The Warlord's Puzzle

This book is called, The Warlord's Puzzle by, Nicolas Debon. Once there was a warlord who ruled china. One day an artist gave the warlord a one of a kind beautiful blue tile. But then. . . The artist broke it. Then the warlord said that the artist should get a punishment. The artist says that whoever solves the puzzle of the blue tile will get a huge reward. Then the warlord agrees with the artist. Later on, everyone knew about the big reward and how to get it. While everyone in line were waiting for their turn, the artist secretly searched for clever people in line. At the very end of the line, a poor peasant and his poor son were fishing for some tasty yummy supper. "What are all you honorable people doing?" asked the peasant. "We are waiting to solve a puzzle for the warlord," answered the scholar. Then the peasant and his son joined the line with the others. When they got to the palace, there were two giant pillars with dragons on it, but the poor little boy got frightened. "Enough!" roared the warlord "Artist, these two offend me more than all the rest. They will share your punishment. It was the peasant and the little boy's turn. While the little boy was trying to solve the puzzle, he was singing a thoughtful riddle. Then the warlord shouted with happiness. They solved the puzzle at last! This book shows that no matter how poor you are you can still be smart. All of the rich people came to the palace, but they didn't solve the puzzle. The person who solved the puzzle wasn't any of the rich people. The person who solved the puzzle was the peasant's poor son. I think the warlord should have tried to solve the puzzle by himself. He is forcing his land to solve the puzzle. The warlord is being very selfish. He just wants the puzzle to be solved for himself. If the warlord kept on trying he could have solved the puzzle by himself. I liked the way the little boy was brave and gave it a shot to solve the puzzle even though he could've gotten a punishment. By Valerie

Fine color drawings by Nicholas Debon bring the Chinese topics to life. Warlord's Puzzle tells of a fierce warlord in China who receives a ceramic tile as a gift, but sentences the man to punishment when it's shattered. The artist poses an unusual contest as the solution for the problem.

The Warlord?s Puzzle is a traditional Chinese tale that proves you do not have to have money or power to have intelligence. An artist gives a warlord a gift of a blue tile, and then drops it on the ground and breaks it into seven pieces. A contest is held that will reward anyone who can fix the tile, and the one who ends up solving the problem will surprise readers. The book has a mathematical twist because the pieces break in the shape of a tangram puzzle. The author has found many ways to capture the interest of readers in this unique story. First, the characters of the book come alive through the beautiful pictures. Each page is rich in color and shows the emotions of the characters throughout the story. The words on each page are also arranged in unique ways to help give emphasis to the text and interest readers. Some of the phrasing of the sentences is difficult for young readers to understand, so some explanations may need to be given while reading. Overall, this is a very interesting and creative book that could lead into many different types of discussions.

A Chinese warlord receives a ceramic tile as a gift and promptly sentences the artist who made it to death when the title is shattered into seven pieces. The desperate artist proposes that a contest be held. Whoever is clever enough to put the tile fragments back together will be asked to live in the warlord's palace -- and his own life would be spared. After an enormous multitude of people fail at the task, a little peasant boy figures out a novel and unexpected solution. Virginia Pilegard's The Warlord's Puzzle is a delightful, highly recommended picturebook story that is gorgeously illustrated with the full color, museum quality artwork of Nicholas Debon.

I can highly recommend this book to parents and teachers. It's well-written with characters that come alive through some of the nicest children's book art work I've seen this year.We used the tanagram puzzle pattern at the end of the book, and went on to make up our own, too. I think it's an excellent introduction to geometry.Plus we talked about ancient China vs. China today.You hear a lot about "math across the curriculum" and this book is such a great example of how that can work well for kids.Outside of the classroom, my son wants to read this book at bedtime, too!