I don’t remember just when I first encountered Marjorie Flack and Kurt Wiese’s The Story About Ping,
but I must have been pretty young. I think of it as one of those books
that I’ve been calling a favorite since before I could even read. So I
was startled when, after it turned up in 1001 Children’s Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up,
I went off in search of my own review of it and discovered I hadn’t
written one. How could I stay silent for so long on such a beloved book?
The Story About Ping was published way back in 1933, predating Robert McCloskey’s Make Way for Ducklings and Janette Sebring Lowrey’s The Poky Little Puppy,
the classic books of which it most reminds me, by nearly a decade. It
tells the tale of a little yellow duckling in China who lives on a boat
with his large extended family and doesn’t realize what a cozy existence
he has until he spends a day on his own.
Ping is a very
diligent duck. He knows that the last duck to enter the boat at the end
of the day will get a spanking, so he is always careful to arrive early.
But one day, he is distracted and ends up running late. He knows that
if he joins his family, he will be the last one on the boat, so instead
he hides until the boat is out of sight, and he spends the night in a
cozy patch of grass near the river. So far, so good. But with the
daylight comes an important lesson in the disadvantages of an isolated
existence.
I love the illustrations in this book, which seem
to be a mixture of media. At times, the landscapes and characters are
soft and look as though they were done with colored pencil, while other
times there are solid patches of color that look like the work of paint.
I prefer the softer portions, but having both allows for interesting
variety in the illustrations. The setting is intriguing, as it’s one
that is probably foreign to most young American readers. We are told
that the location is the Yangtze River. Meanwhile, the “once upon a
time” and the antiquated-looking clothing and vessels suggest that the
time period was well in the past even in 1933.
One of the most
interesting details, and one I’d nearly forgotten about before I reread
this, involves the birds that Ping sees fishing for their master on a
longboat. These birds catch large fish and deliver them to the man in
the boat, who rewards them with minnows. What Ping comes to realize is
that the birds have bands around their necks preventing them from eating
the larger fish. I wouldn’t say that Ping is in any real danger of
being swept up into the service of this fisherman, but seeing these
truly captive birds must give him a deeper appreciation for his home
situation. A little spank on the bottom suddenly doesn’t seem so harsh.
The truly scary part comes in when a little boy lures Ping to his boat
with bits of rice cake, intending to keep him as a pet. Ping spends most
of the day trapped under a basket, and what’s worse, the boy’s family
plans to cook him up for dinner. Here we experience kindness alongside
the hostility of the outside world, for the boy, so proud of his
accomplishment, releases his prisoner, an action that will most likely
result in punishment. Initially, we’re inclined to look at the boy in a
villainous light, but he turns out to be a hero and a role model,
showing how one rather small but courageous act of kindness can make an
enormous impact on someone else.
I love this story for its
winning illustrations, its adventure and most of all for its gentle
lessons. In the course of one very enlightening day, this yellow fellow
comes to understand that, even as handsome and resourceful as he is, no
duck is an island. The Story About Ping earns my warmest recommendation.
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