Last week, my daughter and I enjoyed a community Chinese New Year's celebration. Due to the reading that we did before attending this arts & crafts event, she derived much more from the activities than she would have if we had gone without our biblio-prep. (Is that a term? I guess that it is now!)
The book, which bore repeated readings at D's prompting, is The Magic Brush: A Story of Love, Family, and Chinese Characters by Kat Yeh/ Illustrated by Huy Boun Lee. In it, Jasmine is a Chinese-American girl whose grandfather, Agong, teaches her the art of Chinese calligraphy as she explores her imagination. Each page features Chinese characters, and the end of the book has an extra section that includes a pronunciation key, history of Chinese art, and list of several Chinese treats.
The story itself is touching. ::Spoiler alert:: Although it does not say so concretely, it is pretty clear that Agong dies. However, the tale also deals with this in a touching though not saccharin way.
I love the connection between Agong and Jasmine as well as the way that she comes to transmit the values and culture he shared with her. The bold, colorful illustrations that incorporate Chinese characters like an Asian WordWorld are also impressive.
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