LitPick Review
"Mango for the Beginner Chibis" by Christopher Hart is an instructional drawing book for kids. A chibi is a term for a short, stock, cute character in Japanese manga (cartoons). They tend to represent children or are supposed to be adults transformed by emotion. Their bodies are only about as long as three of their large heads, and their expressive eyes take up most of their face. This book both shows and tells readers the basics of drawing them and then goes into the more complex nature of motion, backgrounds, costumes, sidekicks, and more.
Opinion:
This book is great for kids that want to draw cute little chibis. Girls will probably enjoy this book more than boys because, while there are some action drawings and weapons, for the most part, the drawings are fluffy and girly. While chibis are a form of Japanese manga, this book does not show just Asian-looking characters; providentially, there are some Aryan looking characters as well as some African looking characters. Additionally, while some manga has a bad reputation of depicting boys and girly grossly immodestly, this book shies away from that and does not draw characters with "adult" bodies. Overall, this book would make a great gift for young artists, especially girls.
