Parent-child reading | Children's Literature "Witch House Rush"

Everyone is their own teacher! The author greatly renews the article for a long time, and may reading light up everyone's life.

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Today is sharing an interesting story of a japanese little witch living independently. This little witch you may have seen on the screen as early as possible, she is the cute witch Kiki in Miyazaki's animation.

Adapted from Eiko Kadono's novel of the same name, The Witch House Rush was critically acclaimed, winning the IBBY Outstanding Literary Award, the Noma Children's Literature Award, the Elementary School Museum Literature Award, and the International Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2018.

The adaptation of Miyazaki's films was quite successful, with a tight plot and in line with the characteristics of commercial films. But Eiko Kadono's original novel has a different flavor. The book is full of playfulness, humor and leisurely nature characteristic of female writers. Such a good book will definitely make children laugh, and big friends can't help but laugh.

The author who created this magical little witch, Eiko Kadono is a grandmother-level figure of a young girl. Although she is 84 years old, she is a fashionable grandmother who prefers all kinds of cute floral dresses and likes accessories such as glasses, necklaces and other accessories full of personality. She enjoys collecting knick-knacks and porcelain, and her home is dotted with dolls and murals.

Eiko Kadono was born in Tokyo in 1935 and was a member of the generation who lived through World War II. She tragically lost her mother at the age of five, but luckily she had a father who told her stories during her childhood. Rich folklore and adventure stories also became a source of her later creations and imaginations.

Eiko of Girls' Generation was an out-and-out academic who graduated from the Department of English Literature at Waseda University, Japan's top university. Later, he traveled around Europe, North America, and South America, and at the age of 35, he used his life experience in Brazil to create his debut novel "Young Louis Travels to Brazil".

As a children's literature writer, Eiko published nearly 200 original works in her lifetime. At the same time, she is also an excellent literary translator, translating more than 100 foreign children's literature works into Japanese, bringing them back to her hometown and giving them to children to read.

Reading is Eiko's most important thing, as a late writer, she has been exposed to literature as a reader for many years in her life. Reading helped her emerge from the pain of losing her mother and war and becoming an optimistic and courageous woman.

In Kadono's mind, it is remarkable to call the first page of the book the title page. Because the title page is to push open a door, as long as you open this page, it is equivalent to leading to an unknown world.

When you open the title page of "Witch House Rush", it is like Kiki has begun her magical journey. Everyone reads together, moves the protagonist in the story together, and even has the communication of the heart and the power of reality. This female writer who admires lifelong reading is still in a very good physical state. There are several creative plans in hand, and there is no intention of retiring.

She has said openly that it is the imagination that gives her the magic of continuous writing, finding something that stays in her heart, and imagining all kinds of things about what she likes. And cherish this imagination and cultivate it.

"Witch House Rush" is Eiko Kakuno's most famous and imaginative work. Eiko Kadono completed the novel in 1984. The witch Kiki in the book has just turned 13 years old, and she left her parents with the black cat Gigi and went to live independently in another city.

Since the only magic she has mastered is flying on a broomstick. She became a courier, and throughout the year, she created many miracles through her own efforts, won the trust of the citizens, and grew into a popular witch.

The story was inspired by a graffiti painting of a witch when Eiko's daughter was 12 years old. Therefore, Kiki's age setting is also similar to that of her daughter, and Kiki's optimistic and brave spirit is the same as Eiko Kadono's own personality.

Awarded to Eiko Kadono, the International Hans Christian Andersen Prize Jury said her work was "compassionate, passionate and unspeakably charming", and the text was simple and readable. The female characters she creates are always "self-determined and proactive" and become role models for girls.

Little Witch Kiki is indeed a good example for every child. When her mother brought a magic broom to her at the age of ten and asked her if she wanted to inherit the tradition of being a witch, Kiki already knew how to make choices for her own life, and then took responsibility for the choices. Even though he flew precariously, bumping into branches and hitting power poles from time to time, he never flinched. Even the townspeople knew that the bell in the tree was ringing, and it was Kiki who was trying to fly again.

However, as a new-age witch, Kiki is not an old-fashioned girl. She had no interest in grinding Chinese herbs and making magic potions, so she decided to give up the art and concentrate on her favorite flight. After Kiki lived independently, her attitude of making independent choices and being responsible for the end has never changed. Since we decided to open a home express delivery store, we treat every business with care and provide convenient and fast services for each customer.

Kiki encountered more and more problems than one, and her strange tricks were more and more, when transporting large and heavy portraits, the wind would make a mess, so she tied a hydrogen balloon to the portraits and let them float in mid-air. Grandma's clothesline broke, so she tied a bunch of clothes to a broom, flew in the air, dried, and carried the wine to the growth of not breaking the bottle. She wrapped the countless waistlines woven by the captain's mother in a bottle.

When the town's clock was broken and she couldn't make a new report, she flicked the clock's hands by swooping down. The concert began immediately and the instruments were pulled away by the train. She flew to chase the train, and then hung all the instruments behind the broom. As a result, the instruments clanged in the wind, like an aerial concert.

The British educator Samuel Smiles said that inspired by a sense of responsibility, people can overcome their weaknesses and become strong and brave. Little Kiki did her best, just to get the witch's house in a hurry. Because this is her responsibility, the path she chooses herself, we now advocate letting children choose independently, deciding what they want to learn and what they want to do, and letting it go. But while getting the right to choose, children should also be like the witch Kiki.

Learn how she accomplishes something from start to finish. If you give up on everything halfway, it's not cool at all. Imagine if Kiki felt people's indifference and defensiveness, and then left in frustration or flew home to find her mother. Then her witch qualification exam will simply fail, and there will be no follow-up interesting stories.

The moving thing about the adventures of the little witch is that no matter what trouble she encounters, she only looks forward and never backs down. Such a vibrant face is enough to illuminate everyone's heart. Big friends can also ask about children. If he was placed in a strange city, what would he do, and could he survive on his own like the little witch?

The book itself is a story about magic, and when it comes to magic, we affirm Harry Potter, the Lord of the Rings, these great magicians. But our protagonist Kiki is different, Kiki only has one skill, that is, flying, in addition, she does not know any spells, nor can she conjure up things at will, let alone what is invisible and instantaneous. Kiki didn't even have a wand, and the flying broom was made with her own stick, and she often flew crookedly.

Such a stupid little witch closes the distance between the reader and the story, and the sense of substitution is extremely strong, which makes people can't help but sympathize and pity. Whenever Kiki solves a tricky problem and her situation improves a little, we secretly breathe a sigh of relief for her.

Some people will ask, why not give Kiki a few more skills, Kiki is not a witch, it should be very strong, but now she can fly, there is no difference with other teenage girls.

The author answered this question in this way. If the witch's spell is too powerful, it may become willful and uninteresting. Like if a guy can do anything, he's probably a boring guy. So she hopes that Kiki will only have one magic, because her limited ability will make her try her best to find a way to live by it.

According to our words, it is a battle of backwaters, and Eiko actually wants to tell us through this book that imagination is also a kind of magic. Every imaginative person can conjure up strange worlds, strange animals, and a variety of spells in their minds. The troubles you can't get rid of in reality, the wishes you can't put into practice, can all be realized in the ocean of fantasy.

The writer insists on a magical setting, that is, to let the big friends and children experience the magic of imagination. The book also conveys an interesting idea that as long as one kind of magic is enough, anyone can have magic, even if they can't fly, they can't stealth, as long as they stick to what they like, that is, magic.

For example, our little witch Kiki, you think her success in opening a courier store is flying, not flying. Kiki succeeds because she loves to serve everyone, and she genuinely loves to do home rushes, as she told her mother when she went home to visit her family. Witches don't have to ride on brooms and fly around, and it's good to walk around the road once in a while. Because walking on the road, whether you like it or not, you have to talk to all kinds of people, and Shuno is what I know when I walk. If I had just been sadly flying in the sky at that time, I don't know what would have happened.

Similarly, the other party can also look at the witch up close, know that the witch is not grinning, the nose is not pointed, and can also speak and understand each other. In this way, the greatest magic we can feel is Kiki's kindness to the world, and her love of communicating with people.

In life, some people are good at communicating with people, and some people are more willing to bury their heads in hard work, how we should play our magic, better integrate into society, and find our own magic is the task of people's lives.

After reading this book, in fact, Grandma Rongzi still left an intriguing metaphor in the book. That is the advancement of the times and the demise of tradition. At the beginning of the story, we can learn from Kiki's mother, a witch with ancient bloodlines. The magic that mothers and daughters have inherited for generations is disappearing. In the past, the witches had a vast number of magical powers, and they had mastered far more skills than they do today. In Kiki's mother's generation, there are only two things left: flying and making sneezing.

Some say it's because the witches have lost their true darkness and tranquility. The light is too bright and the sound is too noisy, which can be distracting. If we can't perform magic well, magic is degenerating, and the number of witches is decreasing, just like the Peking Opera, Kunqu Opera, and folk handicrafts around us.

The group of witches has gradually been eliminated by the times in the evolution of modern society, and various ancient witchcraft handed down from ancient times have gradually declined. Can only magic and witches perish? There are also people's quaint lifestyles and intimate interpersonal relationships.

Kiki first moved from her hometown village to a seaside town. The breath of modern urban life follows, followed by the wariness and unfriendliness of the local population towards witches. All this is different from what I have seen in my hometown in the past. Simple kindness, hospitality, innocence and purity, these beautiful qualities have disappeared with the advancement of industrialization.

Just like the ancient magic that disappears into the noise, but while the ancient qualities fade, there are still people who stick to the tradition. For example, Kiki's first guest was a seamstress, and even though industrialization had already covered the city, she still insisted on craftsmanship.

Therefore, this story is ostensibly about the adventures and adventures of the little witch in the town, but in fact, it is also through the eyes of the witch, presenting a new picture of the collision and integration of industrial and agricultural civilizations. And the lovely witch Kiki herself represents those simple and beautiful, almost lost precious character.

The novel writes the story of the witch who rampages through the modern city and cuts through the thorns. In fact, it is also exploring how the ancient virtues of human beings can continue to survive and develop in an industrial society. Interested big friends and children must look for a whole set of books to look at in "Witch House Rush"!

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Zhao Zijun, an article a day, recording work life, reading and learning. Be a seed that spreads love.

Public number: Zhao Jun. Writing is not just about recording, it is evoking some beautiful hearts that are sleeping.