Stars of Mythology: Chinese

Description

This book takes a light-hearted look at the characters and creatures from the the Chinese mythological stories. These myths come from different cultural groups, and they include stories about how the world came to be, as well as folk tales and stories with a religious message. The stories are full of gods, monsters, animals, ghosts and nature spirits. The book is structured as a 'Who's Who' of the culture's myths and legends and has a gossipy, informal tone, allowing the characters' personalities to come through. The chapters begin with a spread featuring factfiles of two characters. Each of these has an "In His Own Words" section, where the character himself (or herself) gives fast facts such as parents, powers, crowning achievements, and "Not to be confused with...". This is followed by a myth re-relling, presented in a magazine-style, featuring the two characters. In total there are six spreads of fact files (12 characters total) and six different re-tellings.

Nancy Dickmann grew up in the USA, where she played baseball, ate hot dogs and read encyclopaedias for fun. She has now lived in England long enough to think that cold and rain are normal, but still has yet to try Morris dancing. Before becoming an author, she worked as an editor and publisher of children's books. Now, with Pushkin the Three-Legged Wonder Cat as her trusty assistant (in charge of lap-sitting), she writes books on a wide range of topics, including animals, space, history, health and explorers. The highlight of her career so far has been getting to interview a real astronaut to find out how they use the toilet in space!