The snow child born of ice and snow traveled all over the snowfield and did not find a single friend, except for the wind. One day, he decided to go to the land of summer, and the wind stopped him: "The sun there will tan you." But the snow child thought, "I can't stay in the world of one person all the time." So he crossed 66 ravines, defeated 77 hungry wolves, waded through 88 great rivers, and climbed 99 mountains, and finally reached the land of the warm summer.
This story is excerpted from the autobiographical novel "Snowman, Born to Summer" co-authored by Dong Tianzhi, a junior high school student at Xiwai Chinese School, and his mother Jiang Yue. The snowman in the story is the "child of the stars" Dong Zhitian (Xiao Dong) himself. This spring, after the publication of the novel, Xiao Dong became a "man of the hour" in the school, and some people even called him "snowman", not only was he not angry, but he was very happy, he said: "There are thousands of paths in life, and unsmart children will eventually have unsmart roads to go." May we all be able to cross the cold winter into spring, go to the other side of our dreams, and realize the ideals in our hearts. ”
The dream of a writer for a teenager in the third year of junior high school
The "Snow Child" who is moving forward tirelessly
Xiao Dong was silent for a long time, and he couldn't say words or sentences of more than three words, and he couldn't even say words other than "Dad" and "Mom", so his parents ran to the hospital because of this. At that time, the elders were relieved only to speak late, and the doctor told them that the condition was a delay in language development. But until he went to kindergarten, Xiao Dong was still reluctant to open his mouth to speak, and refused to communicate with anyone other than his mother, and he still couldn't find out why he sought medical treatment everywhere. Later, the parents speculated that Xiao Dong's minor problems may be caused by pseudoautism.
In this way, under the love and care of his parents, Xiao Dong grew into a teenager. Although he is still not particularly talkative, he is no longer the "snow child" who hid in his own world. He likes to read, and he got acquainted with writers such as Yu Hua, Mo Yan, Wang Shuo, Lu Yao, and Jin Yong in books, and also drew the power of upward growth from literary works.
In his second year of junior high school, he came up with the idea of leaving some words for his junior high school life, like the writers he liked, recording those wonderful and bleak coming-of-age stories. At the beginning of this year, after nearly a year of conceptual writing, the manuscript named "The Third Boy of Junior High School" was finally completed. "From inside the campus to outside the campus, from the corners of Songjiang to the south and north of the motherland, every bit of junior high school life is unforgettable. Xiao Dong said that although it was very immature, it did not prevent him from applauding himself.
Xiao Dong wrote in the novel: "My father told me a secret recipe, that is, 'lifelong learning', reading more, reading good books, and reading all the time. Now, he is more and more convinced that as long as he chooses lifelong learning, the road of life will be wider and wider, and the light of destiny will shine more and more. At the same time, he wanted to share this secret book with everyone who was facing a similar dilemma like him.
The path of a resilient mother's growth
The "Dream Builder" who chases the light and fires
As the first reader of "The Third Boy of Junior High School", her mother Jiang Yue almost finished reading Xiao Dong's debut novel in one go. "It's a child I know, and a child I've never seen before. Jiang Yue said that although her son often communicates with her, some of the stories that happened on campus are also the first time she has learned about them. Through the novel, she also saw her son's mental unlocking process and self-growth path of self-understanding, self-discovery, self-affirmation, and self-transcendence.
"I never thought I'd be able to write. Because like my children, I was born ordinary, lived ordinary, and walked forward in the vast sea of people. But everything in the world may change because of the love for children. This is a passage written by Jiang Yue at the beginning of the preface of "Snowman, Born to Summer", and it is also her spiritual monologue as a mother. Before becoming a mother, like all mothers in the world, she looked forward to the birth of her child; after becoming a mother, in the face of God's jokes, she turned her sad song into a war song, accompanied and encouraged her children, and also cheered herself on, gritting her teeth to survive every vulnerable moment.
In order to help Xiao Dong realize his little dream, Jiang Yue wrote to supplement the story content of nearly 80,000 words from the perspective of her mother "He Yuqing", telling the educational practice and mental journey of parents and families who work hard to support their children, and integrate it with Xiao Dong's "The Third Boy of Junior High School" to form a parent-child parenting and youth inspirational autobiographical novel co-authored by mother and son. "'He Yuqing' means 'when the rain will pass and the sky will be clear', which is the wish of a mother. At the end of the preface to "Snowman, Born to Summer", Jiang Yue said, "Whether our children are lucky when they are born or not, we must create the possibility of luck for them, which is the responsibility of parents." ”
Characters: Wang Mei
Photo: Courtesy of the interviewee
Editor: Han Jiayi