Review: Little White Duck, a childhood in China by Na Liu & Andres Vera Martinez

Little White Duck: A Childhood in China 
Author: Na Liu
Illustrator: Andres Vera Martinez
Release date: October 1, 2012
Published by: Graphic Universe
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

After Chairman Mao passes away in the 1970's things begin to change, but two little girls also begin to see the things around them that they have to be thankful for that have helped make their family what it is today because of Mao in this reflective and insightful graphic novel set through the eyes of a young child's eyes in China...

My thoughts: As someone who can honestly say they don't know a whole lot about Chinese history, I really did learn something from this little graphic novel! Plus, it's a beautiful book! Wow! No wonder this illustrator has won awards before!

Also, at the Annual WEMTA (Wisconsin Education Media and Technology Association) Conference this past week, the CCBC (Children's Cooperative Book Center) announced their "2013 Choices" and Little White Duck is on the list in the "Historical People, Places & Events" section! Plus, it's already a Junior Library Guild Selection which is why it landed on my desk at school/work and thus came home with me this weekend! :)

I originally brought this home because for some reason, someone at JLG decided to catalog it as a Fiction book which I thought felt wrong just reading the flap on the book. It is by the way! I wanted to be sure about changing the cataloging before just doing it (Dr. Zarinnia would be SO PROUD), so I brought it home for a quick read this weekend and am glad I did. Not only was it a great little read about both her parents' lives growing up under Mao's rule, but also about her self-discovery of their lives, their struggles, their gains and who they really were because of it all through the eyes of her young self.

Now I just need to figure out if this is going to be cataloged in 921 as a biography OR in 951 for China!? Ugh! Decisions, decisions! They make my head hurt! Anyway...check this one out for sure! It was a fab little quick read about a very interesting time in China I didn't know much about at all.

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