Look! What Do You See?

Gr 3-6--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

At first glance, Stadtlander's graceful folk art scenes of American life appear to be accompanied by Chinese calligraphy; readers may be tempted to focus on the artwork and pass the Chinese characters by. But contemporary artist Xu's "top secret assignment" on the first page explains that the first 12 compositions are the words to American folk songs. With this information and the eventual recognition that the "Chinese" glyphs are built out of stylized Roman letters--"I," "on," "my," and "oh" are pretty easy to read--the characters begin to reveal themselves as blocks of Chinese-style brushstrokes that actually depict English words. The first painting shows men and women at a barn dance. Is it "Skip to My Lou"? (It is.) Once readers get the hang of it, guessing the other songs isn't too difficult, but it's plenty rewarding. Although the book is not intended as an introduction to reading Chinese, the process of puzzling out Xu's word glyphs isn't unrelated to the mental operation of decoding Chinese characters. Five Chinese songs follow for the truly intrepid, and the lyrics and an explanation of Bing's writing system appears at the end. Ages 7-10. Illustrator's agency: Bright Group. (Nov.)