He Zhihong and Guillaume Olive,
My First Book of Chinese Calligraphy
Tuttle Publishing, 2010.

Ages 9-12

Chinese calligraphy has always held a mysterious allure—at least to me and many others who grew up without this remarkable language in our lives. The fact that more than a billion of the earth’s inhabitants communicate using a language with such a complex writing system amazes me. My First Book of Chinese Calligraphy is an effective means of cutting through the mystery of this unique and ancient system while still preserving the mystique of Chinese calligraphy.

This attractive how-to book is a great introduction to this ancient Chinese art, though it should be stressed that it is very much an introduction and one that focuses on the technique and artistry of calligraphy more than on the practical aspects of learning written Chinese. The book gives an overview of Chinese writing and its evolution, introduces the concept of radicals, illustrates the eight basic strokes and how to write them, and discusses practical matters such as proper posture and tools.

Created by the husband-and-wife team of expert sinologist Guillaume Olive and illustrator He Zhihong, the book is both lively and informative. Actual photographs of a little girl, Mimi, using the “four treasures” of calligraphy (paper, ink, ink stone, and brush) depict proper posture and technique for the several characters introduced in the text. Readers are left to figure out for themselves how to write or paint the different characters based on what they have learned in the book about brush technique, character size and spacing, and stroke order.

Games and illustrations, both in the book and on the accompanying CD ROM, help reinforce the learning, and kids who enjoy this introduction will be eager to expand their knowledge of Chinese so that they might begin writing sentences and eventually written communication. My First Book of Chinese Calligraphy is approachable and entertaining for the budding scholar of Chinese as well as the more experienced student who may be interested in calligraphic principles or in the writing system’s history.

Abigail Sawyer
June 2011