Praise
The entire story brims with innocence and childlike fascination, its images trickling by in an unhurried stream. It all seems very subdued, but at every turn there are exquisite little surprises. The medium Xiong has chosen—silk—is both traditionally Chinese and famously difficult to work with. By developing an innovative twist on traditional methods that combines rubbing and collage techniques to produce images, he hits a personal high for storytelling and artistic skill, beyond anything seen in his work in recent years.
— Yimin Mao, Founder of Meridian
Xiong takes inspiration from Guo Zhong Chan’s Memories of Xiang Zhou to spin this evocative, nature-centered story about a mythical miniature being . . . Active verbs describe the swirling chaos provoked by every encounter, while delicate paintings depict cranes getting twisted up, monkeys clinging to a tree, and more . . . Meditative depictions of the fanciful relationship cast an atmospheric spell.
— Publishers Weekly
Xiong effectively highlights the natural environment with swirling shades of verdigris. The contrasting orange cap pops off the pages . . . [a] vivid, sweeping text [and] a deft account of a diminutive being standing up to a mighty force.
— Kirkus Reviews
Soft brushstrokes and ink wash illustrations follow a creature from Chinese folklore on a blustery adventure in this mythical tale . . . The wind builds, disturbing the forest and its creatures until the Treeling puts its foot down, and the pair walk gently home, content with the day’s adventure.
— Danielle Ballantyne, Foreword Reviews
Considering the scarcity of illustrated books in the Chinese children's literature market at the beginning of the 21st Century, it's fair to call his output 'prodigious' (indeed, it is unmatched inside China). Even more remarkable is the variety of styles he has boldly taken on from the very beginning, from works of ink wash painting and cut paper dripping with Asian tradition, to modern art bursting with color and individuality. His topics are similarly diverse, ranging from traditional Chinese folk art, nursery rhymes, legends, and Buddhist stories to children's works of pure fantasy. Some of his stories even draw on the everyday lives of today's children (especially those from rural areas). No matter his choice of medium, style, or subject, Xiong’s drive for artistic perfection has gradually brought into being a flawless, one-of-a-kind fusion of traditional and modern art.
— A Jia, Red Clay Reading
This magical adventure is equal parts zany and beautiful, following a tiny Treeling (akin to a gnome) who is awoken and ushered outside to roam by the impatient wind . . . Xiong's soft silk paintings are joyfully full of movement and spirit, tumbling across the page with the story.
— Hannah DeCamp, Avid Bookshop
Based on a 2,300-year-old nature poem by Song Yu, Take a Walk with the Wind imagines a child accompanying a wind along its unpredictable path. For his visual interpretation of Song’s poem, Xiong Liang creates treelings, a sparrow-sized people that live in China’s mountain forests . . . A bedtime story to look forward to (or any time of day, for that matter).
Take a Walk With the Wind is a kind of apologetic journey, set off by a Treeling being coaxed out of bed when the wind steals his orange cap. He walks with the wind – and floats, tumbles, flies, and goes spelunking with it – and also spends the book saying sorry to animals whose peace has been disturbed . . . Liang pencils gorgeous nature drawings with watercolor impressions that are like the wind themselves. White cranes on overcast-eggshell and slate-gray ground under treebark bears in midnight caves; hunter-green fronds over placid, sea green waters; a command of the style-as-nature.
Soft brushstrokes and ink wash illustrations follow a creature from Chinese folklore on a blustery adventure in this mythical tale. Inspired by a classical Chinese poem of the same name, the book follows a young Treeling (a childlike being that springs from undisturbed ancient forests) who is awoken and dragged on an adventure by the mischievous wind. The wind builds, disturbing the forest and its creatures until the Treeling puts its foot down, and the pair walk gently home, content with the day’s adventure.
— Foreword Reviews
Liang’s story gives the wind a voice of its own . . . urging the Treeling to wake up, keep up, and come along for the ride. Even the textures of the story speak of wind: soft washes of ink on rustling silk paper that ripples, ruffles, and wrinkles . . . This is a book that will leave kids wanting to take a walk with the wind, and maybe keep an eye out for the Treelings hiding nearby.
On each spread, Xiong’s paintings introduce the reader t o animals that are swept up by the wind’s might. Bending bird legs, flapping wings, a pony’s wild mane, boulders and stones all quiver and fly in the wind’s wake. Xiong’s illustrations are full of movement and spontaneity, Emma Raddatz [of Elsewhere Editions] added, but are simultaneously precise and intimate . . . “He really captures both of these states, and evokes the feeling of being in a natural world that both quiets and overwhelms."