Be Water, My Friend

The Early Years of Bruce Lee
By Ken Mochizuki, Dom Lee
Paperback: $11.95

The true story of the formative years of Bruce Lee’s early life growing up in Hong Kong in the 1940s and 1950s, before he became an international film star.

Description

Growing up in Hong Kong in the 1940s and 1950s, young Bruce Lee had an active mind, boundless energy, and a knack for finding trouble. As he grew older, Bruce also developed an interest in martial arts. He thrived on the grueling training but struggled to understand and apply the principles of gentleness and yielding that the master taught. Only after he set sail for the United States at the age of eighteen did Bruce truly embrace the values of martial arts and discover his own path to inner calm.

Bruce Lee eventually became a pioneer of martial arts cinema, and his legacy lives on in popular culture. In Be Water, My Friend, his boyhood journey toward self-discovery and his courage to overcome obstacles will inspire all who search for their way in the world today.

About the Creators

Ken Mochizuki

Ken Mochizuki is a writer, journalist, and former actor who made his picture-book debut with Baseball Saved Us. He is also the author of several other award-winning picture books published by Lee & Low, including Passage to Freedom and Heroes. Mochizuki lives in Maple Valley, Washington. His website is kenmochizuki.com.

Dom Lee

Dom Lee made his picture-book debut with Baseball Saved Us. He grew up in Seoul, South Korea, and went on to illustrate books in both the United States and Korea. His titles for Lee & Low include Ken Mochizuki's Passage to Freedom and Heroes, as well as the award-winning Sixteen Years in Sixteen Seconds. Lee's unique illustration style involves applying encaustic beeswax on paper, then scratching out images, and finally coloring the images with oil paint. Lee and his wife live in Hollis, New York.

Reviews

  • "This picture-book biography is a gentle tribute to a martial-arts legend. . . The brown-and-white illustrations, scratched through beeswax melted over acrylic on paper, are lovely and play an important role in moving the narrative along."

    - School Library Journal
  • "Mochizuki and Lee are compelling storytellers."

    - Publishers Weekly
  • "Lee looks rather nerdy in his early years, which will no doubt lend appeal."

    - Kirkus Reviews
  • "By the author and illustrator of Baseball Saved Us (1993), this distinctive-looking book offers a smoothly written text and many handsome, textured acrylic paintings done in tones of brown and cream acrylic paints. With its sophisticated look and high-interest topic, this picture book has appeal for readers across a broad age range."

    - Booklist
  • "Photographically exact drawings in sepia by the sensitive and masterful artist Dom Lee illustrate the early years of Bruce Lee. Accurate to a degree seldom seen in picture books, these superbly catch the flavor of life in old Hong Kong. . ."

    - Multicultural Review
  • "For this gift of successfully introducing Bruce Lee to a new generation, author, illustrator and publisher are to be congratulated. While my children are currently too young, there will come a time when I will share with them the story of a boy whose passage to adulthood and short life offered many lessons, for better or worse."

    - Bruce Lee Review

Paperback

  • ISBN 9781620141649
  • Price $11.95
  • Publication Date Sep 01, 2006
  • Trim Size 8.5 × 10 in
  • Weight 0.375 lbs
  • Page Count 32
  • Word Count 1665
  • Hardcover

  • ISBN 9781584302650
  • Price $16.95
  • Publication Date Sep 01, 2006
  • Trim Size N/A
  • Weight 0.875 lbs
  • Page Count 32
  • Word Count 1665
  • Interests

  • Imprint Lee & Low Books
  • Audience Children
  • BISAC Category 1 JNF / Places / Asia
  • BISAC Category 2 JNF / Biography & Autobiography / Sports & Recreation
  • BISAC Category 3 JNF / Sports & Recreation / Martial Arts
  • Themes Asian / Asian American / AAPI, Biography / Memoir, Childhood Experiences and Memories, Dreams & Aspirations, Gratitude, Identity / Self Esteem / Confidence, Informational / Expository Nonfiction, Integrity / Honesty, Leadership, Nonfiction, Overcoming Obstacles, Persistence / Grit, Self Control / Self Regulation, Sports, Sports History
  • Reading Levels

  • Age Range Ages 6 - 11
  • Grade Range Grades 1 - 6
  • Guided Reading R
  • ATOS Book Level 4.5
  • DRA 40
  • Interest Level Grades 1 - 6
  • Lexile Level 790
  • Reading Level Grades 3 - 4
  • SRC 4.5
  • Bebop Reading Fluent
  • This Book is Included in These Collections:

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