Lao Lao of Dragon Mountain

Illustrated by Francesca Pelizzoli

Chinese Text by Manyee Wan

Papercuts by Sha-Liu Qu

The book was written in consultation and with advice from Jessie Lim from the Lambeth Chinese Community Association

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Lao Lao has been translated into French, Italian, Spanish, Danish and Korean. Above are some of the different covers.

Papercutting

The story is inspired by the Chinese craft of papecutting. 

I was fortunate to have Sha-Liu Qu show me how to make the fine zig zag cuts.

Why not have a go yourself. 

Chinese New Year 2021 celebrates the ox. 

Beijing

March 2019 I was lucky enough to visit a school in Beijing,  and I visited two great landmarks - The Great Wall of China and the Forbidden City.

I looked out and knew I was looking at my book. Thank you Francesca Pelizzoli for your amazing illustrations. 

Chinese Text

The Chinese text is by Manyee Wan. The original book was in classical Chinese but the new edition is in Simplified Chinese.

Here is Lao Lao's rhyme that repeats through the book.

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Dragons!

Dragons come in all shapes and sizes. Some are so big, people often mistake them for mountains- however some dragons are so small they can fit in your pocket.Try looking for one in your purse!

And if you find that one of your socks has gone missing, then you may have a sock dragon living in your house. They only eat one sock out of a pair  and like to live under the bed or in the washing basket - infact any place where they can get hold of your discarded sock!

In my travels I have met pink flower dragons who look after the garden; pop star dragons who drive around in stretch limos; even footballing dragons with hairy legs and stripey socks-  they like to sleep on the cross bar. Take a look at the slide show to be inspired!

Resources