Nanfang Netnews (Reporter/Zhou Cun) On April 23, the long children's novel "Tree Child" won two major awards in 2021 " China Good Book " and the 17th Wenjin Book Award.
"Tree Child" is a long children's novel involving nature, life, innocence and human feelings. In the animistic world, there is a naïve boxwood tree, and after a mountain fire, it is transformed into magic by the sculptor and rebuilt into a living wood carving work of art - tree child. Since then, the tree child has embarked on an adventure in the world... It is a fantasy story of imagination, a beautiful ode to man and nature, and a philosophical poem about eternity.
Southern Network and Guangdong learning reporters interviewed Zhao Lihong, author of "Tree Child", through the Yangtze River Literature and Art Publishing House.
A child's choice of reading is a choice of life
Zhao Lihong began to dabble in children's literature probably 6 or 7 years ago. Zhao Lihong said that at the beginning, she did not write to be a writer, and the content she wrote had nothing to do with children's literature. "I didn't write specifically for the kids, I just wrote what I wanted to write, and then published and published a book."
Later, because the articles were constantly included in the language textbook textbooks, I knew that the children were also reading their own texts, so Zhao Lihong had different ideas. "Children grow up reading books to become who they are, and children's choice of reading is a choice of life, so I want to consciously do something for children." 」
At present, Zhao Lihong has written four long children's novels, namely "Childhood River", "Fishing Boy", "Black Wood" and "Tree Child". The novel "Tree Child" also won Zhao Lihong two major honors of "China Good Book" in 2021 and the 17th Wenjin Book Award.
Fiction is the knowledge and imagination of everything in the world
Unlike the first three novels, children are all about real life when they are young, "Tree Child" is about the life of a child without a specific age. Zhao Lihong admits that this novel has been brewing in his mind for a long time, and he has written his understanding and imagination of everything in the world into this story.
"When I wrote 'Tree Child', I didn't have to express any profound thoughts very consciously, but I wrote out everything I usually perceived, many thoughts about the world, life, and life through my intentions."
Zhao Lihong believes that everyone is looking for the ultimate truth between heaven and earth, but no one has found it, and this process of searching is the most wonderful process of life.
Talking about the creation of this fairy tale novel, Zhao Lihong said that he was ridiculed and would only write reality, would not write fairy tales, had no imagination, was not convinced, and wanted to prove that he could write it, which was a motive for the creation of "Tree Children"; another motive, Zhao Lihong said that everything in heaven and earth has feelings, and he wants to write out the feelings between the lives of all things in the world that humans do not know.
See the world through the eyes of a teenager
For the creation of children's literature, Zhao Lihong believes that it is a simple two words "sincerity". One is to express yourself sincerely and truthfully to yourself; the other is to sincerely respect the child.
For the kitsch problems of children's literature creation now, Zhao Lihong believes that children's literature creation should use the eyes of teenagers to see the world around them and turn themselves into a child. "When I wrote children's literature, I slowly had a feeling of rejuvenation and naturally turned myself into a child. People who do not have a childlike heart and those who do not respect children cannot write good children's literature. ”
Zhao Lihong believes that good children's literature is the most advanced in literature, it is very simple and simple, but it can make children like, and not only children like, the really good things must be liked by adults, just like "Andersen's Fairy Tales", from childhood to 100 years old can also be read.
Zhao Lihong said that he should continue to work hard to this realm, write works that both children like and adults can read, and use simple, simple, simple means, stories, and language to write some of the deepest truths of life.