Little Leap Forward: A Boy in Beijing - Hardcover

A simple, poetic and haunting tale about childhood in Beijing during the Cultural Revolution. --Angels and Urchins

One of the many pleasures of this moving story...is its depiction of how a musical child experiences the world as a symphony of sounds. The warm wash of color and the textured detail in Helen Cann s illustrations reinforce the novel s pastiche of folk tale, parable and realism. Yue and Farrow... evoke how Little Leap Forward bears witness with the eye of a poet, the ear of a musician and the transformative imagination of a storyteller. --The New York Times

Guo Yue and Clare Farrow's text is marked by its reflective lyricism. This is complemented beautifully by the sights of Beijing, captured so evocatively through Helen Cann's full-colour illustration plates that intersperse the novel. --Achuka.co.uk

Launch title for Barefoot Young Fiction Program. Publication in early summer ties in with Olympic Games. With Beijing set as the location, there is an unprecedented interest in China. Guo Yue grew up in Beijing at the time of the Cultural Revolution. The book is a semi-autobiographical account, based on the author's experiences. Afterword offers an explanation of what the Cultural Revolution meant for the author, his family and the Chinese people. Helen Cann has worked closely with the authors to create an authentic visual representation of Beijing as it wasin the 1960s.