On the Tip of a Wave

Starred review from July 1, 2023
An eloquent tribute to the ways this renowned Chinese artist has worked to shed light on the international refugee crisis. Having spent much of his youth as a forcibly relocated person in China and so knowing what it's like to live (as Ho puts it in a paraphrased comment from the artist's mother) "on the tip of a wave, far from home and always in danger," Ai Weiwei has not only personally helped crowds of refugees coming ashore on an Aegean island, but created widely viewed art to highlight their plight--notably Safe Passage, an installation made up of hundreds of their discarded life jackets. Chien's sensitive, impressionistic scenes pop with the bright orange of those jackets and also the deep blue in flowing brushed lines both of water and of hazy adults and children fleeing wars and natural disasters with little beyond "memories, fears, hopes, and dreams." In the simply phrased main narrative and a substantial afterword, author and illustrator also follow Ai's career as he learned to turn the "dignity in his hands" to striking, memorable art made from simple items, from one coat hanger to thousands of backpacks and millions of hand-painted sunflower seeds. Several inset stills from his recent video documentaries likewise commemorate how he has "invited the world to take action" and "helped the world remember humanity." (This book was reviewed digitally.) Inspiring insights into how art can reify vital current issues. (Picture-book biography. 7-9)

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Starred review from September 4, 2023
Lyrical free verse from Ho (Eyes That Kiss in the Corners) tells the story of Chinese artist Ai Weiwei (b. 1957), who knew what it was to live “on the tip of a wave,/ far from home/ and always in danger” following a young life in a Chinese labor camp where “childhood/ blew past/ him like sand.” At the story’s center is the artist’s 2016 public installation, Safe Passage, which over one night draped the pillars of Berlin’s Konzerthaus with thousands of orange life jackets “salvaged from a neon mountain/ on an island/ in the Aegean Sea.” The next day, at a star-studded film event, “on-lookers and/ gala-goers gawked” while the jackets “remembered/ the wave riders/ the world seemed to forget.” In digitally finished pencil and pastel spreads, Chien (All the Beating Hearts) picks out in Day-Glo orange key elements of the artist’s monumental installations—“Nine thousand backpacks... Too many toy bricks to count”—placing them against sweeping blue backgrounds that frequently emphasize people displaced “by currents/ they could not control.” The creators treat with sophistication themes of political marginalization, creative risk-taking, and the power of art to shift sentiment. A concluding biography and photographs offer context. Ages 4–8.

Starred review from October 1, 2023

PreS-Gr 3-Ai Weiwei is an artist born in China during the late 1950s, when government officials were trying to rid the country of academic individuals who didn't approve of the way they ran the country. Left with his family to live in a labor camp, Weiwei learned to survive by drawing and sculpting on the dirt walls of the hole his family inhabited in the desert. In his 20s, Weiwei was able to move to the United States to study art, only returning to China to be with his ailing father. Noticing a stark difference between China and the U.S. surprised Weiwei. He began creating art that spoke about humanity, namely refugees. Illustrated in pencil, pastels, and the use of digital, this book boasts the orange, blue, and white of the life vests worn by the refugees as they traveled by sea to seek solace in a new land where very few were welcomed. Back matter explains in detail about Weiwei's life and work. Inspiration is sprinkled throughout as the illustrator weaves examples of Weiwei's work on every page. "Establishing the understanding that we all belong to one humanity is the most essential step for how we might continue to coexist on the sphere we call Earth." VERDICT An outstanding biography of an important artist whose work challenges us to change the way we look at other human beings. This will guide deep discussions on borders and the plight of so many people around the world.-Tracy Cronce

Copyright 2023 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from October 15, 2023
Grades 2-5 *Starred Review* In the opening scene of this picture-book biography that is full of symbolism and challenging issues, blues dominate the mixture of fear and hope as refugees from Turkey float unsteadily to Greece. Ho (Say My Name, 2023) describes their plight in lyrical text that travels outward from the spread's center on the same waves as the refugees. One man, Ai Weiwei, a Chinese contemporary artist, notices the neon mountain of orange life jackets left behind when the refugees land. Throughout the pencil-and-pastel illustrations, this orange contrasts prominently against the blue. From here, the text and muted scenes transition to Ai's childhood spent in a labor camp after his father was exiled by the Chinese government. These harsh conditions and his own displacement from China influenced Ai to create art from such common objects as a coat hanger, shoe, violin, or LEGOs, challenging viewers to see the world differently and recognize human rights. Examples of his unusual social-justice displays lead to one of his most provocative art installations, Safe Passages, in which he wrapped the pillars of a German concert house with life jackets salvaged from the Turkish refugees to draw attention to their struggles. Back matter with photographs of Ai and more of his art fill in details about his background and mission. Visually stunning and thought provoking.

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November 1, 2023
In this powerful picture book, readers learn about artist/activist/filmmaker Ai Weiwei, the worldwide refugee crisis, and the effects art can have in shining a light on humanitarian issues. Readers meet Ai Weiwei in contemporary times as he helps a large group of newly arrived refugees in boats landing on a Greek beach. Flashing back, the text relates that his own tumultuous childhood in a 1960s Chinese labor camp was when he started making art using ordinary objects. The book's main focus is on his notable protest artwork, visually referenced on the pages; the story concludes by returning to the plight of current-day "wave riders." Ho's vivid, expressive prose and Chien's bright orange and blue impressionistic pencil and pastel drawings -- incorporating waves, life jackets, and documentary photographs -- inspire empathy for the refugees, many of whom are young children or families. More straightforward biographical details appear in the back matter; and Ho writes that Ai Weiwei's "art and activism call on us, the citizens of the world, to lift each other up." This book is a good companion read for Ho's Playing at the Border (rev. 9/21) and Gravel's What Is a Refugee? Michelle Lee

(Copyright 2023 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)