Book Review: The Legend of Lao Tzu and the Tao Te Ching by Demi

Oh Demi, how much do I love you? Let me count the ways:

• Your simple yet informative writing teaches readers about the most amazing things. Your biographies especially introduce great figures in a way that everyone can understand and appreciate, in language that is always fitting for the subject.
• Your illustrations, also so simple yet filled with depth, create harmony with the text, with the book design, and with the reader. Your colors are so brilliant, their range from translucent to golden, shimmer with life.
• Your biography subjects are the most interesting figures in history, yet relatively unknown in the west. You make them accessible to all of us who have hearts and minds open to learn.
• You are not afraid to tackle the big ideas, despite writing for children.

The Legend of Lao Tzu and the Tao Te Ching is just one more incredible book to add to Demi's portfolio. I was skeptical at first, thinking that Lao Tzu was perhaps a subject too difficult for kids. However, I was captivated by every page of the book, and I'm sure kids who like to be challenged will be too.

Though the story of Lao Tzu's life is told as a legend ("...Lao Tzu,who may or may not have been born; who may or may not have founded Taoism... and who may or may not have written one of the greatest books of wisdom in the world"), Demi includes twenty verses of the Tao Te Ching, which is a very real book. I thought the Tao Te Ching would be too deep, or boring, but it was not! In fact, readers could spend hours pondering these verses alone, and find something interested every time. This is the power and beauty of the Tao Te Ching, and Demi's version succeeded in capturing my interest fully.

It also needs not be mentioned that the illustrations that accompany this books are breathtakingly beautiful. It never fails to astonish me how Demi creates the illusion of translucence on opaque paper. And I especially love her tiny figures that you must get up close to, in order to truly appreciate their detail and charm.

While The Legend of Lao Tzu and the Tao Te Ching won't do too well as a group read-aloud, it will captivate and intrigue those who take the time and pore over its many delights.

The Legend of Lao Tzu and the Tao Te Ching by Demi