El Chino - Softcover

Grade 2-5-- A picture-book biography of the first Chinese matador. On his first vacation to Europe, Billy Wong saw a Spanish bullfight and, marvelling at the athletic prowess of the matador, realized that even a man shorter than he might enter the sport. So he stayed in Spain and went to bullfighting school, but after two years passed without fighting a single cow, Billy realized that a Chinese matador might stand out in the crowd of aspiring bullfighters--as indeed he did. After his first success as El Chino --The Chinese--in his native costume, Billy receivedan offer to become a real matador. The large, bordered illustrations in the first part of the book describe Billy's early life in Arizona, and are suggestive of old sepia photographs; these have that sense of being posed in that way that both conceals and reveals the life of the subjects. When he attends the bullfight in Spain, however, the illustrations take on color and action. Say's subtle watercolor shadings and the details in the fine lines of these illustrations capture the power and the sensitivity of this story of a man who learns that to become someone beyond his current self, he must first truly be himself. A book that's lovely to look at, but one that is likely to have limited appeal to children because of the slow, uneventful beginning. --Kay E. Vandergrift, School of Communication, Information and Library Studies, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.