Carol Crane (1933–2018)

Children's books with doggerel verse were supposed to appeal to kids in the 20th century. I didn't really see the appeal myself, even as a 4 year old in 1960, and surely its time has past. But the author and publisher of this book didn't get the memo. Books in verse can be fun if the metre is catchy and the rhyme is well done. This one makes me think about why they talk about "feet" in poetry -- the verse in this book limps and stumbles. D is for Dancing Dragon is part of a huge series show more encompassing every state in the USA, plus more. If they're all like this, I'm so relieved that I didn't pay full-price-pllus-mailing for the books of the states I'm interested in. I found this one at a thrift store and I feel I may have overpaid for it.

I'm also sort of furious with the author/editor/publisher because wouldn't you think they could spell a simple word, that they were using to represent a letter of the alphabet, right? E is not, never has been, and never will be for Ehru. The instrument in the picture is an Erhu. It's not like anyone asked them to spell it in Chinese, 二胡. They just had to get the English right. You had one job, guys.

This is the first time I've ever gone after a book with a sharpie for post-publication editing.

In all fairness, there is a lot of stuff in the book that is not wrong. I might use it to look at the pictures with my grandchildren, as long as nobody asks me to read the "poetry" aloud. show less

I found this book to be very informative yet fun at the same time. What makes this book enjoyable is that it doubles its use of language as an information book as well as a poetry book, which fulfills its main idea to entertain and yet inform the reader about Chinese Culture. To do so, each section starts off with a poem such as “ “D is for the Dragon Dance a lively, festive exhibition, the fierce dragon leading the parade is a Chinese New Year tradition.” While this gives us a tiny show more bit of information, we can then look along the sides of the paper to see a more in depth history of this Chinese tradition. This variety in information text makes the book much more interesting to read, including something from Chinese culture for every letter from A to Z.
The other thing I really like is the poetry itself. Each poem has a rhythmic flow that is maintained throughout each poem, such as “J is for Jasmine the aroma is so sweet one of the beautiful flowers we see on market streets.” These poems help visualize what the author wants us to see which is then supported by the illustrations we see on the page. show less

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 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 show more 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. show less

In my opinion, this book had a very interesting and new layout that I have never seen before for an informational book. I really enjoyed this book because of it's very clear organization. The book laid out the alphabet, with each letter describing something that begins with that letter that is part of the Chinese culture. For example, the page for letter C was all about Chopstix and facts about where and when they originated and so on. The illustrations helped make clear exactly what was show more being written about on each page. I also enjoyed how engaging the book was for the reader. For example, the last letter of the alphabet gave information about Zodiac signs. Besides just explaining the history of Zodiac signs, it listed each sign and asked the reader to find which year they are. I am the year of the Tiger. This book was clear, organized, and fun to read. show less