Little White Duck: A Childhood in China

By Na Liu and Andrés Vera Martínez

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.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lerner Publishing
• Release date: Aug 1, 2013
• ISBN: 9781467731027

Na Liu

  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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Reviews for Little White Duck

[paula2childrenslib · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A young girl describes her experiences growing up in China, beginning with the death of Chairman Mao in 1976.

[valzi-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An efficient capsulization of bits of Chinese history in memoir form. It's not much of a memoir and not much of a history book, but it's informative, engrossing, and evokes empathy.

[deweyever · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This brief graphic novel relates several episodes that occurred during the author's childhood in China in the 1970s, including the death of Mao Zedong and a visit to her father's poverty-stricken hometown. The stories are from a young child's perspective, but the book seems to be aimed at older children or young teens, who can better understand the deeper meanings of the book's events.An important inside look at a period of history that few tweens learn about in school. Readers will probably have questions, some of which are answered in the glossary, timeline, and map in the back of the book. Brief bloodless depictions of rat- and bird-killing, bug-spearing, and one instance of a cook cutting the head off a (dead) duck may keep this book out of the hands of the squeamish.Recommended, especially as a precursor or supplement to something like "American Born Chinese."

[akmargie · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Good art, moving story of a childhood in Chine. An interesting perspective for a graphic novel and very well done.

[sullywriter_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

An exceptional graphic memoir about growing up in China in the 1970s. Superbly written and illustrated.

[brangwinn · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It is amazing how much history can be included in a graphic novel. Based on the childhood of the author and illustrated by her husband, this is a personal look into the recent history of China. This book appears on a number of "best books of 2012" and it is well deserved.

[callmecayce · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Liu's graphic novel is a collection of short stories about growing up right at the end of the cultural revolution. The stories are at times sweet and other times moving (such as when she goes with her father to see her poor cousins in central China). I like the disconnectedness of each of the stories (they are separate and short), but they still somehow manage to flow within the greater timeline of the book itself. It reminded me, a little of, Persepolis. As Marjane Satrapi showed us Iran through the eyes of a child and young adult, Liu shows us China through the eyes of her younger self. The illustrations are fantastic were done by her husband. They're warm when they need to be and harsh when it's called for. I highly recommend this book because, while you can get any old history of China, it's rare to come by such vivid illustrations that let us see exactly what life was like, for example, when Mao died. I hope that more people read White Duck (also known as Little White Duck), if only because it'll show you a little bit what life was (and probably still is, in many cases) like growing up in China.

[mutantpudding · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I love the art in this book and the fact that its an autobiographical piece, but considered going with 2 stars instead of 3 because I found the scenes of animal death quite disturbing. :/

[fred_mouse · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Beautiful. Several small anecdotes of a small child's life in China in the late 70s, with lots of cultural details woven through. The death of Chairman Mao and New Year celebrations are two of the stories, but equally important are the ones to do with learning about the lives of others (visiting family in the country; having to finish every scrap of rice on the plate while a parent tells the story of the great famine the lived through). Both the prose and the illustrations are elegantly simple - the kind of effortless that typically takes much work.

[lissabeth21 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I need some time to process these stories in historical context. It was certainly very interesting to hear the voice of a child growing up in communist China. The fact that these were true stories from one person's life was really new to me, especially since so much was presented in a positive light. Too much of what I've been taught about communist China is all the negatives and never the first person experience, which is of course filled with the positive AND negatives of real life.