Abstract
This chapter is a critical overview of notable picture books that portray China, Chinese, and Chinese culture. Following up Mingshui Cai’s 1994 study, “Images of Chinese and Chinese Americans Mirrored in Picture Books,” this project examined 46 titles of award-winning picture book stories published from 1993 through 2009, tracing changes, progresses, and persistent flaws in how the culture and experience of ethnic Chinese had been portrayed in publications for American young readers. It analyzed the diversity of genres and subject matter in these books, and evaluated the accuracy of cultural representation in textual and visual contents, with attention paid to the relationship between cultural authenticity and authors’ cultural backgrounds. The project highlighted high-quality titles considered satisfactory sources for learning about Chinese culture, and made suggestions to publishers on ways to raise the standards of multicultural youth literature.
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Notes
- 1.
We consider “multicultural youth literature” a term more precise than “multicultural children’s literature” to refer to children’s and young adult literature, although the latter is often found in scholarly writing to be inclusive of trade books published for both age groups.
- 2.
One picture book, The Master Swordsman and the Magic Doorway by Alice Provensen (2001) contains two different stories and is coded as two titles; otherwise the total number of books is 45.
- 3.
Chua, a Yale Law School professor, published a controversial memoir, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, in 2011.
- 4.
Although small in proportion, the total population of officially recognized minority groups in the People’s Republic of China is 113.8 million according to the 2010 census data (National Bureau of Statistics of China, 2011). This is a size significantly larger than the non-white population in the U.S. (85.2 millions in 2010).
- 5.
The title is actually taken from books featuring “Chinese Diasporas,” because the central figure is a Chinese American.
- 6.
Qilin does not have a strict uniform look across textual descriptions, visual representations, and sculptures in Chinese culture. Despite the flexibility of its shape in folk imagination, the mythical animal is often depicted with the horn(s) of a deer and a scaled body, and is unlikely to be confused with a white horned horse.
- 7.
Traditional Chinese character 國 (kingdom, nation) is commonly seen as being composed of two parts, meaning weapons for defense and territorial boundaries respectively. In his book Young supplied a less belligerent explanation of the meaning of “nation” based on 囯, a younger, variant form composed of “jade” and “boundaries.”
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Picture Books Examined
Berger, B. (2002). All the way to Lhasa: A tale from Tibet. New York: Philomel Books.
Bouchard, D., & Huang, Z. (illus.) (1999). The dragon new year: A Chinese legend. Atlanta, GA: Peachtree.
Brown, D. (2002). Far beyond the garden gate: Alexandra David-Neel’s journey to Lhasa. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Carling, A. L. (1998). Mama and papa have a store. New York: Dial Books for Young Readers.
Casanova, M., & Young, E. (illus.) (2000). The hunter: A Chinese folktale. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers.
Chen, K., Chen, J. J. (illus.), & James, J. A. (trans.) (2000). Lord of the cranes: A Chinese tale. New York: North–South Books.
Cheng, A., & Young, E. (illus.) (2005). Shanghai messenger. New York: Lee & Low Books.
Davol, M. W., & Sabuda, R. (illus.) (1997). The paper dragon. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers.
Demi. (2006). Su Dongpo: Chinese genius. New York: Lee & Low Books.
Freedman, R., & Clément, F. (illus.) (2002). Confucius: The golden rule. New York: Arthur A. Levine Books.
Hall, B. E., & Low, W. (illus.) (2004). Henry and the kite dragon. New York: Philomel Books.
Ho, M., Tseng, J. (illus.), & Tseng, M. (illus.) (1996). Maples in the mist: Children’s poems from the Tang dynasty. New York: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard.
Jango-Cohen, J., & Chin, J. (illus.) (2005). Chinese New Year. Minneapolis, MN: Carolrhoda Books.
Knox, B. (2006). Forbidden City: China’s imperial palace. New York: Bearport.
Lawson, J., & Morin, P. (illus.) (1993). The dragon’s pearl. New York: Clarion Books.
Lee, M., & Choi, Y. (illus.) (1997). Nim and the war effort. New York: Frances Foster Books/Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Lee, M., & Choi, Y. (illus.) (2006). Landed. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux.
Lewin, T. (2002). Big Jimmy’s Kum Kau Chinese take out. New York: HarperCollins.
Li, C., & Spudvilas, A. (illus.) (2008; 2007). Dancing to freedom: The true story of Mao’s last dancer. New York: Walker & Co.: Distributed to the trade by Macmillan.
Lo, G., & Lo, B. (illus.) (2005). Mahjong all day long. New York: Walker & Co.
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Look, L., & Heo, Y. (illus.) (2006). Uncle peter’s amazing Chinese wedding. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers.
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Smith, I., & Roski, G. G. (illus.) (2008). Mei Ling in China city. Manhattan Beach, CA: East West Discovery Press.
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Williams, A., & Smith, S. J. (illus.) (1996). Dragon soup. Tiburon, CA: H.J. Kramer.
Wong, J. S., & Chodos-Irvine, M. (illus.) (2002). Apple pie 4th of July. San Diego, CA: Harcourt.
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Yin, & Soentpiet, C. K. (illus.) (2001). Coolies. New York: Philomel Books.
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Acknowledgment
Betsy Hearne, Professor Emeritus of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign graciously read the first draft of this essay and provided much-needed criticism and exhortation.
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Chen, M., Wang, Q. (2014). China and Chinese as Mirrored in Multicultural Youth Literature: A Study of Award-Winning Picture Books from 1993 to 2009. In: Chen, X., Wang, Q., Luo, Y. (eds) Reading Development and Difficulties in Monolingual and Bilingual Chinese Children. Literacy Studies, vol 8. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7380-6_12
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