The Big Rock: A Tale of Wisdom Told in English and Chinese

by Jian Li

Grandpa builds a beautiful little vegetable garden, but a big ugly rock is in the way. He digs it with a shovel. Thinking that it is as big as a car, he decides to bypass it when planting vegetables. Grandma nearly trips over the rock when watering the seedlings, so she digs it with a shovel. Thinking that it is as big as a house, she decides to walk across it when she is there. Papa stumbles over the rock when he is going to trim the seedlings, so he digs it with a shovel. Thinking that it is as big as an airplane, he decides to let it stay. Mama is worried about her sons tripping over the rock, so she digs it with a shovel. Thinking that it is as big as a mountain, she decides to keep her sons out of the vegetable garden. One day, the two brothers see the big rock and decide to dig it out together. Both their grandparents and parents tell them to give it up, because the rock can be bigger than they ever imagine. However, in just one afternoon, the two brothers dig out the rock successfully. It is not as big as they think. Sometimes the things in front of us are not as simple as they look.

Genres: Picture Books

40 pages, Hardcover

Published January 25, 2022

Reviews

[寿理 宮本]

I have a Vox Books edition from the library, though I feel like I want to unfairly dock the rating for it. For one thing, the Vox Books device—while they definitely TRIED to make it as slim as possible—is as wide as the book itself, so it's easy to bend the cover if you're not careful with it. For another, the device for this library copy specifically plays until Papa's attempt with the big rock, then it just *stops.* It's not out of battery, since I can turn it off and back on and replay it from the beginning; it just stops as though that's the end of the book.

The audio portion itself is also a little stilted, at least for the English portion. (I know close to nothing about Mandarin to be able to fairly grade the Chinese segments.) I don't know how large of a budget the Vox Books company has, but it sounds like they did minimal editing, or got the cheapest reader.

I'm also just surprised at how complicated Mandarin is even for *younger readers*—Japanese at least has a simplified alphabet for learning the words before then learning the kanji for the same words. But the hanzi in the book is kind of hard! Do children REALLY learn these all at such a young age?

I mean, I guess they HAVE to—you learn your environment if you want to get along in it.

The story itself is fine. I can't accurately judge it as an educational artefact, but definitely would recommend it to younger Chinese readers learning both languages!

[Miss Becky]

The big rock in Grandpa's garden is in the way. He tries to dig it up , but it is just to big. He then imagines it to be as big as a car. Then Grandma tries to dig it up and thinks it must be as big as a house under the soil. Papa and Mama think it is even bigger. But then two brothers dig and dig and soon with the help of the others they are able to move the rock that was not as big as they all thought it was.

[Dina]

I like this book that is based on The Blind Men and the Elephant. A simple storyline, limited amount of words on each page (in both English and Chinese), beautiful illustrations, the cultural explanation and a theme of drawing "conclusions based on your limited perspective and experience, you will never know the truth." Two thumbs up for this book! Another great selection from my public library!

[Andréa]

Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss.

[Keitha]

A simple story with unique and pleasing illustrations, based on a parable. The end note is useful.

[Melanie Gaum]

I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss.