Rating: 
Summary: A Story About the Importance of Home
Review: This is a delightful little story of the misadventures of a duckling named Ping. Ping hides in the weeds along the banks of the Yangtze River rather than face the spank the last duck to board his houseboat at dusk receives (I have always wondered _why_ the last duck gets spanked). The story is beautifully illustrated, and the poignant scene of Ping looking after his home as it sales away stands out, as does Ping nestled safely with his family and friends on the very last page. This tale underscores the importance of home, of family and of belonging. It is a good bed-time book with its happy ending after Ping's narrow escape from becoming a meal. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant
Review: When I was a kid growing up in the south, I used to read this book over and over. That was in the 1960's, when the Chinese, who's side we were on during the war, were a people we were supposed to hate, and the Japanese, who we hated during the war, were a people we were supposed to like. Nevermind all those reruns of anti Japanese war movies that were still playing on TV at the time. The wise-eyed boat, the fishing birds with the rings around their necks, the boy with the wacky hairdo and peculiar barrel tied to his back. The hand-made wicker basket and complete absence of anything material or useless. It humanized Asians for me in a way that was not only healthy, but induced a curiosity of the region and its peoples that I have still yet to satisfy, even after living for 18 years of my adult life in Northeast Asia. (Maybe I'm still running away from that dreaded spank!) Every time I see those Peking ducks strung up in those shop windows in Hongkong I can't help but think of Ping and his mother and his father and two sisters and three brothers and eleven aunts and seven uncles and forty-two cousins. Read Ping to your kids. It just might change their lives!!
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