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A girl embarks on a fantastical adventure through a landscape permeated with calligraphy.

After a brief introduction that explains that the art form originated thousands of years ago in ancient China, when people carved pictographs into bones and shells, the story switches to the present day as Lulu watches Grandpa (both of whom are cued Chinese) draw on a large scroll. He shows her how ancient characters such as those for bird or mountain mimic the ideas they represent. When Lulu tries her hand at drawing, her character for door begins to glow, and the pictograph swings open. Lulu steps into a mysterious world, led by the same bird character that Grandpa had drawn. In this land, people and objects are illustrated using black-inked Chinese characters dancing among watercolor details and backgrounds—characters for grass are drawn clumped together in a green field, and the character for child bows to greet Lulu. The climax occurs when Lulu meets a calligraphic fire-breathing dragon and, using her brush like Harold’s purple crayon, draws her way to safety with the Chinese characters she needs. Much of the story is told in appealing vignettes and speech bubbles, and at the top of every page, readers will find pictures of the characters used in the illustration along with their English meanings, allowing kids to match the characters with their roles in the scene. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A fun and clever introduction to an ancient art form.