TV Shows - 3 Body Problem

Watched on Netflix
Season 1
Number of Episodes: 8
Length of Episode: 45-60 minutes each
IMBd: 7.7/10
RT Critic's Consensus: 78%
RT Audience Score: 80%
cag: 6

Premiered: 3/21/24 on Netflix

Characters: Five scientist/physicist friends, all brilliant, all very close.  The Chinese/English cop/bodyguard, The original Chinese young adult from the 60's Cultural revolution is followed from young girls and the beginning of all the trauma throughout the entire series.

My comments:  Absolutely awesome SciFi.  Top notch entertainment.  Comes from a book of the same name, written by a Chinese writer, set in China.  This television version switched the contemporary scenes to London, but kept a diverse set of characters and the 1960s parts still set in China.  Incredible cast, the relationships between the five main characters (spoiler:  only three are left "alive" at the end of season 1) seem real.  LOTS of characters, great sets, super well done.

Storyline from IMBd: Set against the backdrop of China's Cultural Revolution, a secret military project sends signals into space to establish contact with aliens. An alien civilization on the brink of destruction captures the signal and plans to invade Earth. Meanwhile, on Earth, different camps start forming, planning to either welcome the superior beings and help them take over a world seen as corrupt, or to fight against the invasion. The result is a science fiction masterpiece of enormous scope and vision.

PICTURE BOOK - Red Butterfly: How a Princess Smuggled the Secret of Silk Out of China by Deborah Noyes

Illustrated by Sophie Blackall

2007, Candlewick Press

32 pgs.

Goodreads rating:  3.79 - 127 ratings

My rating:  4

Endpapers:   Solid red

1^st line/s:  "In my father's kingdom there are many splendors.  Bells and drums and conchs sound in the city streets.  All day long, ladies with careful eyebrows crisscross palace courtyards.  Warlords and courtiers come and go in gleaming carriages."

My comments:  Beautiful writing, beautiful illustrations.  Lots of insight into a princess marrying a king, but lots of sadness as well, as the young girl is preparing to leave her father's kingdom - forever - and travel a great distance to marry the king of another kingdom.  Based on a supposed true story that took place between 100 and 500 AD, this story gives a picture of ancient China and gives one lots to think about.  The author's note at the end gives fascinating information about the background as well as history about the Silk Road.

Goodreads:   An enchanting tale of hidden beauty and fierce courage, retold in the style of T’ang Dynasty poetry and illustrated with charm and grace
          A young Chinese princess is sent from her father’s kingdom to marry the king of a far-off land. She must leave behind her home of splendors: sour plums and pink peach petals and — most precious and secret of all — the small silkworm. She begs her father to let her stay, but he insists that she go and fulfill her destiny as the queen of Khotan. Beautifully told and arrestingly illustrated, here is a coming-of-age tale of a brave young princess whose clever plan will go on to live in legend — and will ensure that her cherished home is with her always

PICTURE BOOK - Two of Everything retold and illustrated by Lily Toy Hong

A Chinese Folktale
1993, Albert Whitman & Co.

32 pgs.

Goodreads rating:  4.16 - 698 ratings

My rating:  4

Illustrations:  Illustrations have thin, light-colored lines around each of the drawings that remind me, a little, of Paul Gole's illustrations.  I wish I knew how she created these lovely, soft and gentle drawings.

1^st line/s:  "Once long ago, in a humble little hut, lived Mr. Haktak and his wife, rs. Haktak.  They were old and very poor.  What little they ate came from their tiny garden."

My comments:  The story, a retelling of a Chinese folktale, is fun and funny.  Gentle, soft illustrations frame the story beautifully.  This is an excellent read aloud to include when you want a simple Chinese folktale to enhance teaching/learning about China.

Goodreads:  Mr. Haktak digs up a curious brass pot in his garden and decides to carry his coin purse in it. When Mrs. Haktak's hairpin slips into the pot, she reaches in and pulls out two coin purses and two hairpins--this is a magic pot!

PICTURE BOOK - The Runaway Wok by Ying Chang Compestine

Illustrated by Sebastia Serra

2011, Dutton Children's Books

32 pgs.

Goodreads rating:  3.84 - 478 ratings

My rating:  2.5

Endpapers:  Bright yellow-orange

1^st line/s:  "One Chinese New Year's Eve, a poor couple sent their son, Ming, to the market."

My comments:  What a great story, with really fun illustrations, with one not-so-tiny flaw.  Set during the Chinese New Year in Beijing, China, a wok steals from the rich and gives to the poor.  It also kidnaps the rich and gets rid of them (we know not how or where) forever.  What???  The beginning of the story seems based on Jack and the Beanstalk, the next based on Robin Hood.  But outright stealing and kidnapping instead of something more magical and legal would fit the bill for me a bit better.  I still can't rate it down too TOO much because the illustrations and the Chinese culture that shines through are wonderful.  Not to be missed:  The author's note and the "Festive Stir-Fried Rice" recipe at the end of the book.

Goodreads:  When a boy goes to the market to buy food and comes home with an old wok instead, his parents wonder what they'll eat for dinner. But then the wok rolls out of the poor family's house with a skippity-hoppity-ho! and returns from the rich man's home with a feast in tow!
          With spirited text and lively illustrations, this story reminds readers about the importance of generosity.

PICTURE BOOK - The Stamp Collector by Jennifer Lanthier

Illustrated by Francois Thisdale

2012 Fitzhenry & Whiteside, CANADA

HC &$18.95

32 pgs.

Goodreads rating: 4.35

My rating: 2/It was okay

Endpapers: Slate blue

Title Page: Simple, with a few illustrations of stamps, tasteful

Illustrations:  Dark, with speckles of white, a little bit fuzzy, but very effective

1^st line/s: "This is the sotry of not long ago and not far away.
It is the story of a boy who loves stamps and a boy who loves words.
This is the story of a life that is lost.
And found."

My comments:  Rating this book a "2" meaning "it was okay."  The Afterword was the best part.  The premise was wonderful.  But the story itself didn't grab me.  It was poetically written and dramatically illustrated, but the meat and potatoes were hamburger and mashed.  There was not enough detail, a little TOO much showing and not telling, if that's possible.  The relationship between the prisoner and the guard was non-existent and then there.  A story that children would love?  For example?  Perhaps if this book were written for adults ... but it is targeted for the children's audience, I believe, and I found it lacking.  And I'm really sorry about that.

Goodreads:  A city boy finds a stamp that unlocks his imagination; a country boy is captivated by stories. When they grow up, the two boys take different paths – one becomes a prison guard, the other works in a factory – but their early childhood passions remain. When the country boy’s stories of hope land him in prison, the letters and stamps sent to him from faraway places intrigue the prison guard – and a unique friendship begins.

Movie - 33 Postcards

NR (1:37)

Limited release TODAY, May 17, 2013

Viewed: Friday, May 17, 2013 at Crossroads
(Happy Birthday, Josh!)

RT Critic: 21 Audience: 38

Cag:  3 liked it

Directed by Pauline Chan

Gravitas Ventures

Actors:  Australian & Chinese

Fandango synopsis:  When a Chinese orphan meets her longtime Australian sponsor while on a choir festival trip, she discovers that the life he'd portrayed in his postcards to her over the years is not as perfect as he'd indicated, leading the two on a shared search for belonging and acceptance.

My comments:  It was sweet...and different...and interesting.  It was totally unbelievable in places.  Australian accents and the Chinese language.  Breaking...smashing stereotypes.  Sticking closely to stereotypes.  Not knowing what to expect.  Knowing exactly what to expect.  Disjointed thoughts swirling, fluttering in my brain even a couple hours after seeing this movie.  Glad I saw it, despite its goodness and badness.  A perfect Friday-yay-it's-the-weekend kind of flick!  Good popcorn, too.

Ling Cho and His Three Friends - V. J. Pacilio

Illustrated by Scott Cook
Farrar Straus Giroux, 2000
Looks like it's out-of-print
Library: picture book section
32 pages
Rating: 3.5
Endpapers: 4

This is a longish story told in couplets. The couplets are wonderfully rhythmic, use great words (fertile, entrusted, summon, reap, grueling, resolution, poverty, annual, depart, meager, transport, envision, destined, ...) and is full of alliteration. It's a tale of friendship and honesty. The illustrations are great at close examination, but would look blurry and washed out if read aloud and a listener was even a short distance away.

This would make a great reader's theater or choral reading for an older class.

Note: I took it from the library to read because i thought it might apply to my unit on China. And although the illustrations are about Chinese people, it could apply to any group of farmers that celebrate the harvest.

"In the wondrous land of China, many years ago,
There lived a wise and kindly man, a farmer names Ling Cho.
Together with his wife and sons, in fertile fields he'd toil;
Their lives entrusted to the land, true servants of the soil."

Lin Yi's Lantern - Brenda Williams

A Moon Festival Tale
Illustrated by Benjamin Lacombe
Barefoot Books, 2009
32 pages
For: young kids
Rating: 3+
Endpapers: Red with stenciled Chinese designs

Lin Yi's mother sends him to the market to bargain for five items for their Moon Festival trek up the mountain that night. If he has enough money left over, he can purchase the red rabbit lantern that he so dearly wants.

After the story itself we learn about the markets in rural Chinese villages, there's directions for making a simple Chinese paper lantern, and there's even a two-page story "The Legend of the Moon Fairy." But there's no explanation anywhere about the Moon Festival or information about the beautfiul red lanterns that are used. Unfortunately, I find this a weakness. The story uses repetition, which is great for young kids, but makes it a little "young" for my fourth graders. And how Uncle Hui "magically" has a lantern gift, and it's okay that we don't know how he got it or where it came from, it's too abrupt and leaves too much to wonder about. However, the book beautfiully depicts what happens in a market AND the illustrations are just wonderful. So a few pluses, and few minuses.

The Wishing Tree - Roseanne Thong

Illustrated by Connie McLennan
Shen's Books, 2004
32 pages
Rating: 5
Endpapers: Gold & beige decorated Chinese designs

I spent an hour browsing and reading in the Martha Cooper Library on Catalina - a small public library I rarely get to visit. The local neighborhood holds many cultures, and there are many kids' books in different languages here. In other words, a great multicultural find.

There's a huge banyan tree in Ming's hometown where his grandmother would always take him to make a wish for the lunar new year. She would purchase a Ng Bo Dip (Five Treasures Pile), a stack of decorated red and yellow papers. After writing a wish, the papers were rolled into a scroll, secured with string, and attached to a large mandarin orange. When ready, this was flung high into the banyan wishing tree.

For many years Ming and his grandmother enjoyed this yearly custom, until, when Ming was nine, his wish was not fulfilled and his grndmother's sickness does not get better. She dies. The rest of the story deals with grief resolution in a positive, helpful way.

Each two page spread is beautiful with an edge-to-edge illustration on one side and the text is usually within a pale-colored box that looks like paper. The same one inch Chinese patterns found on the endpapers are "seals" at the bottom of the page.

Fantastic explanation in the Author's Note at the end of the book.

Included are directions for making your own Ng Bo Dip and a black and white WISHING PAPER page to photocopy and use as the five pages.

Perfect addition to my 4th grade China study!

MOVIE - The Karate Kid

Fun movie - it does make me realize how much I abhor bullies
Released June 11, 2010
PG (2:20)
6-24-10 at Maine Coast Cinema with Brendan
RT: 69% cag: 87%
Director: Harold Zwart
with Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan

This is a "remake" of the 80's movie of the same title. The setting this time is in Beijing, China, where 12 year old Dre Parker has moved with his mom because of her job. He is immediately set upon by a group of bullies that take kung fu from an unscrupulous teacher. He is beaten, and taunted, and afraid, until his apartment's handyman decides to take him under his wing. His training is tiring, repetitious and very rewarding.

The scenes from China are g o r g e o u s. The Great Wall. Dragon Mountain (I think that's what it was called...Brendan's in bed or I'd ask him if he remembers). Chinese countryside. The Forbidden Palace. I loved the Chinese culture depicted everywhere, in the park, in the apartment, at the school.

Jaden Smith, son of Will and Jada Pinkett Smith (of Pursuit of Happyness fame) is a 12 year old powerhouse. Cute, talented, athletic...he has all the moves and mucho charm. And throw in Jackie Chan in a serious role....well, it worked for me! And Brendan was enthralled. Some of the conversation was in Chinese with subtitles, and I whispered some of what was going on to him so that he wouldn't get lost. On the ride home he kept saying "she," and I realized that he thought the protagonist was a girl, - his hair was covered in braids and his features are, indeed, quite gentle. I do wonder how what, exactly, is now going on in his five year old mind. He'll be making karate kicks into the air for a few weeks, I imagine.

A Gift - Yong Chen

Boyds Mills Press, 2009
$16.95
32 pages
Rating: 4
Endpapers: Red

A simple story.

I live 3000 miles away from my family, but I don't have to cross an ocean to get the them. I live in the same country and am surrounded by the same cultural stimuli as them. Not so for the mother of the protagonist in this lovely picture book.

Amy's mother's family lives in China - far away from Amy's American home. It's really difficult being so far from loved ones, but there are certain times that are even more difficult. For Amy's mom, the Chinese New Year is one of those times.

A package and a letter arrive from China. The mother's siblings, working together, have created a beautiful dragon pendant from a lovely found piece of stone. It's a beautiful gift within a loving, far-flung family.

Note" Red is the color of luck in Chinese tradition. For Amy to hang her pendant from a red string is a sign of live and a wish for luck.

Illustrations are realistic, large, many complete cover the page. The appear to depict the Chinese culture well.

Sparrow Girl - Sara Pennypacker

Illustrated by Yoko Tanaka
2009
Rating: 4
Disney/Hyperion Books
Endpapers: Lots of swallows

Wow. Now here's a part of China's history that I did not know. This book is based on a true historical account. (We find this out in an author's note at the end of the book, but I'll begin with it here. )

In 1958, Mao Tse-Tung, the leader of China, forced the people of China to spend three days and evenings making lots of loud noise - to kill all the sparrows, either from stress, exhaustion, or heart attacks - so they wouldn't eat the grain crops. But this completely backfired. Yes, the sparrows were completely gone, but now the locust population took over. A famine bagan, and 30-40 MILLION Chinese died in the next three years. Unreal!

In this story, a young girls saves seven sparrows, thus saving her village from a locusts and grasshoppers and weevils and worms that would destroy all their crops.

Illustrations - a little dark (purposely, I'm sure), but really nice.

(Sara Pennypacker is the author of Clementine.)

The Travel Game - John Grandits

Illustrated by R. W. Alley
Published May, 2009
Ages 5-8
32 pgs.
$16.00
Rating: 3
Clarion/HMH
Pumpkin Endpapers

A young boy lives with his Polish-American family of tailors in Buffalo, New York. He helps around the shop, and his extended family lives upstairs. Whenever he doesn't want to take a nap, his aunt plays the "travel game" with him. They spin a globe, point to a new place, and look it up in their book 1001 Places from Around the World. As they look up the pictures they make up stories as if they were there themselves. Usually, Tad falls asleep as he imagines, but this time he wakes himself up, covers his sleeping aunt, and returns to the tailor shop to help work

We get facts about what they eat (a Polish-American meal) and the place they visit: Hong Kong. Fairly interesting. Cute illustrations. Lots of white, though. I like the illustrations.

Shanghai Messenger - Andrea Cheng

Illustrator: Ed Young
For: Elementary kids
2005
Rating: 3.5
Endpapers: Turquoise

Xiao Mei, a half-Chinese American girl, is encouraged by her grandmother Nai Nai to visit family in Shanghai, China. With trepidation, the eleven year old travels by herself to spend some time with family she's never met. She gets to meet great-grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins who take her in immediately and form loving bonds quickly. She is introduced to the culture of China, makes many observations, gets to know her family, and even learns to write some Chinese. Simply illustrated this is a gentle, informative book.

The orange medly of lines and cross border every page on left and right. It's very eye-catching.

The Pet Dragon - Christoph Niemann

A Story about Adventure, Friendship, and Chinese Characters
2008
Rating: 4
For: Kids and anyone wanting to learn Chinese characters
$16.99
Endpapers: pale teal with white Chinese characters and illustrations from the book

Simple folk-type story that introduces 33 Chinese characters, which are superimposed into the illustrations as well as shown at the bottom of the page. Lots of reds and teals, simple, cute illustrations that perfectly match the tale.

Lin receives a baby dragon as a pet, and they spend their days playing with each other. While playing soccer in the house the abreak a vase, and Lin's father decides the dragon must stay in a cage. The next day, the dragon is gone. Lin goes travels the countryside trying to find him, and is aided by a witch until pet and girl are reunited once again.

This is a clever way to share another culture with children, writing some of the characters afterwards would be a great project.