China

A True Book

by Mel Friedman

Examines the country of China, including its history, geography, government, people, arts, language, festivals, and recreation.

48 pages, Library Binding

First published January 1, 2008

Reviews

[Mary Nguyen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think that this book is a wonderful non-fiction book from a great series, the True Books series. It does a great job explaining Chinese culture simply and has great photos to go with it. Something that bothered me a little bit was that this book left out some little details that felt pretty key to me. The biggest thing was when the book was giving a brief summary of China's history, it said, "In 1989, in Beijing, thousands of students and other protesters gathered peacefully. They wanted more freedom. Soldiers fired into the crowd. Hundreds of protesters were killed." I wish the book had said this protest was in Tiananmen Square. In another section on music and drama, the book highlighted the erhu, without calling it that. It's fair that Chinese violin is what this instrument has come to be called, but completely neglecting what it's called in Chinese felt wrong to me. The same goes for other items in the book such as red envelopes, opera, and calligraphy. I don't see why this book couldn't have included Chinese words for objects things that are from China, especially when it included a glossary of important words at the end. I think this book was still very informative, including a page with true statistics, and will still be a valuable resource for elementary students reading this. It would be nice for Chinese-American students learning about China to include words that they might hear in their homes.

[Melissa Dwyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Series Approved