A review by sindri_inn_arsaeli
Beyond the Great Mountains: A Visual Poem about China by Ed Young

emotional informative reflective relaxing slow-paced

5.0

I don't think I can say enough about the visual beauty of this book! Like an onion, the reader/viewer just keeps peeling back layers on each revisit. First there is the poem. Laid out on graduated cut pages so the complete poem is visible at once, it is a lovely poem, but then! Each page you turn exposes the illustration for a single line of the poetry, and the illustration is beautiful, darker muted earth tones in rice paper collage, and the pictures are evocative and soft edged and lovely. Each illustration is paired with one or two Chinese characters that pair with either the line of poetry or the way the picture illustrates the line, AND THEN! The illustrations suggest the characters shown for that page! You see how many stalks, or metal, is depicted in the character. I've been gushing about this book since I read it, and I would say anyone who loves art, China, written language, or just a good picture book, (your never too old for picture books!) should read this one!