Myths Stories (Chinese Classical Stories Series)

I picked this up at the gift shop of the Shanghai Museum and read it with the Kiddo (currently age 9, but only for a couple more weeks).

Title: Myths Stories
Date: September, 2012
Publisher: China Intercontinental Press (Chinese Classical Stories Series)
Writer: Xiao Li

Softcover full-color graphic novel of about 200 pages, telling a dozen stories from  Chinese mythology, beginning with a creation myth.

This was a nice introduction to Chinese legends, with a variety of characters and stories, all brought to life in vivid color. The art style was fun, with manga facial expressions and particularly nice work on the clothing and hairstyles of characters. All of the action is a bit cartoonish, even in the case of a couple of the stories that take a grim turn.

Aside from the first couple of stories, there is not a lot of connection between the tales, and there isn't much context provided as to where these stories fit into Chinese mythology as a whole, but it was still an excellent sampling of a real wealth of lore that will be unfamiliar to many Western readers.

The dialogue has some moments where the translation could have been better, including the odd inclusion of the name "Hercules" for what is clearly meant to be a Chinese god or demigod.

But the book keeps the dialogue short and simple, and the artwork fills in gaps and smooths over the minor translation issues. All of the text and dialogue is presented in English and Chinese.

Rating: 7.5/10