Look! What Do You See?: An Art Puzzle Book of American and Chinese Songs
By:
Illustrator: Becca Stadtlander
A puzzle, a work of art, and a collection of classic American and Chinese songs, fill this innovative book by one of the world’s foremost contemporary artists.
ISBN: 9780451473776
JLG Release: Feb 2018
Sensitive Areas:
None
Awards & Honors
CCBC Choices 2018 Choice: The Arts
Praise & Reviews
Starred or favorable reviews have been received from these periodicals:
Booklist, Kirkus Reviews*, Publishers Weekly*, School Library Journal
School Library Journal
In 1994, Bing invented Square Word Calligraphy, a “secret code” that looks a lot like Chinese calligraphy. This volume presents the lyrics to 17 songs in that code, accompanied by Stadtlander’s beautiful watercolor illustrations. The first dozen are common U.S. folk songs (including “Camptown Ladies,” “Yankee Doo In 1994, Bing invented Square Word Calligraphy, a “secret code” that looks a lot like Chinese calligraphy. This volume presents the lyrics to 17 songs in that code, accompanied by Stadtlander’s beautiful watercolor illustrations. The first dozen are common U.S. folk songs (including “Camptown Ladies,” “Yankee Doodle Came to Town,” and “Skip to My Lou”) and the final five are common Chinese folk songs (including “Tiger Learns to Climb” and “The Snail and the Yellow Birds”). Readers are encouraged to look closely to decipher the text. Starting with the songs they know, students can then crack the ingenious code to read the lyrics to the songs they don’t. The back matter contains instructions on writing Square Word Calligraphy as well as all the lyrics to the songs, in case there was a word readers were unable to decipher. While the method of guessing the song based on the picture and then working backward to crack the code is a fun twist, it also makes the book harder to categorize in a library collection, and students may skip over it. The visual look of the code (which is in English, written with stylized letters arranged in a square in a manner that visually borrows heavily from traditional Chinese calligraphy) is significantly different enough from most other English-based codes that cypher fans should be very intrigued and eager to try it for themselves. VERDICT A fun coded puzzle for readers to spend time analyzing, but it may need some handselling for kids to pick up.—Jennifer Rothschild, Arlington County Public Libraries, VA
Book Details
ISBN
9780451473776
First Release
February 2018
Genre
Nonfic
Dewey Classification
793.73
Trim Size
9 1/2" x 11 1/2"
Page Count
48
Accelerated Reader
N/AScholastic Reading Counts
N/ALexile
N/AFormat
Print Book
Edition
Hardcover edition
Publisher
Viking
Potentially Sensitive Areas
None
