Tibet

Children's Literature - Uma Krishnaswami

Of course you know Tintin, and if you don't, my advice is to get acquainted as soon as possible with the spunky boy detective who elevated comic books to a whole new class. Now Barron's has brought out a travel series utilizing HergT's original cartoons and interweaving them with abundant information on the country or region of focus. While they tend to vary somewhat in the depth of the material covered, this one, on Tibet, is an attractive introduction to a fascinating place and people. There are snippets on multiple aspects of Tibetan life: yetis and yaks are here, so are marriage and death rituals, as well as the flight of the Dalai Lama and the struggle of today's Tibetans to retain their culture and identity. Photographs offer striking illustration of the geographical content. This series works best for the reader who has already learned about Tintin's travels through the comics. I found one factual error: the young monks on page 59 are not reading their alphabet, they're reading Hindi. Ah, well!