Recommended.

Laura Ludtke is a candidate for a Masters of Classics at Queen’s University. She reads and review Children’s (and Young Adult) literature in her spare time; she is always a fan stories within stories!

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CM Magazine: Canadian Review of Materials 

Little Wen: “What is the Chinese Saying for This One?”

Ruowen Wang. Illustrated by Wei Xu.

Toronto, ON:
Kevin & Robin Books (www.kevinandrobinbooks.com), 2007.

Wen was anything but well-mannered and cultured.  She roamed the streets and climbed trees.  Once, Mama told her that only mischievous boys climbed like monkeys.  “Girls should not climb,” she said.

“Why not?”

“People say if a girl climbs trees, her babies will be born with six toes.”

Wen liked that idea. “That’s good. My baby girls will climb faster.”

Based on the author’s own childhood experiences in China, this attractive picture book tells an entertaining tale about a young Chinese girl who is exuberant and curious about the world around her. Undeterred by adults’ disapproval about the way that she acts because it is not how girls should act, the protagonist Wen asks questions about why things are the way they are and does things like climbing trees. Even though her curiosity and attempts to help have unintended effects, she remains the same as ever.

The story itself is not structured around a well-defined plot but rather is an episodic narrative of incidents that aim to flesh out Wen’s character and the social environment in which she grows up.  Wen grows up among well-meaning adults who would want Wen to act like a “quiet, clean, and well-behaved” girl so that she will maintain her family’s good reputation and find a good husband when she grows up. However, Wen struggles against the adults’ rigid expectations, particularly as her naturally inquisitive behaviour goes against their views about how children should behave.

Although it is firmly rooted in Chinese culture, this story transcends cultural boundaries. It will serve well as a historical example that is accessible to young children who will identify with Wen and her desire to express her own identity. Readers will identify with Wen’s incessant questioning of the environment around her and sympathize with her when things go wrong. Although Wen’s mother does disapprove of Wen’s behaviour sometimes, she is also depicted by Wang as a sympathetic person who does recognize and accept Wen’s differences from other Chinese girls. 

Illustrated by Wei Xu, an award-winning artist, the book’s illustrations help to convey an appropriate tone for Wang’s story.  The simply drawn, coloured illustrations are not overly realistic and strive for a more animated, cartoon-like appearance instead, which is appropriate because of the book’s more lighthearted topic. They connote the protagonist Wen’s exuberance and emotions, particularly through their depiction of her facial expressions, body language, and pigtails in active and spontaneous poses. The close-ups of Wen’s face encourage reader identification with her when she is sad as well as when she is happy or excited.

The picture book’s language level makes it suitable for children ages 7 and up because it contains more difficult words such as “reputation,” courtyard,” and “embarrassment.”  Though these words do not appear too frequently, younger children can better appreciate the story if parents and teachers read it aloud to them since there is also a fair amount of text on each page. For older children, they can better appreciate the book if they have some knowledge about the significance of Chinese sayings, which have historically been used to instruct children about how to live and behave, as well as the story’s historical and cultural context.

As an instructional tool, this book will fit well into units about Chinese culture and children growing up in different cultures. Teachers could use the book to introduce students to Chinese proverbs and people’s perceptions of girls in traditional Chinese culture. It may be particularly interesting for students to examine the history behind the Chinese sayings and to compare them to English proverbs. This story’s humourous aspects will make the proverbs more accessible to children.

One cautionary note about this book is that readers should avoid construing Wen’s actions as a rejection of Chinese culture per se. There are several stories now in which female characters feel constrained by their traditional culture’s gender expectations and rebel against them in order to assert their individuality. Although it is for younger children, <i>Little Wen</i>’s narrative trajectory is similar, and some readers may come away from this book with a negative impression of Chinese culture because of its gender constraints. Therefore, a sensitized understanding of traditional Chinese culture and its gender expectations will be beneficial.

For more information about the author, readers can visit her website at http://www.ruowenwang.com/.

Recommended.

Huai-Yang Lim has recently completed a degree in Library and Information Studies at the University of Alberta.

Annotations:

For ages 3-8.

Reviews:

Tanya Boudreau

(Resource Links, October 2007 (Vol. 13, No. 1))
Girls should not climb; learn to hold your tongue; that is not a question a little girl should ask; behave yourself like other girls, and don't shame your family.

This is what Wen hears from the adults in her life. Chinese Canadian author Ruowen Wang brings her childhood memories to her book Little Wen. Wen's mom and the female adult's in her community believe Wen's questions, giggles, ideas, energy, and curiosity are unacceptable behaviours for a little girl to exhibit. Wen's name means well-mannered and cultured but her neighbours call her "a little mad girl". After Wen's peanut plant dies, she starts learning old Chinese sayings from her mom. One is about patience, and another about time and effort. There is no Chinese saying though for the embarrassment Wen causes her mom in the courtyard. It's Wen's questioning mind though that breaks the tension between mother and child.

This childhood story explores some of the traditional beliefs and values of the author's parent's generation. Clothing, parenting, and expectations are touched on in Wen's story. My favourite part of the book is the afterward about the peanut plant.

Ruowen Wang lives in Toronto. She is no stranger to reading and children's literature. She is a collector of books and writings. Her dream is to become a publisher so she can promote multicultural children's literature. Her other books include The Hidden Treasure, and Eenie Meenie Minie Moe. Wei Xu has illustrated several books for authors in China . He works in an advertising company as a chief designer. His home is in Toronto . We see the vibrant and authentic Wen in Wei Xu's illustrations. Wen's extremely long pigtails are seldom still - and this could be because she's always moving! She might be on a window ledge, or a shed roof, or half way up a tree. Her facial expressions are endless and understandable. I think the most telling picture is the one of Wen giving the peanut plant a hand in growing. I also liked page sixteen. I spent a lot of time looking at this picture of Wen and her mom. I would buy this book for my library.

Category: Picture Books. Thematic Links: Multicultural Children?s Books; Chinese Traditions and Beliefs; Mother-Daughter Relationships. Resource Links Rating: G (Good, great at times, generally useful!), Gr. 1-3. 2007, Kevin & Robin Books, 32p. Illus., Hdbk. $22.95. Ages 6 to 9.

 CM . . . . Volume XV Number 19 . . . . May 15, 2009

Little Wen: "I Want to See About That."

Ruowen Wang. Illustrated by Wei Xu.
Toronto, ON: Kevin & Robin Books, 2008.
32 pp., pbk. & hc., $9.99 (pbk.), $21.95 (hc.).
ISBN 978-1-897458-12-9 (pbk.). ISBN 978-1-897458-09-9 (hc.).
 

Preschool-grade 1 / Ages 4-6.

Review by Myra Junyk.

** /4

 

 

 excerpt:

Mama put on her stern face. "Mothers know everything. Trust me. Now, no more questions!"

"All right no more questions… But do mothers really know everything?" Oops, another question. Little Wen quickly covered her mouth and made a face.

"Just believe what I say, or your questioning will bring us bad luck. If not all my chicks turn out to be egg-laying hens, it could be our fault entirely."

"Oh, really?" Little Wen was fascinated. "I want to see about that."

Little Wen moves to the countryside as she is starting Grade One. Since country life is new to her, she eagerly explores her surroundings. Lots of things are different here! Houses are made of mud and straw. There are many animals - piglets, roosters and chicks. When her mother decides to raise her own chicks, Wen has lots of questions. Her new friend and neighbour, Mei, is also a mystery to Little Wen because Mei's mother has shaved Mei's head to make her hair grow in faster and healthier. After learning about Mei, Little Wen decides to experiment with her mother's new chicks to see if they, too, can have longer hair by her cutting all the down off their heads. Will Little Wen ever stop experimenting and asking, "I want to see about that?"

    

Little Wen is a very curious child who finds herself in a new environment which she wants to explore fully. As an only child, she is often left to her own devices. This allows her to try out her assumptions by doing things like cutting off all the down on the chick's heads. Her mother is shocked by her behaviour and manages to stop her before she cuts all of the hair off the tomcat's head! Little Wen's curiosity about everyday events will surely be familiar to young readers.

     Little Wen's impetuous actions lead to several improbable events in this picture book. Why is she left alone to experiment with the animals? Why does she seem to act in isolation? We see her with her mother on occasion – but never with her father. Her friend Mei appears briefly to set up the problem of the hair – but then disappears for most of the book – only to appear again with a full head of hair. The vocabulary of this picture book could also be a challenge for very young readers. Words such as "fertilizer" "courtyard" and "earthquake" could be problematic since the meanings of these words are not obvious through the context of the language or the illustrations.

     The watercolour illustrations provide useful information for readers. Most of the illustrations portray Little Wen with one or two other individuals. They help readers to understand her character. Her boredom is evident as she explores the puddles on the mud floor of their new home. Her excitement is evident when she meets her new friend Mei and discovers that she is now bald! But most of all, readers can see Little Wen's mischievous nature when she tells them, "I want to see about that." As she is cutting off the down from the heads of the chicks, her facial expressions reveal her intense concentration on her task.

     This interesting picture book explores the world of curiosity and imagination. Young children need to explore their worlds – in a safe way. They need to be able to say "I want to see about that" in order to understand their world.

Recommended.

Myra Junyk is the former Program Co-ordinator of Language Arts and Library Services at the Toronto Catholic District School Board. Currently, she is working as a literacy advocate and author.  

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Hidden treasures
written by Ruowen Wang ; illustrated by Wei Xu.
Cataloging in Publication
Toronto : Kevin & Robin Books, 2007.

Reviews:

Rachelle Gooden

(Resource Links, October 2007 (Vol. 13, No. 1))

The Hidden Treasure is a story within a story. When his grandchildren ask him to tell them a story, Grandpa takes a break from his gardening to tell them the tale of the Hidden Treasure. This Chinese tale is about a dying old man whose greedy children only take care of him because of a treasure they believe he has hidden away. Wang cleverly brings the reader back into the main frame of her book by having the grandfather ask his grandchildren to write their own versions to the end of the tale. Ultimately both stories work together to show that the real treasure in life is the love of family. While the old man in the inner story longed for it, the grandfather in the outer story treasured it. Over all this is an entertaining, enriching, well illustrated book that is sure to please its readers.

Category: Picture Books. Thematic Links: Family; Treasure; Chinese Stories. Resource Links Rating: G (Good, great at times, generally useful!),

Gr. 2-4. 2007,
Kevin & Robin Books,
40p. Illus., Hdbk. $22.95.
Ages 7 to 10.

Little Joy.

Ruowen Wang. Illustrated by Wei Xu.

Toronto, ON: Kevin & Robin Books, 2008.

24 pp., hardcover, $19.95.               

ISBN 978-0-9738799-7-1.

Preschool-grade 1 / Ages 2-6.

Review by Huai-Yang Lim.

*** /4

Reviewed from f&g’s.

excerpt

Mommy tickles Little Joy on her ear. Little Joy smiles, but does not laugh. Mommy tickles Little Joy’s hair.Little Joy smiles, but does not laugh.

There is an expanding body of children’s picture books that deal with adoption, a topic which is particularly salient as more North American families today are adopting children from Asia. These books often address this topic from the perspective of the foster parent, sibling, or adoptee and explore the issues that surround the process of adoption or of growing up as an adopted child. For example, these include the family’s varied and fluctuating emotions that result from the adopted child’s arrival, the difficulties that arise from adopted children’s perceptions of their physical differences from other family members and people, as well as the struggles and rewarding efforts of adopted children to fit into their new family. Picture books that focus on adopted children from Asia include Deborah Hodge’s <i>Emma’s Story</i>, Eve Bunting’s <i>Jin Woo</i>, Jean Davies Okimoto’s <i>The White Swan Express</i>, Ed Young’s <i>My Mei Mei</i>, Patricia I. McMahon’s <i>Just Add One Chinese Sister</i>, and Stephan Molnar-Fenton’s <i>An Mei's Strange and Wondrous Journey</i>, and Jan Czech’s </i>An American Face</i>.

Ruowen Wang’s story <i>Little Joy</i> is ideal for members of a younger audience who are just beginning to develop their English comprehension skills. Structured as a simple story told in simple language, Ruowen Wang’s book depicts the developing bond between a white mother and her adopted Chinese girl, Little Joy. This is not to discount the difficulties that adoptees have when they grow up or the desires that they have to locate their birth parents, which books, such as Ting-xing Ye’s <i>Throwaway Daughter</i>, sensitively depict. Instead, Wang’s story depicts the relationship between a foster mother and her child in a way that young children can comprehend and that new parents of adopted children can also appreciate and enjoy.        

The story is charming in its evocation of a mother’s interaction with and love for her adopted baby. Emphasizing the reciprocity and universality of love, the book works well as an early reader or as a read-aloud for young children under the age of five due to its repetition of phrases and simple vocabulary. It is a straightforward narrative that is divided into two main parts: the first portion focuses on the unsuccessful attempts of Little Joy’s mother to make her laugh while the second part reverses the situation and shows Little Joy’s attempts to make her mother laugh.  Teachers can read the book aloud to develop children’s language acquisition skills while librarians could use it as a read-aloud in a public library’s programming for young children and could encourage children’s participation by asking them to finish the phrases.          

The picture book’s watercolour illustrations by Wei Xu complement the story effectively by conveying a suitably gentle and lyrical mood to accompany the text. Wei Xu creates a homely atmosphere with little details in the foreground and background such as house plants, toys, a portrait hanging on the wall, and Little Joy’s baby bottle. Wei Xu’s varied and plentiful usage of colour in the pictures will keep the attention of young readers, but the pictures are appropriately subdued with Xu’s avoidance of flashy colours and use of gentle black and coloured outlines. Close-up shots of Little Joy evoke her cuteness, and these complement the images in which her mother is hugging and playing with her. A particularly striking image is the one that shows Little Joy’s mother holding Joy’s hand while tickling her child with her other hand. There are also a couple of outside scenes on the beach and in the neighbourhood that round out the story’s atmosphere.

Mother-daughter relationships are prominent in Ruowen Wang’s other published work, including <i>Little Wen</i> and <i>Are You Thinking What I’m Thinking?</i>, both of which Wei Xu also illustrated. Readers may recognize this story’s illustrative style and colouring from previous picture books that Xu illustrated, but she has suitably modified her style to suit this story’s realism. 

For more information about Ruowen Wang, readers can visit her official site (http://www.ruowenwang.com/) or the website of her publisher, Kevin & Robin Books (http://www.kevinandrobinbooks.com/).

Recommended.

Huai-Yang Lim has a degree in Library and Information Studies and currently works as a researcher. He enjoys reading, reviewing, and writing children’s literature in his spare time.

Zigzoo : when a dragon catches a cold

written by Ruowen Wang ; illustrated by Wei Xu.
Cataloging in Publication
Toronto : Kevin & Robin Books, 2007.

Reviews:

Heather Empey

(Resource Links, October 2007 (Vol. 13, No. 1))

A charming story about a young dragon who catches a cold - his scales turn blue, his fire goes out and he loses his voice. He worries that he will never breathe fire again, but since a cold is a human illness, he must seek help from a human doctor. The doctor is afraid of the dragon and so sends him to a doctor of Chinese medicine. This doctor is also afraid and sends him to an acupuncturist, and so on and so on. Eventually, the dragon finds himself back at the first doctor?s house and through a surprising turn of events, they are able to help each other. This story in the tradition of a Chinese folktale should appeal to younger audiences. Category: Picture Books. Thematic Links: Dragons; Health Professionals; Colds. Resource Links Rating: G (Good, great at times, generally useful!), Gr. K-4. 2007, Kevin & Robin Books, 32p. Illus., Hdbk. $22.95. Ages 5 to 10.

 by Becky - a children's librarian, US:

Little Joy

You have got me in tears over here - I just LOVED it!!!  I will post about it on my book blog FOR SURE!!  What a gem for adoptive families, especially! NOW - you have me even more excited to get them in my hands!!  Especially the moon title - I was hoping to use that for our Moon Festival later this month....but maybe next year!!

To Share One Moon
I just loved it – it would be PERFECT for our Moon Festival!!!  I just want her mom to come back to them!!!  Ok – that just shows how much I got wrapped up in the story!!!  I am going to post on my regular blog today about your wonderful books – I just love them!!

Are You Thinking What I'm Thinking?
and the others:

"The stories are sweet and tender – I just LOVED them. PLEASE do let me know when you have new titles – I am hoping to purchase them for myself and also for our library – they are SO good!"

Becky has a book blog website: http://inthepages.blogspot.com.