At the Beach - Softcover

Lee, Huy Voun

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0805058222 ISBN 13: 9780805058222

Publisher: Square Fish, 1998

Synopsis

A little boy and his mother go to the beach. There she teaches him how to make Chinese words by drawing pictures in the sand. Young readers can learn ten Chinese characters in this wonderfully innovative picture book.

About this title

About the Author:

Huy Voun Lee is the author and illustrator of In the Park and In the Snow. Originally from Cambodia, Ms. Lee now lives in New York City.

From School Library Journal:

Grade 2-4-A little boy and his mother's day at the beach is the vehicle for this concept book about Chinese characters. Ten characters are introduced as mother and child write them in the sand; verbal mnemonics are reinforced by pictures of people or nature. For example, the character for "woman" is vividly illustrated by a woman posing for a photo with a baby in her arms. However, "sky" confuses the related characters for "person" and "big" in the text; the illustration of "water" is too abstract and disjointed; and the explanation of "sand" is illustrated with a beach scene that has no relevance to how the character is drawn. The pictures are clever and visually appealing, consisting largely of cut-paper collage with some drawings. Peggy Goldstein's Long Is a Dragon (China, 1990) is a more effective introduction, but is for a slightly older audience. At the Beach is an attractive and clever book, but an inconsistent one.
John Philbrook, San Francisco Public Library
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Square Fish
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0805058222
• ISBN 13: 9780805058222
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Lee Huy Voun