The Legend of the Panda - Hardcover

Granfield, Linda

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0887764215 ISBN 13: 9780887764219

Publisher: Tundra Books, 1998

Synopsis

A timeless tale about a beloved animal

One of the world’s most beloved and reclusive animals, the panda is almost as mysterious today as it was thousands of years ago. The original Chinese folk tale of how the panda came to have its distinctive black-and-white coat is a story of love, bravery and the sacrifice of a young shepherdess. Illustrator Song Nan Zhang has drawn upon his experiences touring the silk road region of Tibet to create the gloriously colourful illustrations that depict the ancient Wolong Valley in Sichuan province. As retold by master historian Linda Granfield, The Legend of the Panda is augmented with fascinating information about panda bears and the efforts to save them. A book as beautiful as it is informative.

About this title

About the Author:

Linda Granfield is one of Canada’s leading non-fiction researchers and writers. She is the author of 97 Orchard Street, New York: Stories of Immigrant Life, High Flight: A Story of World War II, Amazing Grace: The Story of the Hymn, and In Flanders Fields: The Story of the Poem by John McCrae.

From School Library Journal:

Kindergarten-Grade 3-Long ago, in a valley deep in the mountains of China's Sichuan province, a young shepherdess welcomed a white, bearlike cub into her flock, calling him Beishung, or "white bear," (not translated in the text). While trying to save the little creature from a snow leopard, the shepherdess was killed by the ferocious predator. Mourning her death, Beishung and his weeping relatives dipped their paws into ashes, rubbed their eyes, and hugged themselves, turning patches of their white fur black. To this day, these pandas bear the same markings of mourning for the brave young woman. Zhang depicts the action against a breathtaking landscape of mountain and forest; his sure hand for composition, color, and dramatic interpretation carry what is, for all its good intentions, a slight and sentimental story. A two-page note summarizes the pandas' natural history while explaining their place in human history. It conspicuously omits a source for the legend, and the story cannot be found in major collections of Chinese folklore. Since spurious legends fabricated in the West so often pass as authentic Chinese stories, it is unfortunate that the historian who wrote the text gave no clue to the tale's origins. This omission undercuts the book's integrity as a plea to save the endearing symbol of the World Wildlife Fund.
Margaret A. Chang, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, North Adams
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Tundra Books
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0887764215
• ISBN 13: 9780887764219
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 24
• Illustrator: Zhang Song Nan