Beyond the Great Mountains: A Visual Poem about China

The design of the book is extremely creative and artistic. The pictorial language of Chinese, besides its beauty, is thought provoking. It makes children think with imagination and ask to learn more. When a book stimulates curiosity, it translates to search for knowledge, and results in growth. It's a wonderful thing.

The book is designed in such a unique way that the graduated lengths of the pages enable readers to read the entire poem from the title page. Enchanting. Children and adults are fascinated by the composition of pictures that form a single word (or character). When they exclaimed, "Wow! These words are so different from English." I couldn't help but add to the beautiful words of the Author and said, "Be open to difference, Difference helps us see beauty."

Rev. Marie of Rebeccasreads highly recommends BEYOND THE GREAT MOUNTAIN as Caldecott Medal winner author & artist Ed Young offers a book that will enchant adults & children alike as it transports you on a journey of words & art, to a strange & wondrous land far, far way in both time & place. Unique & very different fare for parents & children.

This striking book is bound in a unique format, layers of pages that reveal paper-collage illustrations and symbols, as spare and elegant as a Chinese scroll. Each layered page adds another line of prose and art, revealing the grace and majesty of China. The art is extravagant, each unfolding image larger and more captivating, a garden of natural beauty with prose to complement the artist's vision, unrestricted by conventional ideas: "Beyond the great mountains/ far to the east, a vast fertile plain./ In its sky, mist rose and fell, rain gathering, river cascading/ down cliffs and boulders, through valleys into fields." Beautifully bound, this elegant prose, combined with imaginative collage is a magical experience. Introduce a child to the vast beauty of China, if you are able to part with this volume, the harmony, simplicity, tradition and wisdom of ancient symbols. (The inside back cover includes a list of Chinese characters then and now, the symbols integrated into the artwork, all flowing together.) The author's philosophy is revealed in his work: "Rather than show a particular instance of the idea, it reminds me that ideas are bigger than a single instance... that leisure is not simply an activity but a state of being." Born in China, but now living in the United States, Ed Young retains the inspiration of that mystic land. A combination of words and images, this elaborate and unusual feast of words and pictures is a treasure. Luan Gaines/ 2005.

From the moment you open this book you will be pleasently surprised, you'll notice that this book is read from top to bottom. And from that first page you get to read the full poem from start to finish first before even lifting a page. The pages are made from rice paper as well and the illustrations from simply tearing paper and paint. If your like me, your hands will imediately go to each page expecting to feel that soft texture threads that rice paper has, or the texture of thick quick strokes of paint and then being sadly disappointed when you feel regular plain old paper pages. The rainbow of colors used are bright and so very rich! I love that the last two page show the Chinese characters both ancient & modern characters side by side so you can see how the characters changed from then to now. The Chinese characters are mountain peaks, tree, east, water, rain, river, boulder, through, sun, moon, many plants, metal, rice, hanging grain, ice, bamboo, hanging leaves, leek, fruit on a vine, hemp, west, salt, wine, jade, kindgon, center or middle and fire. I also love that in the middle of the author's notes inside a light pink circle in the middle of the page are thesewise and beautiful words.... Be open to inspriation, Inspiration leads to creativity. Be open to play. In play we see mistakes as stepping-stones to fulfillment. Be open to challenges, Challenges offer us a chance to grow, Be open to work. It is in the willingness to labor that we mature and find excellence.