The Story About Ping, first published in 1933, is a classic and if you were to make a list of the children’s picture books that one must own then Ping would have to be on that list. I can remember it being read to us often at school and as an adult I certainly knew that this was one book I needed to have on the shelf.
However as an adult reading this book actually makes me a little sad and I wonder if that feeling is what makes me remember Ping from childhood?
‘Once upon a time there was a beautiful young duck named Ping.
Ping lived with his mother and his father and two sisters and three brothers and eleven aunts and seven uncles and forty two cousins. Their home was a boat with two wise eyes on the Yangtze river. ’
The theme of the story is a common one amongst children’s literature; Ping is exploring his environment as all children do and, not concentrating, he misses his call to return to the boat. Knowing that the last duck across the bridge onto the boat will get a spank with a big stick, Ping hides in the grasses on the bank of the river and watches as the boat sails away.
Kurt Wiese’s illustrations are gorgeous and portray the environment perfectly as Ping paddles down the crowded, yellow waters of the Yangtze. Wiese gives the little yellow duck so much emotion and personality in his face and body movements.
While travelling down the river Ping also see fishing birds – cormorants – which have metal rings tight around their necks so that they could never swallow the fish that they catch. Hence leaving the fish for the fisherman.
Ping almost becomes dinner for a family on the river who capture him and leave him under a basket until the little boy of the family quietly slips him back into the river. Ping successfully finds his boat but is again late and gets whacked with the stick as he crosses the bridge. Happy ending – Ping is back with his relatives in the relative ‘safety’ of his home.
There are many, many reviews of this book on Amazon that are very interesting, ranging from customers loving the book, to mixed feelings and those who think it is racist and cruel. It is interesting to see what the adults who are reviewing the book take from the story, some believing that it has a great moral about facing up to consequences and taking a punishment for what you have done wrong or one reviewer who mentions that you could use the story to argue in support of Fascism, Communism, Capitalism, or Social Darwinism!
Even after writing this I am still not sure why I remember this book from my childhood. As an adult though and after rereading the story today I still love the illustrations and the tale of sailing down the Yangtze however the fear that Ping has of being hit because he is last over the bridge as well as the yoked birds does irk me. I do appreciate that the story was written in a very different time and found the review on Vintage Kids’ Books My Kid Loves very interesting inrelation to children learning about the world of their grandparents.
It would be interesting to hear from others who remember Ping and also from people who have read it to their children. What do children in 2009 think of The Story About Ping?
Note: I thought it was funny that some of the reviews for Ping on Amazon are actually for computer programming books. I had to have a look on Wikipedia to find out what it is.
soooo great…. check out my awful demise when you get a chance!
I vaguely remember Ping when I was a kid. I would definitely consider trying to a copy again for future generations.
I gave Ping to my nephews who are three and four-and-a-half, and they love it. It is, along with many other books where characters are punished, fascinating to them.
I am a professor of Japanese and whenever I give a test/midterm/final, I offer to grade the test of that last person to hand in their test. For at least 15 years I would ask that person, “Do you know the story of Ping, the Duck?” Not once have any of my students said they did. (I would then describe to them how in order to escape punishment for being the last one on the boat, he hid in the reeds by the side of the river and nearly lost his life as a result. My point being that I didn’t want my students to feel like they’d be punished for being the last one in the room. I’d give the benefit of immediate feedback.)
I am 52, but still remember the dread I felt everytime the story was read to me, of not hearing the call, the separation from mother, father, siblings, aunts and uncles and cousins (I come from a large family and extended families), and the treachery of that little pigtailed son-of-a-bitch with a rice cracker and a barrel on his back who tricked Ping nigh unto his death, but then redeemed himself by letting Ping go. Even though Ping was reunited with his family, the reality of a world that would cook you up with rice for dinner remained.
I love this story and wish that there were more like it for my own children. Family, collaboration, danger, luck, compassion, courage… I love it.
P.S. I’m giving a test at this very moment, a final for first year Japanese.