Little Panda Reviews!!!

Here are the first reviews for Little Panda. They are wonderful, what a happy feeling! I am so glad that the reviewers liked what I like about the book. They have described Little Panda so much better than I could.


KIRKUS:

Grandfather Panda shares an outlandish tale of flying tigers with his grandson in this slyly amusing tale. The story of Bao Bao and his mother Lin Lin flows in all serenity and peacefulness as Grandfather describes the idyllic days of the young panda. Through play, Bao Bao’s mother imparts crucial survival tips: Running, wrestling and climbing to safety are all incorporated into Bao Bao’s frolics. However, when Lin Lin must travel to search for bamboo, she cautions Bao Bao about the slender tree he has picked for a napping spot, to no avail. When a large tiger creeps up the fragile tree for a meal, Bao Bao uses cleverness and a bit of luck to escape. Liwska’s tale is generously imbued with a gentle humor that is echoed in her digitally colored pencil drawings. Keeping the roly-poly black-and-white principals just this side of saccharine is no mean feat, but both text and illustrations are up to the challenge as they unfold with wily deliberation. Much like this whimsical tale, the elegant illustrations hold small surprises for perceptive readers to enjoy. (Picture Book. 3-6)


Publishers Weekly, September 22, 2008:

Little Panda Renata Liwska. Houghton Mifflin, $12.95 (32p) ISBN 978-0-618-96627-1
Grandfather Panda has a treat for his little grandson: a “once upon a time” story about another little panda and “the tiger that flew.” “That's silly,” says the grandson, but, as promised, the fictional tiger, who had a panda dinner on his mind, really does fly, thanks to some quick panda thinking and the laws of physics. In her authorial debut, Liwska (illustrator of Nikolai, the Only Bear) delivers a prime example of unadulterated storytelling—her tale unspools not with any Big Life Lesson in mind, but just for the old-fashioned pleasure of one generation connecting to another. In every word, readers can hear the wise, wry voice of a narrator who knows how to hold a child's attention. The illustrations, a combination of pencil and soft digital color, evoke the simplicity of traditional Chinese art and underscore the intimacy of the book's small format. Ages 3–6. (Oct.)