The Magic Horse of Han Gan

The Magic Horse of Han Gan by Chen Jiang Hong is a story about a boy named Han Gan who loves to paint but his family was too poor for him to buy brushes. One day he meets a famous painter named Wang Wei and he cannot resist but sketch one of his horses in the sand. Wang Wei loves his sketch and gives him supplies to paint on his own at home. Han Gan started drawing every second he could and was always drawing horses. He became so talented that within seven years the Emperor and Han Gan was offered a place at the Academy of official painters. But when he got there, Han Gan refused to change his craft that the teachers asked him to do. Han Gan only wanted to paint horses and that was all. People began to judge him because of his love for painting horses.

This is a great book with many amazing pictures and an amazing story of trying your best. Han Gan can relate to many students who love to paint or have a passion for certain things. This can be used in the classroom to teach children to work hard and become to the best at what they love. Han Gan is also Asian which can relate very well to Asian students. This can also be used to help students practice their drawing and the teacher can ask the students to draw pictures of horses. This can also be used at home to help students realize that they can work hard and never give up on what they love.