The world is changing for two girls in China in the 1970s. Da Qin—Big Piano—and her younger sister, Xiao Qin—Little Piano—live in the city of Wuhan with their parents. For decades, China's government had kept the country separated from the rest of the world. When their country's leader, Chairman Mao, dies, new opportunities begin to emerge. Da Qin and Xiao Qin soon learn that their childhood will be much different than the upbringing their parents experienced.
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“"Wife-and-husband team Na Liu and Andrs Vera Martnez use a graphic-novel format to bring Liu's childhood in 1970s Wuhan, China, to life for contemporary children. Much will seem the same--family life with a younger sister, school, a visit with a semi-scary grandmother--but the particulars in the eight vignettes included here make all the difference. Liu recalls her uncontrollable (and uncomprehending) sobbing at the death of a 'grandpa' she did not really know, Chairman Mao; creativity and finally subterfuge is required when her teacher commands each student to bring in four rat tails as evidence of participation in the government campaign to rid the country of vermin. Illustrator Martnez gleefully pictures the sisters' elaborate fantasies for rat-trapping (like putting a soybean up the butt of one rat, sending it into a frenzy that will cause it to kill the rest of the pack) as well as their eventual mutual admittance that they can't even touch a rat to sever the required tail ('EEEYuu! GROSS!'). Author and illustrator together give us an unvarnished and intimate account of a real childhood: plain-speaking, rough-hewn, and very much down-to-earth. While the time and place the book depicts are very different from our own, there's not a hint of sentimentality or exoticism: the scene where the mother shames the girls into cleaning their plates by telling them the real story about starving children in China is simultaneously horrifying and hilarious. A glossary, a chronology, and an author's note provide context." --starred, The Horn Book Magazine”
"This is a beautiful introduction to a China that few of us will ever understand." —starred, Library Media Connection
"With this intimate look at her childhood memories, Liu skillfully weaves factual tidbits into the rich tapestry of her life...Beautifully drawn and quietly evocative." --starred, Kirkus Reviews
"Based on her childhood experiences, Na Liu and her husband have created a rich, multilayered memoir, incorporating history, geography, language, culture, and mythology into eight short stories; then weaving them together to create an exquisite tapestry of life in China during the 1970s....This picturesque treasure introduces Chinese culture through a personal perspective that is both delightful and thought-provoking." --starred, School Library Journal
"Author and illustrator together give us an unvarnished and intimate account of a real childhood: plain-speaking, rough-hewn, and very much down-to-earth. While the time and place the book depicts are very different from our own, there's not a hint of sentimentality or exoticism: the scene where the mother shames the girls into cleaning their plates by telling them the real story about starving children in China is simultaneously horrifying and hilarious. A glossary, a chronology, and an author’s note provide context." --starred, The Horn Book Magazine
"'Little White Duck' isn't Communist propaganda. It is at once more innocent and more sophisticated. What Liu and Martínez do is convey a child's-eye view of a country in transition. Politics, culture and history play into their stories, but the reader's awareness of them is a child's awareness... Their characters are more than just pieces to be puzzled into someone else's narrative. They're living, breathing people." --The New York Times Book Review
"Liu and Martínez find the universal moments in the details of an exotic land, inviting readers to see themselves in Da Qin's experiences of friendship, family and country. An extraordinary graphic novel-memoir by a husband-and-wife team offering a rare view of 1970s China." --Shelf Awareness
"The stories are vivid even without Martinéz's bold artwork that evokes both traditional Chinese scrolls and midcentury propaganda posters. The result is a memoir that reads like a fable, a good story with a moral that resonates." --Booklist Online
"Liu is a calm storyteller whose words are enlivened by Martinez's enthusiastic and energetic art, and their respective tones complement each other fluidly. Martinez's work is a loving depiction of his wife in childhood, providing atmosphere through not only his period details in the stories, but also the between-story spreads that broaden the reader's scope in understanding life in China at that time." --Publishers Weekly
Na Liu is a doctor of hematology and oncology. She moved from Wuhan, China, to Austin, Texas, in 1998 to work as a research scientist for MD Anderson Cancer Center. She met her husband, Andrés Vera Martínez, in Austin. Na Liu and Andrés Vera Martínez live in Brooklyn, New York, with their daughter, Mei Lan. They take annual trips to visit their families in Wuhan and Austin.
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