the content and prose, giving for example, names to the sisters. A new title, too, could highlight the resolution in the Darumas' action.
  I would also like to say a big thank you to a dear friend who has sent me this and several other children's books for this blog.
  Finally, can anyone speak to the accuracy of the practice of making wishes and drawing in Darumas' eyes?

Looking for less sun, more shine

Eric A. Kimmel (retelling)

Yongsheng Xuan (illustrator)

Ten Suns: A Chinese Legend

Holiday House, 1998

Indeed, the story of Hou Yi, the archer who shot down nine of ten suns to save the earth from being scorched, is, well, legendary in Chinese culture. And so, retelling such a story has its challenges. Eric A. Kimmel begins with a fantastic and compelling image of a wondrous palace atop a giant mulberry tree. But I found the following pages less interesting. The suns' personification as sons made it difficult to accept their being shot by arrows. And, it was little comfort that the shots didn't kill but merely transformed them into crows. Yongsheng Xuan's illustrations are an odd mixture of Soviet-influenced socialist realism (the image of the bare-chested Hu Yi is so hard-edged as to warrant literally the descriptive term "cut") and a Chinese vernacular taste for technicolor. His style gave Ten Suns for me a kind of artificiality. Further, without an image of a real person suffering from the ten-sun drought, I found the narrative's dramatic urgency false. 

It's a wonderful new year

Ying Chang Compestine (author)
Tungwai Chau (illustrator)
The Runaway Rice Cake
Simon and Schuster, 2001

The Chang family—Poppa, Momma, and three boys Ming, Cong, and Da—gather to celebrate the new year and share their impoverished meal of a single rice cake, or níangāo. But that dastardly cake (he must be related to the gingerbread man) jumps up and runs away. After giving chase through the town, the rice cake eventually consents to being captured and eaten not by the Chang family but by an old, hungry lady. The family sees that her need is greater than their own, and they return home rather dejectedly. But, surprise! Their compassion is repaid by neighbors who bring a little of this and a little of that to share. And when a magic bowl erupts with a feast, why, even Jimmy Stewart could have a place at the table. Ying Chang Compestine's story is fun and jubilant, and only a spoilsport (moi?) would point out that the upbeat action and rosy pictures undercut the Chang family's poverty. Recipes for níangāo follow the story.

Not Zhuangzi's happiness of fish

Nathan Zimelman (author)

Julie Downing (illustrator)

The Great Adventure of Wo Ti

Macmillan, 1992

For certain individuals, a life of ease generates its own un-ease. So it is for the biggest, fattest carp dwelling in the pond of the paradisiacal Summer Palace. Wo Ti's constant searching is a bother to the other fish, and it comes to an end only when Wo Ti hatches a plan to rid the pond of an intrusive cat, Kitty Ho. In a light and fanciful manner, Nathan Zimelman shows us how some (all?) of us need a little drama, adrenaline, and relief to nudge us into a satisfying state of mind.

Hopeful thinking

Niimi Nankichi (author)

Kuroi Ken (illustrator)

Judith Carol Huffman (translator)

Buying Mittens

University of Hawaii, 1999

Like a blanket of fresh snow, Kuroi Ken's soft, pastel images envelope the reader in a dreamy world. In this wintry dream world, the shape-shifting fox is not a threatening enchantress, but an innocent fox-child who suffers from cold paws. Its mother transforms one paw into a hand, and sends her babe to town with strict instructions to buy mittens. When the babe mistakenly shows its paw instead of its hand, humanity is put to a test. Will they or will they not choose to live in harmony with the fox?

perfectly imperfect

Mark Reibstein (author)
Ed Young (illustrator)
Wabi Sabi
Little Brown, 2008

In words and images, Wabi Sabi transcends our limited, typical notions of what a children's story and picture book can be. Poetry, philosophy, and art come together in a sumptuous feast. The images are colorful, but never cloying. The texts are simple, but never simplistic. The book's vertical orientation and large format invite the reader to take a brief refuge from the harried pace and endless demands of modern life. Young readers will warm to Mark Reibstein's story of Wabi Sabi, a cat with a quest to understand the meaning of her name. Ed Young's collages (some of his finest work) are studies in the wabi-sabi aesthetic. Enthusiasts of Japanese culture will appreciate the notes to Basho's poems, which appear throughout the book.

Double Fifth

Arlene Chan (author)
Song Nan Zhang (illustrator)
Awakening the Dragon: The Dragon Boat Festival
Tundra, 2004

  The fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar, Chinese around the world will celebrate the Dragon Boat festival. This year, the holiday falls on June 16, and I hope to be eating azuki bean dumplings wrapped in bamboo leaves under a bright sun while thinking of Qu Yuan, the loyal minister who drowned himself in the Miluo River as an act of political protest.
  Arlene Chan's book introduces the symbols and activities related to the festival in a well-rounded if a bit static way. Song Nan Zhang's images add color and drama. His image of a theatrical portrayal of the eye-popping demon queller Zhongkui just about leaps off the page.

New Year primer

Demi

Happy, Happy Chinese New Year!

Crown, 1997

Demi's deep reservoir of talent for storytelling and illustrating goes untapped in this diminutive book that tries, it seems to me, to be all things to all readers. Various traditions and foods associated with the Chinese new year are covered in an obligatory manner. If you're looking for introductory knowledge about this holiday, you'll find it in Happy, Happy Chinese New Year!, but to appreciate Demi's gifts, I would urge you to try another of her many books, such as The Empty Pot or Su Dongpo. 

A game for the generations

Ginnie Lo (author)
Beth Lo (illustrator)
Mahjong All Day Long
Walker, 2005

With retro, Chinese-primer style illustrations and vernacular Chinese phrases, Mahjong All Day Long immediately transported me back in time to happy weekends when my parents and grandparents played round after round of májiàng 麻將. Ginnie Lo captures the memories of smells (tea and dumplings), tastes and textures (cracking roasted watermelon seeds), and sounds (slightly out-of-tune singing to the karaoke machine, thunderous shuffling of mahjong tiles, and exclamations of pòng! or húle!). At the book's end, there is a list of instructional books for those who would like to learn to play.

There is no them; there is only us

Andrea Cheng

Honeysuckle House

Front Street, 2004

Sarah Wu's best friend, Victoria, has suddenly moved away, leaving Sarah sad and confused. Ting "Tina" Liang has left her relatives and familiar world of Shanghai to join her mother in Cincinnati. The two girls overcome a host of social pressures and cultural stereotypes to form a young friendship. Along the way, Andrea Cheng invites us into the emotional lives of families with marital tensions, work-life pressures, and sibling rivalry. Her style is never dramatic, always authentic, which seemed to me to open up a space (like the "honeysuckle house" where Sarah and her friends plunge into imaginative play) to forgive oneself and one's family and to make more generous and loving choices.

For more on Andrea Cheng, click here to visit the author's website.

Globalized

Carolyn Marsden
Silk Umbrellas
Candlewick, 2004

The effects of globalization, however vaunted by some policy-makers, seem to me not all that different from those of imperialism. We see the impact in Carolyn Marsden's story of Noi and her family. When local, agricultural land has been sold to real estate developers, Noi's father can no longer farm. He becomes a bricklayer, whose uncertain cash income must be supplemented by her mother's mosquito nets and her grandmother's painted umbrellas. When even that proves insufficient, Noi's older sister Ting is sent to do factory work. Ting solders a minute part into a radio, hour after hour, day after day. Noi is horrified and frightened...and motivated. With help and encouragement from her grandmother, Noi learns to paint umbrellas, continuing a family tradition. Marsden weaves Thai words and culture into a thoughtful and engaging story of a young girl growing up in a changing world.

Wake me when my dream comes true

Dianne Snyder (author)

Allen Say (illustrator)

The Boy of the Three-Year Nap

Houghton Mifflin, 1988

  Set in pre-modern Japan, Dianne Snyder’s story of Taro and his widowed mother reminds us that even the most cunning of children may nevertheless be outwitted by their more experienced mothers. Taro’s laziness has earned him the nickname, “The Boy of the Three-Year Nap.” At the end of her patience and her resources, his mother urges Taro to work for the merchant. But slothful Taro would rather undertake a life of leisure and toward that end he masquerades as the ujigama, the town’s god, to take advantage of the merchant. Frightened, the merchant obeys the ujigama’s order to marry his daughter to Taro. But when he comes to ask the widow’s consent, she finds a way to cure Taro of his laziness.

  In their style, clarity, and narrative humor, Allen Say’s illustrations remind one of Hokusai’s woodblock prints.

Hunter, Guardian

Mary Casanova (retelling)

Ed Young (illustrations)

The Hunter

Atheneum, 2004

  Hunter Hai Li Bu wants nothing more than to provide the people of his village—children, young women, and white-haired elders—with food. When drought comes, his skills become critical to the village’s survival. As he searches for game, he chances upon a snake one day and rescues it from the clutches of a crane. As reward for saving his daughter, the Dragon King offers Hai Li Bu anything he wishes from his immense treasures. The hunter wants only to improves his skills, and so the Dragon King gives his the gift of understanding what the animals say. The gift, in the form of a pearly stone, must not be revealed, however, lest Hai Li Bu be himself transformed into stone. His hunting improves and the village flourishes until Hai Li Bu hears from the animals of an imminent flood. His love for and loyalty to his village are put to a fateful test.

  Ed Young’s ink and color illustrations powerfully capture the deep emotions and high stakes of this folktale.

Silly wisdom

Demi

The Donkey and the Rock

Henry Holt, 1999

A fable set in pre-modern Tibet, The Donkey and the Rock features two poor men each eking out a living as best he can to support large households. When one man’s donkey crashes into the other man’s jar of oil set upon a rock, their lives come to a impasse. Unable to resolve the dispute, the seek the king’s good judgement. The king sees the goodness and honesty of both men, and he lays blame instead on the donkey and the rock. Driven by curiosity, the community attends the spectacular trial. But tables are turned as the wise king penalizes the people for their succumbing to their folly. Really, everyone knows “...there is no law by which to judge a donkey and a rock.” Ten coins was a small price for a valuable lesson.

   If you have seen Demi’s charming illustrations, you know that they generally fit obediently into their spaces. She breaks this pattern to dramatic effect:  when the donkey tips the jar of oil, it is as if Jackson Pollock’s paint-laden brush dripped in for a visit.

Don't forget to dance

Allen Say
Music for Alice
Houghton Mifflin, 2004

I can't help but hear that popular, nostalgic song by the Kinks, even though it's an odd juxtaposition to Allen Say's tribute to Alice Sumida. Alice and her husband, Mark, were to be interned along with all other Japanese-Americans during World War II, when an opportunity for farm work came along. They were prisoners, still, to the Oregon desert; but they survived and thrived. Say's bright image of their successful gladiola farm stays with us, just as it lingered in Alice's memory. As Alice reflects on her long life, she is a model of grace, dancing through her days.

A family trilogy

Allen Say

Tree of Cranes (Houghton Mifflin, 1991)

Grandfather's Journey (Houghton Mifflin, 1993)
Tea with Milk (Houghton Mifflin, 1999)


Some of us are set fast-forward to the future. Others of us wonder about the past. Where did our parents and grandparents come from, we ask. And we use the answers to understand who we are and where we are going. Allen Say shares his family's story in three beautifully illustrated and and somewhat wistful books.
  In Tree of Cranes, Say is a young boy in Japan. His mother, who grew up in the United States, celebrates his return to good health and commemorates her own childhood with a hybrid Christmas tree.
  Grandfather's Journey memorializes the life of Say's grandfather, who may seem acculturated and settled with his family in California, returns to Japan.
  Tea with Milk concerns Say's mother, who is wrenched from the comforts of California when her father brings the family back to Japan. She eventually meets a fellow with unconventional tastes that match her own.
  All of the books speak thoughtfully and gently about the un-ease of being caught between cultures, an increasingly common experience in our post-modern, globally connected world. Say's family seems to have pioneered this path, and he is generous to share its intimacies and beauty with us.