Review by Booklist Review
In this colorful picture-book biography, Leung introduces children to the life and work of architect I. M. Pei. Born in China, he spent his summers with his grandfather in Suzhou and was intrigued by the rock sculptures there, created over time by water flowing through volcanic rocks. Later, his family moved to Shanghai, where he made sketches of the many buildings under construction. He came to America to study architecture from professors teaching modernism, but he brought with him the desire to design buildings that would please people in the future as well as the present. As a young man, Pei was chosen to design the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library. Afterwards, his career soared, and today, his buildings are admired worldwide. While the text is relatively short, Leung does a good job bringing in early influences on Pei and suggesting how they guided his thinking when he created beautiful and sometimes unconventional buildings. In the imaginative illustrations, Wu uses vibrant colors effectively while showcasing examples of Pei's work. A good introduction to an influential architect.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Leung and Wu portray renowned modernist architect I.M. Pei (1917--2019) as perceptive, serious, and determined from an early age. Visiting stream-carved volcanic rocks in Suzhou, China, young Pei notes the "careful planning" behind the pieces. As an adult, he breaks with decorative architecture and embraces modernism--and he soon becomes one of its most recognizable champions, with commissions that include a new entrance to the Louvre. Pei's relentless creativity, and the excitement of modernism itself, are conveyed via digital images that combine crisp lines with almost luminescent colors, evoking the movement's signature geometric shapes and favored materials of glass and steel. Reportorial spreads occasionally take wonderful flights of fancy: one shows Pei leaning over Hong Kong as he contemplates creating a skyscraper that will withstand typhoons. A timeline and sources conclude. Ages 4--8. (May)
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 3--From an innovative skyscraper to a futuristic presidential museum to a 70-foot tall glass pyramid at the Louvre, architect I.M. Pei made his mark on the world by designing extraordinary buildings. Born in China, Pei moved to Shanghai in 1927 at age 10, where he was fascinated to see an early high-rise building go up. Inspired to design buildings of his own, Pei moved to the U.S. to study architecture just as the profession was moving away from traditional styles and towards embracing modern designs using new materials and construction methods. After he was chosen to design the JFK presidential library, Pei became a highly sought after architect, completing numerous projects around the world, "each carefully planned by a man who could foresee how the shape of a building must harmonize with nature, with people, and with time." Richly colored, digitally enhanced illustrations perfectly complement the text, with colors and shapes ranging from the curved lines and naturalistic earth tones of a rock garden in Suzhou, China to dazzling angles, geometric shapes, and neon colors for Pei's modern buildings. Back matter includes a time line and selected sources. VERDICT A fascinating and beautifully illustrated biography of one of our most celebrated architects. Highly recommended.--Sue Morgan
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A tribute to the distinctive approach and sensibility of the renowned modernist architect. In language as simple and stately as her subject's best works, Leung traces the long career of I.M. Pei (1917-2019) from childhood encounters with the intricately water-sculpted volcanic rocks in the gardens at Suzhou to his design of an art museum for the Chinese city many decades later. In between, she follows him to Shanghai and then the U.S., where he trained in his vocation, became a citizen, and, after winning a breakthrough commission to design the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, went on to a long and distinguished career. The author artfully develops her thesis that Pei "could foresee how the shape of a building must harmonize with nature, with people, and with time" by describing how he solved potential challenges in some of his iconic buildings, such as the tall but slender Bank of China tower in Hong Kong with its innovative diagonal bracing, as well as the daring but now iconic glass pyramid at the Louvre. (The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, alas, gets just a bare mention in the closing timeline.) In Wu's clean and lovely illustrations, Pei stands amid fanciful, harmoniously hued geometric shapes that tumble kaleidoscopically through his thoughts before flowing naturally, effortlessly, into structural components. Buildings and people alike seem to stand with graceful but monumental solidity. Acute and rich in insight. (selected sources) (Picture-book biography. 7-9) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
