D is for Dancing Dragon: A China Alphabet (Discover the World)

I liked this book because readers learned about the Chinese culture. The first reason why I liked the book was because of the writing. Throughout the book there were lively verses that rhymed. For example, “Performing with beauty and grace…as they land in a very small place. I felt like the

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author’s usage of writing was very engaging and enhanced the story through the decision to include lively, rhyming verses. The second reason I liked the story was because it was an alphabet book that taught readers about Chinese traditions. For example, A is for Chinese Acrobats. There was background information on the side of the page about the history of Chinese Acrobats. Throughout the book, for each letter, background information was included. I felt like including background information, also truly enhanced the story because the reader learned additional information about the Chinese culture. The main message of the book was teaching the reader about Chinese culture and traditions.

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There are many reasons I liked this book. First, this book was organized alphabetically with each letter corresponding to a different part of Chinese culture. For example ‘G’ was information on the Great Wall of China. This book was a source of fascinating cultural information. Everything

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listed had a connection to the culture or it dealt with the geological importance of an area. For example ‘B’ for Beijing, which talked about how this city was important to China. Another reason I liked this book was for the illustrations. They really captured what the author was discussing. When the author was on ‘D’ for dragons, the picture of the dragon on the page really helped emphasize the meaning of the dragon in Chinese culture. The last reason I liked this book was for the option of reading the simple facts stated at the top of the page that corresponded with the letters or the in depth descriptions off to the side of the page. An example of this would be again for ‘B’. If I only read the short text at the top it would be: Beijing is the capital of China. If I wanted more information on the topic I could look to the side and see many interesting facts on Beijing.
I think the big idea of this book is to inform the reader of Chinese culture through different places, artifacts, and customs.

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D is for Dancing Dragon is a short picture book that teaches the alphabet through Chinese culture. I enjoyed this book due to its teaching techniques and its colorful illustrations. The book goes through the entire Latin alphabet using comparisons to the Chinese culture. For example, one page

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reads, “F is for the Four Treasures of Study; brush, ink stick, paper, and ink stone.” The books’ illustrations are also very colorful. Each page contains breathtaking Chinese style paintings depicting the culture. The main idea of this book is to teach the alphabet.

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I liked that this book was a mix of the alphabet and poetry, and that it encompassed a lot of main ideas and customs of the Chinese culture by using each letter in the alphabet (one letter per page.) I noticed that the margins on the sides of the pages contained more in depth information about all

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of the things described on each page for individual letters. An example of this was “C is for chopsticks, an ancient eating skill,” and then the margins explained how their use came about over a 5,000 year time period, and included which foods they were used for eating. I thought this was an interesting concept because while a young child was reading the short poetry for each letter in the alphabet, a parent could read the margins for more detail, and simplify the material and then share it with their child. This makes for a good discussion too as well as a more advanced history lesson paired with the child-friendly poetry in the book.
I also loved how beautiful and life-like the illustrations were, and how they demonstrated things like ancient inventions and their use. The words on the pictures have a poetry/sing-song aspect, which I think allows the book to be entertaining and interesting for a child, while still an educational read.
The main idea of this book was to educate children on the Chinese culture, while providing pictures and poetry to keep them engaged. I think that this book did a very good job of providing specific examples of things like customs, language, people, places, things, animals, and history for children to learn on a simple level, and then with an adults help, dig deeper into the information presented within the margins.

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