Although there are many problems in the creation and publication of original picture books, it also shows that there is still enough room to grow. Since 2000, original picture books have made great progress with the support of national policies, which is inseparable from the persistent efforts of a group of picture book editors. In 2021, "Sultan's Rhinoceros Horn", "Little Bear Run", "I Am a Soybean", "Nini's Garlic Seedlings", "They Must Be Hungry", etc., which won the first prize and recommendation award of the "Feng Zikai Children's Picture Book Award", all show the daily life and emotions of Chinese children from different angles, perhaps there are clumsy and green places in the presentation of pictures and stories, but they all reflect the possibility of "interesting, vivid and sincere" original picture books. This edition was compiled by original picture book editor Li Yindou to sort out the timeline of the development of original picture books for more than 20 years, and she also chatted with several editors who insisted on making original picture books about the joy of work.
There are still countless editors in this field who are quietly working hard, they may just hit by mistake when they enter the industry, and there are also wanderings when the work is not satisfactory, but the editors who can always stick to it are eager to discover more excellent text authors and illustrators, and make original picture books that children really like.
This article is from B04-05 of the Beijing News Book Review Weekly's January 28, 2022 feature "Seeing" China's Original Picture Book.
"Theme" B01 丨 "See" Original Chinese Picture Book
"Theme" B02-03 丨 The rise of original picture books, obstacles and long
"Theme" B04-05 丨 "Editing" our spiritual garden in an original picture book
"Literature" B06 | Forty Degrees North Latitude: Historical Possibilities and Historical Facts
"Literature" B07 | Reconnaissance Machine: Can the new machine help people live better?
"Literature" B08丨 Wallace Stevens: Fictional Angels
Written by | Lee Indou
Interviewer: Li Yindou. He graduated from the Department of Chinese of Fudan University with a master's degree. In March 2017, he began to work as a children's book editor. Edited and published original picture books such as "Tigers, Don't Be Afraid", "Tigers, It's Snowing", "They Must Be Hungry" and so on.
Interviewee: Light rain. I have been working in the publishing industry for just three years as a children's book editor, and my main job is to make original children's books. The original picture books edited include "Little Story", "Chunfu", "Grandma's Blue Tin Cabinet Wheelchair" and so on. I love to read, and I don't just like to read. Because books do not have to be used to gain wisdom about life, but books can help us better read and understand ourselves and the world in which we live.
Interviewee: Ma Haoyue. He graduated from Zhejiang Normal University with a master's degree in children's literature and has been working as a picture book editor in Pu pulan since graduation. More than 30 original picture books have been edited, including "Monster Mountain", "Sultan's Rhino Horn", and "Walking Trilogy". I believe that "picture books are sophisticated instruments with no superfluous parts".
Interviewee: Liu Ben. Original picture book editor, picture book creator. After graduation, he entered the field of original picture books and has been working as an editor ever since. He has published "Your Hand My Hand My Hand", "3", "Life", "One Day in the Future", "Flying and Flying", etc., and edited picture books such as "Moonlight and Moonlight", "Dotted Summer", "Today I Am a Soybean", "Grandfather's Garden" and so on. He is now in charge of the daily editing of the original picture book brand "Pine Sparrow Bookstore".
Interviewee: Zhang Yue. Graduated from Central China Normal University majoring in preschool education, he has been engaged in editing and publishing for 20 years, including 16 years as an original picture book editor in Xinyi, and participated in the editing of picture book works from "Reunion" in 2008 to "Different 1" in 2021.
01
Why choose to be an original picture book editor?
Xiaoyu: I probably started this business because I liked to read books in bookstores since I was a child, and I also liked to draw and write by myself. Later, I went to college to study Chinese language and literature, and after graduation, I did online education and management of community picture book libraries for a period of time, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that this combination of pictures and texts was not as "young" and "small" as I originally expected, and then I learned more about the story and history behind picture books, and I had the idea of being a children's book editor.
However, the reason for becoming an original picture book editor was more accidental, when the company happened to be recruiting children's book editors, just invited Arthur Hubshcmid, the editor-in-chief of a French children's book publishing house, to teach the editing experience, and just happened to follow like-minded partners to make original picture books from scratch, so they embarked on this small fork in the road.
In fact, when I first started doing this job, I was quite worried about whether I could "write books for children", because I thought I had no children and did not know children, but Arthur said: "Understanding children is actually included in understanding people, you must be curious about what kind of people we are, and want to explore our real hearts, not our external things, to show other people." 」
His words gave me a lot of confidence, because this is exactly what I can read in a good children's book, the most precious and cherished things in the human heart. I think the basic task of being an editor,whether it's a children's book or an adult book," is to be responsible for finding them and making them visible to more readers.
Ma Haoyue: From the perspective of the soul, of course, it is because of love. Being able to do it for ten years in Pu pu lan proves my love. From a practical point of view, my master's degree is children's literature, and it is more appropriate to edit children's books.
Ms. Ikuko Ishikawa, pu puran's president at the time, was Japanese, but she always encouraged us to make original Chinese picture books. In the early days of Pu Pulan, it took a long time to make original picture books, and the team of authors was extremely scarce, and it was difficult to make a profit. Some editors asked "why do you want to make original, and don't make money", but President Ishikawa patiently told us: "You are Chinese, Chinese culture is broad and profound, Chinese children must have their own original picture books!" She has a sense of mission for Chinese originality, and she also passes this sense of mission to every editor.
Someone asked me, "Don't you want to be a picture book author?" "Although I have loved drawing and writing since I was a child, after I have known so many geniuses, I understand that my talent is just right for editing. I've heard a saying before: "Editing is a retreat for people who can't be authors." "I initially wanted to save the country by curve, but I didn't expect it to end up being a retreat. I love being behind the scenes and watching the geniuses I've discovered shine in front of the stage.
Liu Ben: Actually, I am a person whose goal is not particularly clear in finding a job. Although both undergraduate and graduate are Chinese departments, I belong to a confused person. But I may be clear about two things, one is that I prefer books and books, and children's literature is the direction I have always been interested in reading; the other is that I like things related to art.
After that, I happened to meet Xinyi recruiting "literary editors", so I submitted my resume and fought for it, and went to Nanjing to work. After working here for three years, the most learned thing should be how to be a "picture book editor" instead of a separate "literary editor" and "art editor".
Although the relationship between picture books and paintings and pictures is very large, and the post-editing work is mostly related to drawings, retouching, and typesetting, but picture book editing, I think it should be a composite - literary editors with picture thinking or art editors with literary thinking. Literature and artistry cannot be separated in picture books.
Later, he left Xinyi to work as an editor at a friend's original picture book studio, and began to try to be an independent editor and create. My career path hasn't gone through many choices, I've been an original picture book editor since I entered the field, and until now, 2022 is exactly the tenth year. It's not that I don't want to be an adult book editor, nor do I want to be an imported book editor, but I haven't encountered an opportunity. In a nicer way, can it be said that "deeply cultivate the field of original picture books"?
Illustration of the original picture book "Grandfather's Garden". (By Xiao Hong, Gong Yanling paints magic elephants |.) Guangxi Normal University Press, April 2021 edition )
02
Edit happy moments at work
Xiaoyu: The moment when you receive a reply "Let's try it" after writing a job invitation email to an author who is completely unfamiliar but very fond; the moment when you read the storyboard draft given by the author to determine that it is a good book; the moment when you hear the author say when sharing the new book, "The editor of this book is Xiaoyu, and she is also very important"; the moment when you first inform the author of the author's new book stamp sheet; the moment when you and your colleagues in the editorial team become trusting companions, laughing and crying together because of work... Although these moments are only a small part of the editorial work, they are very happy and precious moments.
Ma Haoyue: The first highlight moment was the first original picture book I edited, Monster Mountain, which has sold 250,000 copies so far. This is Teacher Peng Yi's picture book debut. The trust of Mr. Peng Yi and President Ishikawa and Editor-in-Chief Xiaohuijie, the guidance of Haruko Murachi, editor of the Japanese Poplar Society, and the two predecessors of the American Editors, Chen Meng and Han Yujuan, made me understand the strength of the team for the first time.
The second highlight was the first trip to Bologna, Italy, with colleagues in 2015 for the Children's Book Fair. Horizons have broadened, meeting authors and peers from all over the world, seeing the latest works every year, attending copyright fairs with copyright colleagues, and getting excited every day.
The third highlight moment is that since 2017, he has repeatedly run to Guangzhou at his own expense to find Dawu to exchange his initial works, even if the topic will not pass at the beginning, he is encouraged to continue to create, put forward editorial suggestions, witness his transformation from a picture book novice to a picture book master, witness his ability to learn like a star-sucking Dafa, and witness his works from draft to publication to obtain international awards to export multinational copyrights.
The fourth highlight was in 2021, when "The Horns of Sudan", written by Dai Yun and illustrated by Li Xingming, won the first prize of the 7th Feng Zikai Children's Picture Book Award, which proved that my commitment to cultivating young authors is effective.
I used to care about awards and wanted to prove myself to my mentors, but the more I looked forward to it, the more I fell short, and when I stopped expecting to win awards and focused only on the content, the good news followed. The enthusiasm and dedication of authors and editors to a book can be fully perceived by the reader in his hand.
Illustration of the original picture book "The Rhino Horns of Sudan". (by Dai Yun, illustrated by Li Xingming, and | by Pu Pulan.) 21st Century Press, August 2019 edition)
Liu Ben: The first happiness should be the topic that the editor wants to do, and the illustrator who just wants to find himself or her also likes it, and he/she can produce his or her own things in it and present it in his or her own painting language. Adapted from a Hakka nursery rhyme, the picture book "Moonlight and Moonlight" is like this, the length of the text, the poetic mood is just in line with the mood of the painter Ah Shi Teacher, so he presents it with his own artistic feeling of study and understanding.
The second happiness should be that the editor has made something he or she approves of. There are also very "mysterious" things in the field of picture books, and we can say that this is everyone's "perceptual thinking". This thing is difficult to force everyone to agree with, after all, we are all independent individuals. But can a point, a kernel, a paragraph, a story be realized in a picture book? How do I implement them? It should be said that it is a very "personal" thinking. Being able to complete a book with the author and painter without interference is a very fortunate process, a self-realization, and a rare learning experience. "Moonrise" and "Today I Am a Soybean" are very good original picture books, and after publication, they have also received a lot of recognition and praise, I liked them when I first came into contact with them, and I feel lucky to make them, but can you imagine that they were all works that did not go through the final evaluation of an award?
The third happiness should be that after the book is published, the author always feels that the book is one of his masterpieces, and there is always a part of the work that the author cherishes very much, and he is happy and happy for it. It is also the joy of the original editor, experiencing a journey together, with honor.
The publication of a picture book is the result of a multifaceted collaboration — it takes a long, long unknown path, like the road from a seed to a fruit — and everyone's "collaboration" has a good result that can be published and published, and perhaps the happiest moment. Looking forward to more and more such moments, and always maintaining a fresh sense of anticipation.
Zhang Yue: I have been doing original work in Nanjing Xinyi for 15 years, for me, the most difficult and most joyful thing is actually the same answer, each book is different, they have no routine. The rules of the previous book cannot be inferred to apply to the next book—even if it is the work of the same author. Every book has its own best look, and I love that feeling.
Illustration of the original picture book "A Garden of Vegetables Becomes Essence". (By Zhou Xiang, Xinyi |.) Tomorrow Press, February 2019 edition)
03
The biggest impression of making an original picture book
Xiao Yu: The reason for insisting on doing original is quite simple. I like to meet different people through work, work with admiring authors, and understand the way different authors see the world and society... It would be better if you could get paid well for your work and keep your work going. The greatest joy is to see good works sell well!
Ma Haoyue: Original picture book editing is an industry for the beauty of adults who make clothes for authors, and it is also an industry that uses love to generate electricity. When my college friends worked in the Internet factory and earned a monthly salary of 50,000, I could only solve the problem of food and clothing. The differences in the industry have opened up the gap between them, I envy him materially rich, he envies me for spiritual satisfaction. If it were interchangeable, I might not be willing, because the sense of accomplishment after the book came out, and the feedback from readers let you know that the book really affected the next generation, and these are not material things that can be bought.
Liu Ben: Due to the characteristics of the picture book itself, I have always believed that the original picture book editor is also an artist, and also needs to have a childlike heart, imagination, creativity and aesthetic power. He needs to stand in an equal position with the author and work together to complete a simple but imaginative, naïve but space-time-based work of art. Original picture books are "created", which is probably why I insist on making originals.
Zhang Yue: In 2009, the "Xinyi Picture Book Award" was officially released to the public for the prize, so far it has been 12 sessions, and there are not many works published in the text award, and telling a story well is still a more specific difficulty faced by the original picture book. Even if it is difficult, we must start and insist on doing originality, which is for every child in China and even the world.
Illustration of the original picture book "Reunion". (By Yu Liqiong, Painted by Zhu Chengliang, Xinyi |.) Tomorrow Press, April 2021 edition)
Attached: Memorabilia of original picture books
In 2002
Life, Reading, and Xinzhi Sanlian Bookstore introduced and published several meters of picture books such as "The Moon Forgot" and "Go Left, Go Right" and so on. Strictly speaking, Jimmy's work is not the picture book we are talking about now, which is "picture-based, 24-40 pages, and told to preschoolers", but it has in fact become the first impression of "picture books" for many Chinese mainland readers.
In 2003
Xinyi Foundation, a preschool educational institution in Taiwan, founded a branch in Shanghai, Shanghai Shangyi. Private publishing company New Classic set up a children's book brand love tree.
In 2004
The Japanese Poplar Society founded the Pu Pu Lan Picture Book Museum in China. Together with the Love Tree and Shanghai Shangyi, it was a pioneer in the Chinese mainland publishing and introduction of picture books, and made great efforts to popularize the concept of "picture books" at that time. Chinese readers were exposed to "picture book" readings for the first time, such as "Guess How Much I Love You" and "Love Tree".
In 2006
The State Administration of Press and Publication launched the "Three Hundred" original picture publishing project, of which one "One Hundred" is an original book on literature and art and children.
In 2007
Children's book publishing institutions such as Inspiration, Dandelion, and Cultivated Forest have been established, and more foreign classic picture books have been introduced into China. Readers further recognize the concept of "picture books (or picture books)" through works such as "The Snowman", "The Hungry Caterpillar", "My Dad", and "The Cat Who Lived a Million Times". On this basis, some publishing institutions began to try to publish original picture book works.
In 2008
Children's books have become one of the most competitive sectors in the book market, and some powerful publishing institutions have set up original picture publishing departments. Tomorrow Publishing House publishes the "Picture Book China" series, and Comic Strip Publishing House publishes the "My Little Pony" and "Nagasaka Slope" series of picture books.
In this year, the "Feng Zikai Children's Picture Book Award" was established, and it was held every two years to select original Chinese picture books on both sides of the Straits.
In 2009
Xinyi Foundation established the "Xinyi Picture Book Award" to support local original picture book works. The first "Feng Zi Kai Children's Picture Book Award" was held in Hong Kong. They remain the most important awards for original picture books on the mainland.
Some of the original picture books from 2008 and 2009 include "The Seed of An" by Haiyan Publishing House, "Hide-and-Seek" by Xinyi, "A Garden of Green Vegetables Becomes Essence", "Reunion", and "The Morning Market of Lotus Town" by Pu Pulan Picture Book Museum.
They form the original appearance of the mainland's original picture book at the beginning of the beginning - simple, quiet, everyday, sincere. There is no need for the word "China" in the book cover and propaganda, and any reader can naturally realize that this is a story of growing up in this land, depicting the past and present life of the people here.
In 2010
Sanlian Picture Book Museum published Xiong Liang's "Plum Rain Monster", and in the following years, it has successively planned and published a series of picture books such as Xiong Liang's "Paper Theater" and held a series of promotional activities for creators and picture book lovers.
In 2011
Some publishing houses have begun to try to publish picture books with both advanced concepts of foreign picture books and Chinese cultural characteristics. "Reunion" was named the "Best Children's Picture Book" by The New York Times in 2011.
Founded in 2004, the "Graphic Information Design Studio" of the Central Academy of Fine Arts was renamed "Picture Book Creation Studio", with Yang Zhong and Xiang Hua as tutors, which is also the first picture book education major in a higher education institution in China.
In 2017
Under the rumor of the "children's book restriction order" (limiting the proportion of imported children's books), more and more publishing houses have invested in the publication of original picture books.
In 2018
Xiong Liang was shortlisted for the International Hans Christian Andersen Illustration Award, and he was the first author in China to be shortlisted for the Hans Christian Andersen Illustration Award.
In 2021
The "Feng Zikai Children's Picture Book Award" announced the list of winners of the seventh session. The first prize was awarded to Li Xingming's "Sultan's Rhino Horn", and the best prizes were "Happy Birthday", "Button Soldier", "Little Bear, Run" and "The Birthday Gift of the Dung Golden Turtle". Unlike previous years, the jury also published a list of "recommendations," including 11 original innovations published within two years.
In November, the Ministry of Education organized experts to recommend 347 kinds of children's picture books, of which original picture books accounted for 78%.