23 August 2017 by Christina Barker
Title: Hit Spring Ox (Stories of animal sign series)
Author: Xue Lin
Reviewer: Christina Barker
On the front cover, Hit Spring Ox is on the rice field with the baby Oxen. He has a colourful piece of cloth draped over his body which is very pretty. He looks very friendly and is watching over the little ones as one smiles up at him.
I like the part of the story which tells us why there is a gold Ox star in the sky. We can relate to this as we can still see that group of stars today, now known as Taurus. I now also understand why we have plenty of rice!
There seems to usually be magic in all of these stories and it’s always unexpected. This one I think was the most unexpected of all though!
I enjoyed this story and even had some rice for my dinner! I think children will enjoy this story too.
Reviewer: Taylor Brooker
From the title and the front cover, I really had no idea what to expect from this story! Everything that happened was very unexpected, but it was nice to learn about Ox and the correlation with the Taurus constellation, as it makes it relatable to more cultures, as everyone knows about constellations.
Once again the story is great for teaching children lessons, as Golden Ox was helpful and kind firstly to Mouse, then was brave and selfless when he wanted to deliver rice to the humans and help them eat and live well. He risked his own health to stay and help them, which is extreme but it definitely teaches morals which is really good.
Each page is bright and colourful, perfect for attracting children, and just helps them learn the lessons and enjoy the story even more!
