Grandfather Tang's Story

by Ann Tompert, Robert A. Parker (Illustrator)

This folktale told using ancient Chinese puzzles and watercolor illustrations has been beloved for over twenty-five years and is the perfect addition to your reading list!

When Little Soo asks for a story, Grandfather Tang arranges the tangram pieces and two magic fox fairies spring to life. The foxes change shapes as quick as a wink, from rabbits to dogs to squirrels and geese. But their game turns dangerous when a hunter raises his bow. . . . 

Originally published in 1990, Grandfather Tang’s Story will continue to delight new readers as the wonder of the tangram puzzle—and an endearing game between a grandfather and his granddaughter—reveals a story of magic, clever animals, and, ultimately, true friendship. 

An NCSS-CBC Notable Children’s Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies 
An NCTE Notable Children’s Trade Book in the Language Arts 

“Ingenious.” — The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

Genres: Mathematics, Picture Books, Childrens, China, Animals, Asia, Family

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

Ann Tompert is an award-winning children's book author who has written more than 20 books, including Harry's Hats, Just a Little Bit, and Little Fox Goes to the End of the World.

Reviews

[Krista]

A story told by grandfather with Tangrams, ancient Chinese puzzles that are still being used today.

[Marisa]

The story has good examples of changing tangrams, but beyond that there’s little to recommend. The characters are flat and the Chinese fox spirit mythology is not fleshed out in order to give the story depth.

[Lady reading under the Willow]

This is almost like a Chinese Aesop's fable. I love the tangram element to the story!

[Christine]

Used as a literature connection for second grade math, as a way to introduce tangrams. Our curriculum included paper tangram pictures for the students to create using manipulatives (tangram shapes). This was always a favorite math unit, year after year. The story within the story, told by Grandfather Tang, is culturally diverse and also a big hit with the kiddos.

[Srujan]

Grandfather Tang's Story is a lovely Chinese fable about Little Soo and her Grandfather. It made me think of Indian fables of Panchatantra and Hitopdesh. Grandpa narrates a story of two fox fairies who are shape-shifters. The two fox friends adore each other but are also trying to o one up on each other. This competitive angle is also the thing that my twins to could relate to, they don't actively compete, but the FOMO hits them whenever their sibling does something haven't done yet. This behaviour lands the foxes in this story in trouble but they channel their friendship and come out of it winning. This book also was my twins introduction into the world of Tangrams. They are 4, so obviously they can't come up with tangrams on their own but they never saw no to me sitting down with them and making tangrams about books we have read and other things happening in life. Would enthusiastically recommend this one! <3

[Karen]

Grandfather Tang's Story is an excellent interactive story. Not only is the story being told through the words and the pictures, but also through tangrams. Tangrams are ancient Chinese puzzles that have 7 pieces all made from a square piece of paper. You put the pieces together to form different shapes. Grandfather Tang's Story uses these puzzles to make the characters come off the page.
The story is of two fairy foxes that are showing each other the great animals that they can become, but by doing this, one becomes the predator and one becomes the prey. They almost lose their friendship over this game. The big story is of the girl and her grandfather spending time together and enjoying each other.
I believe the pictures are done in watercolor and ink. They follow the story very well, and the pictures also give directions on how to make the tangrams.
I would strongly recommend this book to 1st-5th grade classes. I think this could be a great interdisciplinary lesson between math and language arts. There are many links that could be made with both of these subjects. I really think students would enjoy hearing the story and interacting with the tangrams while reading.

[Allen]

This book contains a story within a story. Little Soo is sitting with her grandfather under a tree, and they each have a set of tangrams. The each make a fox out of their tangrams, and then the grandfather tells a story about the fox friends. In the story the foxes keep changing their forms into other animals, and they keep trying to outdo the other. The story becomes one of survival as the creatures try to eat each other, but in the end both of them return to their fox shapes and continue their friendship.

I like this book because it shows creativity utilizing a common math manipulative. It also ends well, and I like stories with happy endings.

This book could be used in math to introduce some common shapes. Students could also be encouraged to use tangrams and their imaginations to create different things. They could then write a story contains their creations.

[Isabel]

This book is so fun! The story is action packed with messages about games that get out of hand and true friendship. This story is told within another sweet story about a girl and her grandfather. I took the time to make the tangrams with my daughter and it was a lot of fun. It slowed the pace of the story a bit and gave us a chance to fiddle around with geometry. At the conclusion of the book, the author has written a micro-history of tangrams and included some information about Chinese folklore, specifically, fairy foxes. How cool are Fairy Foxes? With life spans of up to 1000 years! Neat.

[Nicholas & Megan Clinch]

We have a set of Tangram tiles, & it was really fun to listen to our 6 year old read aloud while our 5 year old constructed the animals using the tiles. They did this several times, & it would be a fun thing to share at Show & Tell for family/friends.

[Anna Leong]

This story, told through tangrams, tells about two foxes Chou and Wu Ling who can change into other animals. The two start by trying to outdo each other in how fast they can change. It soon turns into a chase between the two to the point of one trying to eat the other. It stops when one of the foxes is hurt by an arrow, the two finally stop their chase and amend their friendship.

Genre: Folktale
Grade: 3rd

I think this book would be great to use for story sequencing, cause and effect, and theme. Because so many events happen in the book, I think this book would be a good opportunity for students to learn how to summarize events down and order important events (such as imperative changes). There is also reasons for why the two foxes change and why they eventually stop which would be useful when asking students why each event happens and what causes it (cause and effect). Of course, this tale comes with a theme such as the idea of being careful of things not getting out of hand and being aware of your own actions. This can relate to students and can be a good way to practice theme especially later on after it is initially introduced.

[Rosa Guerrero]

Summary: This book contains a story within a story. Little Soo is sitting with her grandfather under a tree, and they each have a set of tangrams. The each make a fox out of their tangrams, and then the grandfather tells a story about the fox friends. In the story they keep changing the form of the fox to different kinds of animals. Their are times that the animals try to eat each other but at the end they continue their friendship. This is a good diversity book because students can learn that reconnect back with friends is a good thing to do. It can define that person as one with good moral values.

Illustrator: Robert Andrew Parker

Evaluations of illustrations and texts: I like how the entire book the kid and the grandfather are sitting under a tree. The shares are shown throughout the entire book and it is very abstract and colorful.

Strategies of the classroom: This book could be used in math class and the students can be able to make different shapes with materials provided. Doing 3D shapes could be a good idea to enhance imagination and learn many more shapes.

[J]

A story in which a grandfather and his daughter decides to share a story with each other while Grandfather is using their sets of tangrams to make the characters change as he moves from one scene to the next. And where in the last story does he get a third set to make tree?

I like the concept behind the story but to those who don't know what tangrams are I am sure they may be slightly confused even with more information included in the back about them. The story itself that is being told isn't really much of a good story since it is just a magical showdown between the two foxes while one who is more competitive also seems like he is rather more the toxic character who is close to giving into his base instincts.

The illustrations are so-so to me for while they are colorful and have some details but the facial points are off thus making the illustrations to me so-so.

All in all it was a decent book and a great concept for introducing the idea of telling stories with tangrams but not an interesting enough book that I would willingly choose to read again.

[Lauren]

This adorable and beautiful picture book introduces tangrams to students. It starts with the history and has beautiful watercolor illustrations. It has a strong sense of Chinese culture and depicts a lovely relationship between a grandfather and granddaughter.

As the story goes along, new animals and characters are introduced in the form of tangrams. Two foxes are playing a game and shifting into new animals, with hijinks ensuing as instincts take over. It includes oral storytelling.

This would be the perfect book to use as a math connection with elementary students. Each student could start with a tangram square and make the animals as the story progresses. Allowing students to follow along in such a way would allow them to make their own experiences with tangrams. With primary students, they could practice making shapes from other shapes. This could also be used to practice the perimeter of irregular shapes with older elementary students.

[Becky B]

Grandfather Tang tells his granddaughter Little Soo a tale about two foxes trying to outdo each other. Grandfather tells the story about the foxes changing from one animal to another over the course of the contest with the help of tanagrams.

This mythological tale told with tanagrams shows exactly how to position the tanagrams to get each shape so those who have their own can replicate the animal shapes pretty easily. If you want to make it more challenging, put post its over the diagram. The tale sounds something out of actual Chinese mythology, but the back says the author made it up.

[Earl]

I can't believe I hadn't read this book before considering I love tangrams and other puzzles. (In fact, I'm sure this was a reread and I had just forgotten to include it on my blog and Goodreads feed.)

A grandfather and his granddaughter spend an afternoon playing tangrams and he uses the pieces to tell a story about a couple of playful fox-fairies who shapeshift into different creatures (with corresponding tangram set-up.) But it's not all fun and games when the foxes encounter an unexpected danger.

[Michelle Bellotti]

"Grandfather Tang's Story" is such a good book that incorporates math; more specifically, geometry and shapes. This story is a Chinese folktale, and the illustrations are watercolor which adds so much to the book. The watercolor illustrations help visualize the text, create texture, and draw the reader in. The author uses animals and tangram pieces to support the story. This is an excellent book for children because they do not even realize they are reading a book about math. The use of a folktale makes the story more interesting and intriguing, especially for younger children.

[Paige Hickey]

Genre: Traditional Literature
Grade Level: Pre-K - 2nd
This story is a great book to read to elementary students! There are a few parts in the story that may need to be skipped depending on the school district, but overall this is a great teaching book. It is all about the story behind the shape tangrams that are used in schools to teach shapes. I loved playing with these as a child, but never knew the story of how they were created, so this story was very fun to read. I recommend reading this book to children when teaching about shapes!

[Brooke]

I love this little story! I’m going to read it with my class and have them build the characters with tangrams as we read it. My favorite part of reading it with my son was his little giggle when we got to the end and the girl asked her grandfather to tell her another story and he said he would but it was about an old man who just wanted to rest by the tree and not tell another story. His giggle melted my heart that he understood it so quickly and just got it. Love this story!

[Jessie]

This has lots of words, and I think the experience would gain a lot from going through the story with two sets of tangrams and making the shapes as the creatures transform. (The last page uses three sets, but for the rest two is enough.)

The frame story is sweet and familial, and the story inside the story also includes the two characters showing a lot of care for each other.

[Theresa]

Grandfather Tang's Story (Paperback)
by Ann Tompert

Used in a third grade classroom to add to the understanding of the Tan o gram concept to the students. It's a cute story of a grandfather sharing a series of tan o gram transformations, with an explanation of how to create your own tan o grams in paper.

[Christine]

This story is excellent to use for elementary school children as an introduction to tangrams, as part of a geometry unit. Third graders were very intrigued by this book and the tangram activity- they had the option of cutting out the pieces and making different images, or going online to complete tangram puzzles.

[Danielle T]

It's a cute story about tangrams which would be great for doing with kids and not babies (especially if you have tangram tiles!) but a little disappointed no Chinese people were involved with either story or art (I'm guessing Tang was picked to go with tangrams though that's an actual surname in the branches of my family)

[Anna Mock]

This is a fun book to do with children with our tangram sets in front of us. It was hard for my 5 year old daughter to do (the tangrams), but my son had zero problem. I think it was just too advanced for her just yet. Anyway, the story is beautiful without being preachy, and the tangram element is really fun.

[Ellon]

I used the book with my first graders for a unit on tangrams. I liked how the tangram pictures are incorporated. I also liked how there would be clues about what the next animal would be. The students loved shouting out what would be next.

[Brittany]

A really fun picture book to read along if you have a few sets of tangrams. The kids and I raced to make the tangram pictures as I read the book to them. A nice way to incorporate different types of learning into our story time.

[Brianne Bowden]

Great book! I have read it a couple of times and I like the illustrations that give meaning to what you are reading about. I like how the shapes of the tangram are used and can provide children to want to create their own!

[Karan Johnstone]

Good book to read before playing with tangrams

[Guen]

Uses tangram shapes to tell the story.

[Rani]

Tanagram is the use of seven pieces of triangles arranged in different shapes. Great use of the geometric tools in story telling.

[Valerie Perez]

I am a teacher that uses various technology in the classroom. This is an excellent book to incorporate STEAM with literature lessons.