Belated Valentine's post.The suggested age range for Voices of the Heart is 4-8, but this is really one of those books that works more for adults than children. I was not surprised to learn that it is considered a great wedding gift.
Beautiful collages illustrate 26 Chinese characters that have to do with emotions and moral character traits -such as contentment, loyalty and mercy. Each visual character is broken down to its basic elements and then poetically explained in English. All the collages contain a heart and, in Young's expressive style, evoke the emotion described. Sound a bit esoteric? It is, but it is also thought provoking and moving.
The concept of pictographic language building a definition of emotional qualities is hard for those of us with phonetic alphabets to grasp. I would really be surprised if a 4 year old would understand this at all, but I've presented one or two of the collages to older elementary students and they were intrigued. This is an interesting and heartfelt way to introduce Chinese characters and discuss emotional character traits at the same time. Next year, give a copy of Voices of the Heart to your loved one for Valentine's Day.
Voices of the Heart
By Ed Young
Scholastic Press, 1997
ISBN-10: 0590501992
No comments:
Post a Comment