CHOPSTICKS

Berkeley offers a mildly entertaining story of the friendship between a mouse and his dragon. The dragon in question is a wooden one that twines around the pillar outside a floating restaurant in Hong Kong; the mouse, named Chopsticks, lives in the restaurant and one night hears the dragon speak. The dragon wants to fly and sends the mouse to Old Fu, the man who carved the dragon and who knows the secret of setting him free. The mouse learns a tune on a whistle, plays it the night of the full moon and lo, the dragon and mouse fly off to explore their world. Readers will see glimpses of the Great Wall and the Taj Mahal from a dragon’s eye view. They return to the restaurant, to explore again every full moon, and Chopsticks recounts their adventures to Old Fu each time. The illustrations, while bright, have a curiously dry and flat appearance, and the story doesn’t quite come into its power or imagery. Still, a dragon’s a dragon, and wee dragon aficionados probably can’t get enough. (Picture book. 4-8)