A Thousand Peaks: Poems from China

This is a picture book with a small collection of poems from throughout Chinese history. A poem appears 3 times: in chinese script, aa a literal translation into english, and as a poetic translation into english. There is also some background information for each poem. The only thing I could wish for, are more poems. I found this book extremely satisfying to add to my lesson block on China. I paired it easily with two other books, so my students and could try our hand at Chinese calligraphy: #1 The British Museum; Chinese Caligraphy; Standard Script for Beginniners, to learn the strokes. #2 What's in a Chinese Character, to confirm and translate a chosen character from the poem. I also, of course, invested in a few chinese calligraphy sets. The small ones are fine. You just need an ink stone, a well, a brush, and some rice paper.

If you, or you and your children, need an introduction to Chinese classical peotry, and you don't read Chinese, BUY this book -- and Maples in the Mist, edited by Minfong Ho. This book gives the Chinese characters, pinyin (learn pinyin so you can proonounce it in Mandarin), the translation and a story about the poem.

Although A Thousand Peaks: Poems From China is the size of a standard children's picturebook, do not be deceived; its haunting, lyrical poems are intended to delight and fascinate poetry lovers of all ages. Striking, full-color illustrations intersperse the historical poems. Each poem comes with a few paragraphs of commentary regarding what is known about the poet and the historical events affecting the poem. What truly sets A Thousand Peaks apart, however, is that the poems themselves are offered in bilingual format: their original Chinese characters, the romanized version of the Chinese words, a very strictly literal translation, and the modern poetic translation that attempts to properly ascribe nuances. Poetry devotees can compare translations and interpret the true meaning, heart, and soul of each poem for themselves. Storm At Lakeview Tower: Splattering mountains, ink-black clouds sweep by./Bouncing on boats, pearl white raindrops fly./Rolling around the earth, wind scattered clouds/until, under Lakeview Tower, water is sky. (Su Shi, 1036-1101, Song dynasty).