Learning About China
by Kathie Johnson
Last summer in my children's library, we had our usual reading game. For the twelfth time, we did "geographical" reading, with books about a particular area of the globe. In previous summer readings, we moved across the United States and through the other countries of the Western Hemisphere, and then spent two years reading books on the British Isles. This year, I decided to jump to the other side of the globe, so that children who participate over multiple years are not limited to the West. I chose China (along with Mongolia and Taiwan), partly because of its rich, deep culture, but also because I think it's important for us to understand the country that is becoming our biggest competitor in the world.
As I began putting away the summer books, while leaving out the ones I wanted to write about, I realized there were so many of the latter that I decided to do two columns on books about or set in China. In this first column, I'll talk mainly about the non-fiction books.
Culture & History
A nice introductory picture book on modern China is Count Your Way Through China by Jim Haskins. Each spread has a full-page picture and some surprisingly good information for a picture book. D Is for Doufu: An Alphabet Book of Chinese Culture by Maywan Shen Krach is helpful in beginning to understand the language. This book especially highlights the culture and values of the Chinese people. It is not a "little kids'" alphabet book, but contains a lot of information. Another book that goes more into history is Through Time: Beijing by Richard Platt. Amazing illustrations and thoughtful text take you through the evolution of the city, from its beginnings as an Iron Age village to today's industrial giant, where the famous Forbidden City of the Ming dynasty is now a museum.
Marco Polo is someone children should know about. This thirteenth-century Venetian's travels from Italy to China changed the world, bringing many new inventions to Europe and helping to create the Silk Road (something people should understand, since China is now developing a new "Road" to expand its sphere of influence). There are many biographies of Marco Polo. Charles Graves has one in the Junior World Explorers series for the middle reading level, and Fiona MacDonald has one in her Expeditions series, which is lavishly illustrated. Russell Freedman has done a nice job with The Adventures of Marco Polo, whose illustrations include reproductions of medieval illuminated manuscripts.
For the Silk Road itself, a fairly easy resource is The Silk Route: 7,000 Miles of History by John S. Major. Each page is a "stop" on the route. For a more substantial treatment, find The Silk Road by Kathy Ceceri. It is crammed with information and projects.
Chinese Greats & Missionaries
Demi has written a number of books about famous people of China, all of which feature her trademark jewel-like illustrations. Genghis Khan tells of the head of a small Mongolian tribe who, by the time he died in 1227, had become ruler over much of the known world. In Su Dongpo: Chinese Genius, Demi writes about a leading scholar and statesman who had a love for nature that he expressed in poetry. The Great Voyages of Zheng He tells of the building of a great fleet of treasure ships that sailed out from China in the 1400s, bringing back many new things.
Among other Chinese greats various authors have covered, Confucius is definitely someone to know about. Russell Freedman in Confucius: The Golden Rule presents a good biography of the great ancient philosopher who believed in truth-telling, and whose many wise sayings still resound.
It is also worth reading about the many Christian missionaries who went to China. The story of Lottie Moon is told in a picture-book by Renee Taft Meloche and in a book for better readers titled Her Own Way by Helen A. Monsell. Lottie is a heroic character, who went from wealth in the American South to live among the poor in China. Meloche has also done a picture book on Eric Liddell, the famous Scottish runner and gold-medal-winning Olympian who left his fame behind to become a missionary in China. Gladys Aylward by Sam Wellman tells of a determined woman who made a perilous trip from England to China in the 1930s and "lived an adventure for Jesus Christ." Gloria Repp's Nothing Daunted tells the story of Canadian missionary Isobel Kuhn, who worked with the Lisu tribe in the mountains of China for many years. Jonathan Goforth by Janet and Geoff Benge tells of another Canadian missionary who, with his wife, reached thousands of Chinese for Christ while suffering many perils, including during the Boxer Rebellion.
Kathie Johnson has always had a love for children's books. She collected many as a teacher and began sharing them with other teachers. In 1986, she opened a children's library in her home, and it has continued to expand over the years. Many home-schooled and schooled children borrow books from it, and she takes great pleasure in finding the "right" book for a child. She attends First Presbyterian Church in Berkeley.
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