Liang and the Magic Paintbrush

the book came in the condition advertised and in an expeditious manner, very happy with this seller's promptness and professionalism!

This is a simple story with beautiful pictures, though it's not particularly engaging. Neither my kids nor I enjoy it as much as our other Demi favorites -- One Grain of Rice, Firebird, and The Empty Pot -- which we adore. These other three not only have superlative pictures but wonderful stories, each in different ways.

In this lively tale, a poor boy in China who longs to paint is given a magic paintbrush by a mysterious visitor. Suddenly the boy has the power to bring life to things that he paints. Liang uses this gift for good, until he must use his skill to outsmart an evil emperor who wants to use the magic brush for his own greedy purposes. The ending is a bit troublesome- not as completely fair and peaceful as we might like - but then, the tale is based on an old Chinese legend which, like Grimms' fairy tales, were probably a lot more scary than story books today. Still, the story is wonderful and exciting and the illustrations, though subtle, are lovely --delicate but colorful ink and watercolor drawings with lots of detail.