MADE IN CHINA

Using cut-paper figures in, or at least reminiscent of, traditional styles, Nash lights briefly on Chinese history, folklore, culture, and geography. Seeking an answer to a dragon’s riddle—“What was made in China almost 2000 years ago and is still in use today?”—a paper butterfly perches on a pagoda, poses the question to a carp, listens to tales of the Monkey King, flutters past the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, and the “chocolate soldiers” of Xi-an, then at last learns the solution (paper) from another paper butterfly. Intercut with explanatory comments and closing with a map, plus skimpy directions for prospective paper-cutters, this tries to cover far too many topics, doing justice to none. For a (somewhat) less superficial answer to the dragon’s riddle, with similar glimpses into Chinese life, stick with Ying Chang Compestine’s Story of Paper (2003), or conventional nonfiction. (Picture book/nonfiction. 6-8)