Gr 1-3 Despite the subtitle, this picture book isn't overtly didactic: its simple text is journal-like. Engaging soft color and line images in a naive, unfussy style illustrate the life of a happy family (parents, grandparents, two sons, cat, dog) in a village abutting a bamboo forest, somewhereno maps or specific mention is madein China. Each successive season evokes something to be made from bamboo: food, water-conduits, utensils, even fans and flutes. Only one modern item is visible, a "flash light": otherwise, lifefishing, farming, making, marketingcontinues as it might have 100 years ago. Four vignettes show the fashioning of a kite, but readers don't see how to construct baskets, trays, backpacks, or brooms. There are several missteps in English: "light-weighted"; "hallow"; "lighting bugs"; "after drained off the water," and other awkward expressions. The realistic focus excludes a panda-sighting, though a brief afterword mentions pandas (but not the factors that now threaten bamboo forests). Readers will find this an attractive, low-key glimpse of an idyllic pre-tech way of life. VERDICT An additional purchase. Patricia D. Lothrop, formerly of St. George's School, Newport, RI