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IN

About the Author

Caldecott medalist Ed Young was born in Tientsin, China, and brought up in Shanghai. He cites the philosophy of Chinese painting as an inspiration for much of his work. "A Chinese painting is often accompanied by words," he explains; "they are complementary. There are things that words do that pictures never can, and likewise, there are images that words can never describe."

Mr. Young has been illustrating children's books for more than twenty years and has won many awards. He received the 1990 Caldecott Medal for his book Lon Po Po, and his much-lauded collaboration with anthologist Nancy Larrick, Cats Are Cats, was named one of the Ten Best Illustrated Books of 1988 by The New York Times.

Mr. Young studied at the University of Illinois, the Art Center of Los Angeles, and Pratt Institute in New York City. He and his family live in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York.

copyright 2000 by Penguin Putnam Books for Young Readers. All rights reserved.

Reviews

K-Gr 3-When seven blind mice discover a strange "something" by their pond, each in turn goes to explore it in Ed Young's Caldecott Honor book ((Putnam, 1992). On Monday, red mouse encounters a sturdy pillar. On Tuesday, green mouse finds a snake. Yellow mouse thinks that it's a spear, while the other mice speculate that it is a cliff, a fan, and a rope. On the seventh day, white mouse undertakes a thorough investigation to settle the argument once and for all. She runs from one end to the other and back, and concedes that the something is indeed as sturdy as a pillar, as supple as a snake, as sharp as a spear, as wide as a cliff, as breezy as a fan, and as stringy as a rope- "but all together the something is an elephant!" The "Mouse Moral" is that "knowing in part may make a fine tale, but wisdom comes in seeing the whole." In an interview, Young shares how he transformed the Indian folktale, "The Six Blind Men and The Elephant," into this simple fable that not only tells a story of wisdom and teamwork, but also teaches colors, the days of the week, simile, ordinal numbers, and mathematical proportion. Young's striking primary-colored illustrations on black backgrounds are brought to life with animation and hypnotic background music featuring strings and woodwinds. After viewing, youngsters can explore parts and wholes through descriptive writing and collage. This selection is a winner.-Barbara Auerbach, New York City Public Schools Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.