Classroom Materials

• Lists & Forms
• Read-Aloud Favorites
• Student Texts
• Teacher's Guides
• Vocabulary Lessons: E4 and S4
• Word Pictures
• The Reading GPS

Read-Aloud Favorites

7 May 2008

Legend Of Chinese Dragon

Written by Maria Sellier; Illustrated by Catherine Louis, Calligraphy and chop marks by Wang Fei, Translated by Sibylle Kazeroid

Legend of the Chinese Dragon is a beautiful book that is reminiscent of a Native American creation story. In many Asian countries the dragon is an all-powerful and benevolent creature. In China, and Korea, it is believed that emperors were descendants of dragons. In the Legend of the Chinese Dragon the story is of how the dragon was created from elements of animals that were worshiped or revered in the different regions of China.

The story is told in both English and Mandarin Chinese. It is a lovely story and the illustration is reminiscent of Chinese paper cutting. The chops are wonderful and would be a great activity for students to make connections between the Chinese character and the animal. For example, the chop for bird looks like the wing of a bird.