SATA
ENTRY TYPE:
WORK TITLE: Powerful Like a Dragon
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: https://chrischeng.com/index.php
CITY: Sydney
STATE:
COUNTRY: Australia
NATIONALITY:
LAST VOLUME: SATA 381
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born May 10, 1959, in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; son of Winston and Margaret Cheng; married Bini Szacvag, 2001.
EDUCATION:Kuring-Gai CAE, diploma of teaching, 1980; Macquarie University, M.A. (children’s literature), 2006.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Educator, author, and illustrator. Taronga Zoo, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, public relations assistant, 1981-84, and education officer at zoo education centre, 1987-93; relief/substitute teacher, 1981-84; infants/primary teacher at Bourke Public School, Bourke, New South Wales, 1984-86, North Sydney Demonstration School, 1987, and Dulwich Hill Public School, Sydney, 1994; freelance writer, beginning 1990; Dymocks Booksellers, Sydney, national children’s development manager, 1994-98; PaddleDuck Learning, Sydney, creative director, 2011-12; Sparklight (digital publisher), director, 2012—. Purdue University, author-education consultant, 1998-2003. Author-in-residence at public schools; presenter at schools, conferences, and reading festivals; guest on radio and television programs. National Literacy and Numeracy Week ambassador, 2004-08; National Year of Reading ambassador, 2012; Australia Day ambassador, 2014, 2016; role model for Books in Homes (literacy programme); Asian Festival of Children’s Content, member of advisory board, beginning 2010.
AVOCATIONS:Children’s books.
MEMBER:Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (co-regional advisor for Australia and New Zealand, 2004-12; co-chair of international advisory board, 2011—booth coordinator at Bologna Book Fair), Australian Society of Authors, Children’s Book Council of Australia (New South Wales branch; committee member, 1996-98), Australian Copyright Council.
AWARDS:Environment Award for Children’s Literature shortlist, Wilderness Society, 1994, for The Eyespy Book of Rainforest Animals; Notable Book designation, Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA), Environment Award for Children’s Literature, and KOALA Award shortlist, all 1998, all for One Child; Environment Award for Children’s Literature shortlist, 1999, for Rainforests; Lady Cutler Award, CBCA New South Wales Branch, 2009, for services to children’s literature; named Member of the Year, Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (Australia and New Zealand chapter), 2010; Aurealis Award, 2012, for Sounds Spooky; CBCA Eve Pownall Award shortlist, 2013, and Best Children’s Books selection, Bank Street College of Education, 2014, both for Python.
RELIGION: Anglican.WRITINGS
Author of libretto for children’s musical Pa’s Christmas Star. Consultant for e-journal First Opinions, Second Reaction. Contributor to educational series, including “Insight” and “Is It Alive?” Contributor of articles and reviews to periodicals, including Classroom and Journal of the International Association of Zoo Educators; contributor of short fiction to Coolstop, Hathorn Enterprises, 2003.
Zoo You Later! was adapted for e-book as Zoo You Later—Monkey Business, Kiwa Digital Limited, 2014.
SIDELIGHTS
Australian children’s author Christopher Cheng shares his love of nature in books that include One Child, Zoo You Later! True Stories of Animal Escapes, and Python. A versatile writer, Cheng has also produced the historical novel New Gold Mountain: The Diary of Shu Cheong, Lambing Flat, New South Wales, 1860-1861, the ghostly tale Sounds Spooky, and Australia’s Greatest Inventions and Innovations, a nonfiction work coauthored with Linsay Knight.
Named a Wilderness Society Environment Picture Book of the Year, One Child focuses on a girl who tries to do her small part to make the world a better place. In his optimistic text, Cheng illustrates how each person can make a positive contribution to earth’s environment. Cheng’s story “was based on many kids I taught,” as he once told SATA, “kids who were so cheesed off at hearing that the world was in a mess, who also felt that adults were more talk than action. It was the kids who said ‘We can make a difference’—and they actually did something about it. It’s a pity that it is the kids who show us the way. One Child is a celebration of our kids, of kids together, and our magical world.”
Cheng once operated a Sydney-based Zoomobile that brought animals from local zoos to school groups throughout his native New South Wales. He also brings children and animals together in such animal-themed works as The Eyespy Book of Rainforest Animals and Python. Illustrated by Mark Jackson, Python enables the child-reptile introduction as readers watch a female Australian diamond python sheds her skin, lay eggs, warm herself in the sun, coils around tree branches, and stalk and captures her prey. An “attractive and readable book,” Python “is an excellent introduction to informational literature and to a fascinating creature,” remarked School Library Journal reviewer Susan Scheps.
The humorous as well as hair-raising challenges faced by zookeepers are the focus of Cheng’s book Zoo You Later! Here readers learn the true story of Erwin, a Capuchin monkey that wreaked havoc in a quiet neighborhood after escaping his zoo through an open door. Also featured are an orangutan that exited its zoo enclosure by climbing over a wire fence incorporating a mild electrical current and a python smuggled out of its zoo with help from a human accomplice. In Thirty Amazing Australian Animals, Cheng introduces youngsters to native creatures both familiar—such as the koala and the kangaroo—and unusual, such as the bilby (a long-eared marsupial), the dugong (a marine mammal much like a manatee), and the goanna (a monitor lizard).
Reflecting Cheng’s interest in his Chinese ancestry, his historical novel New Gold Mountain describes life on an Australian goldfield in the mid-1800s. Framed as the diary of twelve-year-old Shu Cheong, the work explores the tensions existing between white miners and the Chinese immigrants who were brought to the region as cheap labor. “Shu Cheong’s tale is one of alienation, longing and anger at the inhumane and humiliating punishment meted out” to Chinese workers, Annette Dale Meiklejohn commented in Magpies. Another historical novel, The Melting Pot: The Diary of Edward Chek Chee, Sydney, 1903-1904 , shows the effects of Australian’s notorious Immigration Restriction Act (known as the White Australia Policy) through Cheng’s story of a mixed-race boy, the son of a Chinese father and Australian mother.
Featuring plaster-and-cardboard artwork by Sarah Davis, Sounds Spooky finds three children exploring a creepy, dilapidated mansion, in the process frightening the building’s young and ghostly resident. In Magpies, Kevin Steinberger wrote that the author employs “language to superb effect,” using “creepy sounds … to evoke fear, [and] to create tension and anticipation.”
In 2021, Cheng released Wombat in collaboration with illustrator Liz Duthie. The book offers a look into the world of the wombat, a short-legged brown marsupial. Cheng educates readers about the wombat’s habits, physical features, diet, and behaviors. The book goes into detail outlining the more notable attributes of the wombat. Their teeth, for example, are reminiscent of those of a common rodent. The wombat is nocturnal and relies on a steady diet of grasses, roots, and shrubs cut apart with their pronounced front teeth. These animals live in burrows in the ground that can be several meters deep and spread out as much as thirty meters. Cheng and Duthie take readers on a fully realized exploration of the life of wombats. “Cheng’s careful yet playful word choices and Duthie’s expert penciled lines and brush strokes will draw in art appreciators, educators, caregivers, and the children they serve,” wrote a contributor to Kirkus Reviews. Nancy Call, writing in School Library Journal, claimed that “the art is charming and the text well written.” In an interview on the Booktopia website, Cheng declared, “Hopefully the books I write will not only introduce readers to the animals, making them go wow, but it will always spark an awareness of the natural environment. Hopefully too it will encourage readers to help take care of the natural environment.”
“I believe I have many stories to tell,” Cheng once told SATA. “And I love writing. I love to sit down and write to see the words flow onto the computer screen, words that were just scribbled notes in my Ideas Book that I carry with me just about everywhere. … I’ve even scribbled ideas on a paper tablecloth that I tore when I left the restaurant so that I could take my writings with me. And maybe those words matched with luscious pictures from a superbly talented illustrator will create a picture book—that’s just magical.
“I love the kids I write for. I love their honesty, their openness, and their ‘realness’. They tell me if the story sucks, but they also tell me if the child in my story is them. I love sitting on the floor with a bunch of kids, listening to their stories and they in turn listening to me—and children today need and want to be listened to. Nothing is better than the adulation, the adoration, and the love that you receive from kids; for the highest of highs, that’s it. I write for the children in me, for the child in you, and the children all around us.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, February 15, 2013, Carolyn Phelan, review of Python, p. 64.
Kirkus Reviews, January 1, 2013, review of Python; August 1, 2021, review of Wombat.
Magpies, November, 2000, review of Zoo You Later!, p. 45; September, 2005, Annette Dale Meiklejohn, review of New Gold Mountain: The Diary of Shu Cheong, Lambing Flat, New South Wales, 1860-1861, p. 33; November, 2011, Kevin Steinberger, review of Sounds Spooky.
School Library Journal, August, 2000, Kathy Piehl, review of One Child, p. 146; April, 2013, Susan Scheps, review of Python, p. 148; July, 2021, Nancy Call, review of Wombat, p. 78.
Sunday Age (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia), September 20, 2009, Tim Pegler, review of Sixty Classic Australian Poems, p. M21.
ONLINE
Booktopia, https://www.booktopia.com.au/ (June 10, 2021), author interview.
Christopher Cheng website, http://www.chrischeng.com (February 9, 2022).
Cynsations, http://cynthialeitichsmith.blogspot.com/ (March 23, 2012), Resham Premchand, author interview.*
Christopher Cheng is the award-winning author of many children’s books in print and digital formats. His picture book, Bear and Rat (published in many countries), is an uplifting story about love and friendship through the hardest of times and was written for his beloved wife.
Christopher is co-chair of the International Advisory Board for the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI), and an International Advisory Board Member for the Asian Festival of Children’s Content (AFCC). He is a recipient of the Lady Cutler Award for Children’s Literature.
He is an Ambassador for the National Centre for Australian Children’s Literature and presents in schools, conferences, and festivals around the world.
A Pocket Cheng History
(...or sometimes it's Christopher, or Mr Cheng, but I really like Chris).
I am a husband, a writer, a teacher, an uncle, a godfather, a brother, a friend and even a pal!!
I didn’t start out being a writer. In fact all I ever wanted to do was be a primary school teacher. Today all I ever want to do is to write. I know my best book is yet to come.
I grew up with my family in a large federation house in Sydney. Primary school was fun (I still know some of my magical primary school teachers), high school was okay and eventually I snuck into University – what a blast - to get my teaching qualifications and eventually my Masters of Arts in Children’s Literature. Not many males trained to be teachers at my university!
At the Zoo
When I graduated I didn’t get my own class straight away so I taught in a few city schools and for a year at Taronga Zoo, but soon the telegram (important messages that were sent for fast delivery … before we had personal computers!) came and I had to leave the city and head for Bourke where I stayed for nearly three years … but not all the time. Every month I would come home to get a dose of city life! My next job at North Sydney Demonstration School was short lived because I received a phone call from the Taronga Zoo asking me to come and set up a new program – the Zoomobile, a travelling zoo, the first in Australia and there I stayed with Corky, Ding and Monty and a few other odd companions for nearly 8 years.
This was my favourite school. I taught at the Education Centre - when I wasn't zooming around in the Zoomobile. It was a great time at the zoo meeting lots of celebrities (most people want to visit Taronga zoo when they come to Sydney - even pop stars), and working with the keepers and the other animals there but the best part was teaching children. I taught thousands of children in my years at Taronga Zoo. I sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to monkeys and I even drove Santa into the Christmas Carols at the Zoo. At the zoo there was also lots of television work to do. I would pop up on many different television shows and usually with an animal or three. It was here where I also wrote my first published book, Night Creatures. And this is when I realised writing was fun!
With Zoomobiling over I returned to the classroom at Dulwich Hill Public School (with my beautiful kindergarten class) for a few terms before leaving the classroom.
After teaching I spent my daytime hours for the next four years working as the National Children's Development Manager for one of the big Australian booksellers. I travelled around Australia as the children's book specialist helping people find out how cool Aussie kids books are and organizing kids events. I met other magical children's authors and illustrators while more and more of my nights were spent writing my books. And this was when I bought my house, a little yellow single storey terrace in Sydney … for me and all my books!
At Purdue
But before becoming a full time writer I spent a number of years working in the United States of America.
One of my great mates who I have known for over 30 years is a professor at Purdue University (www.purdue.edu), Indiana in the USA. For 5 years I spent around 6 months each year working for him in his science laboratory. He is Professor of Cytomics, Professor of Immunopharmacology & Biomedical Engineering, Director of the Purdue University Cytometry Laboratories and President of the International Society for Analytical Cytology … which simply means he loves science. His laboratory studies tissue injuries and wound healing and the effect of toxic chemicals on immune function. He has some really amazing microscopes that can see the tiniest of things, even the cells in the blood that throbs through our bodies, and he also specializes on blood research.
But I wasn’t a scientist in his laboratory although I did get to do some really cool experiments and use his amazing microscopes. I was the Education Advisor for a series of science based CD-ROMs all to do with cells and cell biology – the BioScope Initiative (www.bioscope.org).
I learnt so much working with my friend. Did you know that …
a human red blood cell is only 5 microns long and has a half life of 70 days?
neutrophils – the cells that destroy bugs – live only 7 hours on the circulation and are replaced daily?
you donate 5,000,000,000 neutrophils in every litre of blood?
The normal number of CD4 T cells in human blood is 500–1500 per microlitre. In AIDS, the number of CD4 cells is really vital for survival. When you get below 400 CD4 cells per microlitre you must go on antiretroviral therapy.
Click here to find out more about my wonderful friend and his lab: cyto.purdue.edu
He has also established Cytometry for Life, a foundation for intervening in the AIDS epidemic in Africa.
While I was working at Purdue University I also was privileged enough to be asked to lecture a few times to the undergraduate students … not on science but on Australian kids books (and the life of an author) for my friend Professor Jill May – at 7.30 in the morning (at least the students didn’t fall asleep).
A writer’s life is a solitary one stuck at the computer or with paper and pencil trying to come up with ideas to write about … not!
My previous jobs were fun (except maybe for staff meetings, writing reports, wet weather duty and wearing suits) but nothing beats what I get to do now in this writing life. This is the BEST job in the world. I get to stay home and work in my study, surrounded with books, tapping away at my computer. I wear whatever clothes I like. I don’t have to dress up in suits or teach. I get to prepare my lunch right before I eat it and have coffee or tea whenever I like. And no one tells me what to do! I visit friends when I like and I get to travel to schools to meet people who love kids books nearly as much as I do!
Sure there are many times spent with fingers attacking the keyboard, but there are lots of times spent chatting with other authors and illustrators. I might also be researching the next book and if it is historical fiction I could be buried in boxes and boxes of musty papers, scribbling notes and learning stacks.
Now I get to write picture books, historical novels and information books … and have fun doing it all. The thrill of opening a package that contains my new book is exquisite … I often ask myself “did I really write that?” because I am often well into the development of the next book when my published book first arrives.
Do you ever put people you know in your stories?
Sometimes I certainly do. Most of my fiction characters are based on people I know – not just one person but bits and pieces from a few people.
How do you choose the names for your books / characters?
I have a book of names that I sometimes use but as I create a character in my head I also create their name based often on what that character is doing … so that is an Ashley character or she acts like a Sarah …
How do you come up with your ideas?
Sometimes I am given the idea by the publisher... [remaining content trimmed for brevity]
The not so serious:
Are you rich?
Do you have any pets?
Do you like going to school?
Do you remember your teachers?
How old are you?
How would you spend your last ten dollars?
What else do you do besides writing?
What rituals are part of your writing program?
What are the most memorable things that have happened to you as an author?
What were you like growing up?
Where and when were you born?
Will you ever change your job?
...and the simply crazy:
Will you ever cut your hair?
What’s the oldest animal that has ever lived?
Christopher Cheng & Dragon Folding
Posted on October 31, 2024 by joylawn
Christopher Cheng: a career in books
featuring Dragon Folding
Author Interview at PaperbarkWords
“And this time, when Mr Singer’s fingers fumbled, the young boy helped. Very soon a flight of dragons had arrived.’ (Dragon Folding)
Dragon Folding is Christopher Cheng’s most recent picture book (2024), illustrated by Lucia Masciullo & published by Puffin.
******
Thank you for speaking to ‘Joy in Books’ at PaperbarkWords, Christopher.
This interview forms a companion piece to our interview in Magpies magazine (November 2024).
Career & Books
You’ve had a long-running and celebrated career as a children’s book author.
What sparked your writing career and how has it developed over time?
I always thought when I was first published that I would write a few non-fiction titles, shout “Wow. I wrote that!” and then continue teaching. But the few became many across genres. And then I fell into what really absorbs me and gives me the greatest thrill – writing picture books – and that is because I am able to see another creative work in something I am absolutely USELESS at doing—creating stunning art. I failed art in kindergarten and my teacher knows it (sorry Mrs. Kane). It is the most amazing experience to see another person’s interpretation of my few hundred words. Each new book will be accompanied with an exclamation along the lines of oh.my.gosh-how.did.they.do.that!
But what sparked my writing? Quite probably way back in 3rd and 5th grade when my teacher, at least weekly regaled us with his rather imaginative stories on the exploits of Mr. Bradburn and Dr Waddington. I still know that teacher and we still laugh over that each time. I think he is flabergastulated (yes mine!) too.
How have you been mentored along the way?
I’ve never been one to talk about what I’m writing now but most definitely for me it’s more immersion with other creatives and libraries … an advantage when you were a primary school teacher and especially when your wife is a teacher librarian, and also an advantage when you were a bookseller. Some of our closest friends are other creatives, I’m very blessed like that, and they have also been so generous with their suggestions and thoughts and ideas and TIME – but most of all their friendship. Being surrounded by creatives you naturally absorb some of their knowledge.
Even today I often don’t talk about what I am writing now, or what I plan to create next … until I have finished the now and the next. Possibly because the final writing I might not want to share with anyone. Some writings are just for me (and my wife).
How do you mentor or ‘give back’ now?
I am an ambassador for the National Centre for Australian Children’s Literature … I know, that is a mouthful but NCACL for short. And for folks who have not discovered NCACL.org.au – dig deep. There is so much there in our HOME of Australian kids lit.
I am also on the International Advisory Council for the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI.org – I know another mouthful) headquartered in the USA; advice, programs, initiatives and ideas there are part of what I do; SCBWI’s Bologna showcase for quite a few years promoting kids’ books and especially illustrators; and I created SCBWI’s International Crystal Kite Awards.
And I talk, one to one and at international conferences! I’ve done a deal of that lately to a number of folks, both new and on the journey, needing advice, opinions, suggestions and more. I find talking often provides a more personal expression and sharing of the knowledge than sending lists of things to do, or not to do.
Some of my personal favourites of your picture books are One Child, illustrated by Steven Woolman, published 1999, and One Tree, illustrated by Bruce Whatley(2019). I was chair of the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards judging panel when One Tree was shortlisted in 2020. We thought it excellent, and our report is at the end of this interview.
Please tell us a little about some of your other books.
Bear and Rat, the story I wrote for me initially but especially for my wife (every story I write is for her – she was always my first set of eyes) is the story about us and what we were going through and what might happen. It’s a story of unconditional love and complete devotion.
Dragon Folding is about an old man and a young boy and about the strength of community and the magic that can come from the innocence of a child. It was sparked by my godson and his words to me.
Powerful Like a Dragon – releasing in 2025 the USA, is my family story and especially my then three-year-old uncle, escaping the invading Japanese army in World War 2. It is powerful. It is evocative. It made my cousins and more than a few other family members weep when they were shown page proofs at our very big family reunion.
Quolls, is another Nature Story Book title with the most luscious illustrations by Cindy Lane, and Moon Festival with my Chinese publisher.
And then there is another next title that is about… Well I can’t tell you any more than that right now.
*****
Dragon Folding
Dragon Folding, illustrated by Lucia Masciullo, is one of your standout picture books. It gently tells the tale of Mr Singer and his journey through grief, reconnection with community and slow mending.
You’ve dedicated the book to Evan, also the name of your child protagonist. Who is Evan and why have you dedicated the book to him?
It’s ALL Evan’s fault (I type with a wry grin). One lunchtime when I was tootling to our local cafe for lunch with Evan and his family and when I was going through an extremely rough trough where there seemed to be no silver lining to any of the black clouds that were consuming me, Evan was holding my hand and carrying his Lego model of, yes, a dragon. When he dropped it he asked me to help him put it together again. Of course the clouds didn’t let that happen and so I replied not this time. But Evan persisted (not pestered) through lunch and eventually I succumbed and we re-dragoned his dragon. Some time later when the clouds had lightened I remembered this moment, and I found the idea in my note book and that became Dragon Folding. I still get a smothering hug from Evan and his brothers every time I see them. That’s sooo perfect.
What is the significance of Mr Singer’s name?
Most names in Dragon Folding are for people who have helped me enormously recently. Singer is a name I always wanted to use and originally he was going to be Mr. Evans, a beeutiful elderly neighbour when I was growing up (that’s another story there) but having Evan and Mr. Evans would have been too confusing.
Please tell us more about the dragon tree, an intriguing feature of the book.
I always imagined from the time I was the size of a dragon scale, that there was a tree from which dragons could originate and if you are a dragon lover then you will take hold of anything to do with dragons; plates, embossed pens, ornaments, painted on and shaped vases, paperweights, sculptures, figurines, Lego models, and so much more—even dragon robes (the emperor’s coat with a five clawed dragon). And of course a dragon tree. Dragon Trees (Dracaena draco) are real! And, this is Year of the Dragon! And do examine closely the book as Lucia beautifully and artistically reveals the tree.
Dragon Folding and Bear and Rat belong together.
It would be greatly appreciated if you could choose an illustration from each book that captures the loving connection between your characters. You may wish to explain how or why.
Dragon Folding
The illustration above from Dragon Folding displays community joy, the importance of beeutiful memories and togetherness and the colour palette contrasted with the grey and sadness of the old man being alone, is evocative. So much is relayed in this illustration.
Dragon Folding
While the illustration above shows the light that is once again ignited and is starting to filter through between the old man and his interaction with Evan. It’s a taste of the coming joy.
Bear and Rat
This exquisite art above by Stephen Michael King from Bear and Rat brings tears to so very many eyes whenever it is seen. It is simply a perfect display of the unbreakable loving connection even through the harshest of storms.
Lately most of my books seem to have community empowerment, friendship and caring, and love as a core element so I want to mention these:
One Tree
Above is one of Bruce’s stunning illustrations from One Tree that shows the tenderness and care and it is the essence of what this story is about—that little shoot, missed by every shoe and sandal that has walked by becomes the impetus for a forested apartment block. And then transfer that thought to little people … you don’t know what they might do, so protect them and nurture them and give them protection and be patient with them and watch them blossom.
One Tree
While the illustration above shows the joy of family and friends through generations. Aren’t those smiles just the most heartwarming?
Imagineer
And this image above from Imagineer of Penny tinkering shows the industriousness and the persistence of Penny and her I can do it / creative / scientific attitude.
While Penny and her grandfather working together are wonderfully portrayed in this illustration below – the older and the younger, showing the beeutiful loving relationship – and the mutual respect of the two characters.
Imagineer
*****
Thanks Joy (and PaperBark Words) for the chance to continue words about my books. I will add that without the amazing illustrators who create stunning art to accompany my words, and my wonderful editor and the publishing team, these books would simply be fleeting sparks in my sometimes frazzled brain. And of course, most vitally, my very best friend, my beeutiful wife who enabled me to stay home and write.
Dragon Folding at Puffin
Christopher Cheng’s website
*****
2020 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards Judge Report
Shortlist
One Tree by Christopher Cheng, illustrated by Bruce Whatley
One Tree is a heart-warming story about family, environment, progress and nurture. Grandfather used to live in a farming village, surrounded by nature, next to the tallest tree on the mountain. Now, he lives in a city apartment. But when his grandson finds a small plant nestled between the paving stones of the marketplace in the busy grey city, the old man is nourished and revitalised. His memory comes alive, and with a little love and care that one plant becomes many.
One Tree is a quiet, simple, life-affirming story, yet its message echoes long after the pages are closed. The stunning naturalistic wood-cut illustrations are unusual and ambitious for an Australian children’s picture book and successfully conjure the gentle wisdom of grandfather, and the curiosity and wonder of grandchild. One Tree is a nostalgic, multilayered narrative which highlights the importance of the natural world, and of understanding and honouring our elders and their histories.
Cheng, Christopher POWERFUL LIKE A DRAGON Roaring Brook Press (Children's None) $18.99 4, 15 ISBN: 9781250829399
In a story inspired by the author's family, a young child finds inner strength while fleeing after the sudden outbreak of war.
Hours after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941, the Japanese army attacked British-ruled Hong Kong; following two weeks of fighting, the governor of Hong Kong surrendered to Japan. Many members of Cheng's family decided to leave, led by his grandfather and joined by the laborers his grandfather employed, including one named Ah Meng. Cheng's story focuses on his own uncle Shu Lok, who was just a boy at the time. "Be powerful like a dragon," Shu Lok's father tells him as he and several other children are placed into baskets and carried to safety. Shu Lok will need all his bravery; his parents have chosen to remain behind. Elegant in its simplicity, Cheng's narrative details the experience through the eyes of a vulnerable youngster--the hunger pangs that rack Shu Lok's belly, the bitterly freezing winds. But Ah Meng is there every step of the way, singing to soothe the frightened boy and covering the child with his own shirt on snowy nights. Tam's arresting, fine-lined illustrations evoke traditional Chinese paintings; she slowly introduces rich pops of color into her muted landscapes as Shu Lok remembers his father's words. When at last he sees the dragons, the symbolic manifestations of courage lift him from despair--and, as this tale comes to a satisfying close, empower him to buoy others.
A beautifully rendered journey that offers insight into an often-overlooked chapter of history.(Picture book. 5-9)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2025 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
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"Cheng, Christopher: POWERFUL LIKE A DRAGON." Kirkus Reviews, 1 May 2025. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A837325497/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=79709ba6. Accessed 1 Nov. 2025.
Cheng, Christopher WILL WE ALWAYS HOLD HANDS? Random House Studio (Children's None) $18.99 11, 1 ISBN: 978-0-593-56450-9
A bespectacled rat asks a panda for reassurance of their friendship.
While traveling through a landscape of different seasons and weather conditions, Rat poses a variety of questions to Bear, all centered on the constancy of their companionship, starting with whether they will still be friends when they are old. Bear's answer is sweet and gently humorous ("I'll even hold your tail so you don't trip over it"). Throughout, Bear pledges loyalty in sickness and health, through crankiness and loud snoring, and even through misbehavior. Finally, Rat asks the toughest question of all: "What if I have to leave and go somewhere you can't come?" Soft watercolor, ink, and pencil art features wispy, delicate linework that evokes motion, especially when winds blow the anthropomorphic pair's brightly colored umbrellas (providing early, visual hints of the anxiety behind the climactic question about the two being separated by circumstances outside their control). Bear's answer avoids being trite by acknowledging how sad separation would be and saying that they would still carry an absent Rat; Bear's gestures are especially sweet. Although Bear and Rat are still together at the end, this book would be useful for children struggling with the idea of saying goodbye to friends as well as a comfort for sensitive readers. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Simultaneously quietly soothing yet deeply empowering--a friendship tale for the ages. (Picture book. 4-8)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2022 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
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MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
"Cheng, Christopher: WILL WE ALWAYS HOLD HANDS?" Kirkus Reviews, 15 Sept. 2022. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A717107474/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=d5bd61f9. Accessed 1 Nov. 2025.