Lang Lang

September 1, 2008
Gr 6-9-Winning his first piano competition in his native China at age five, Lang Lang had only one thought in mind from the beginning: to be "Number One." While his accolades have been many, his trials have been equally numerous, for he was forced to spend most of his childhood away from his kind and loving mother and under the ever-watchful eye of his strict father. He suffered tremendous homesickness and had to learn to cope with situations far beyond those normal for his chronological age in order to realize his dream of being an internationally known pianist on the classical circuit. This boy wonder explains his life as the pampered only child of parents who placed all of their hopes in him. His father definitely went over the edge, at one point even begging his 10-year-old son to overdose on pills because he had "lost face"a part of the story that is sure to horrify readers. The book includes a glossary of Western composers with Lang Lang's personal commentary about their strengths and styles. Much like Li Cunxin's "Mao's Last Dancer" (Walker, 2008), this is the story of a young man determined to make something of himself, not only for his own sake, but also for the sake of his family. However, unlike the former, which places the personal story within the political context of Maoist China, "Lang Lang" is a totally personal tale. Nevertheless, because of the youthfulness of the author, his autobiography could serve as an additional purchase for libraries building modern-biography and/or Chinese-culture collections."Nancy Menaldi-Scanlan, LaSalle Academy, Providence, RI"

Copyright 2008 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

sedotesafikave - This book "Lang Lang Playing With Flying Keys" is written by Lang Lang, a famous pianist, Micheal French,who have already published twenty books,and Danlel Barenboim ,who takes the picture of this book. This is a 208 pages biography book, written about a famous pianist who have hardworking to become a world famous pianist. But on the way to be famous, there are still a lot of unhappy stuff like Lang Lang is very angry about his dad, by making him doing the stuff that he didn't want to do and his dad didn't want him to play toys. But Lang Lang is still getting in to playing piano. The main lesson Lang Lang learned is that don't ever give up on the thing that are hard or maybe you can't get done so easy because if not then it will be more harder than it is before. For example, when Lang Lang stop playing just because his dad is being mean to him so Lang Lang just stop playing. After three mouth when he start playing again, he almost for got all the thing he learned. So that's the most important thing he learned. I would recommend this book because first this book is good, it help more people knowing that being a superstar is not a easy thing, they have to be hardworking to became a superstar and don't give up on some thing that is hard. And the one unanswered question to Lang Lang is "if your dad didn't make you play piano then what are you going to do, still playing piano or not?"

June 1, 2008
Although he is only 26, Chinese-born Langis recognized as one of the worlds most accomplished classical pianists. This smoothly paced, often rivetingly candid autobiography, written with MichaelFrench, follows the musicianthrough his first encounters with the keyboardandgrueling training to histriumphant debut concerts with the Chicago Symphony. The musician addresses the intense pressures he experienced in full detail, and he vividly recounts his turbulent relationship with his father, whose inflexible expectation that his son be the number one pianist in all of China. And then all the world led to incidents of abuse and violence. Throughout, Lang honors the mentors who helped him develop his remarkable gift, and his revealing, humble account may inspire readers not only to apply themselves to their own talents but also to approach music with the openhearted passion thatLang writes about so convincingly. A map of China and a time line help round out this strong autobiography. Older readers might also be interested in Lang and David Ritzs adult book, Journey of a Thousand Miles, reviewed on p.32(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)