China's original picture book "Evenk's Moose" won the 2020 Aesop Honor Award

On the final day of 2020, the American Folklore Society unveiled the winners of the 2020 Aesop Award and Aesop Honor Award. The picture book "The Moose of Evenk", jointly created by chinese writer Gezhilqimuge Black Crane and the painter Jiu'er, won the Aesop Honorary Award.

What is the Aesop Prize and the Aesop Honor Award,

What are the selection criteria?

The American Folklore Society is an American association for the study and exchange of folklore knowledge around the world, founded on January 4, 1888 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and its founders are famous American folklorists. The original purpose of the Society was to "study folklore and to create a journal of a scientific nature". Its members are mostly scholars, teachers, university libraries, cultural and artistic institutions and folk culture-related workers.

In recognition of outstanding youth work on the theme of folklore, the American Folklore Society established the Aesop Prize and the Aesop Honor Award. The winning works must be presented in the form of pictures and texts to enhance the reader's understanding and understanding of folk culture. The award has been awarded since 1992 and is awarded annually, with 1-2 Aesop Prize works and 3-4 Aesop Honorable Mention works each time.

Aesop Prize

Aesop Honor Award

The selection criteria for the 2020 Aesop Award and Aesop Honor Award are: 1. The content and illustrations of the book should be based on folklore, accurately reflecting people's cultural views and world views under the influence of folklore; 2. Readers' awareness of folk culture has been strengthened after reading the works, and folk culture will also add a lot because of the work itself; 3, the work must reflect the highest standard of children's literature and have a strong attraction to young readers; 4, the work should be published in English, or a bilingual work composed of English and other languages. Fiction or non-fiction may be permitted; 5. The work should be published between August 15, 2019 and August 15, 2020; 6. The source of folklore, whether oral or written, should be marked in the content of the publication.

In the end, in 2020, a total of 1 Aesop Prize and 4 Aesop Honorable Mention works were selected.

The Moose of Evenk

An original picture book on the world stage

It is reported that the simplified version of "Evenk's Moose" Chinese was published by Relay Press in May 2018, and the copyright has been sold to France, Canada, Germany, South Korea, Sweden and other countries and regions. Aesop's Moose, which won the title of Aesop's Honorary Award, is an English edition introduced and published by Greystone Kids in Canada.

The American Folklore Institute's award speech to Evenk's Moose said: "The excellence of this book is that it tells an interesting traditional story while also letting people understand the customs and habits of this traditional people." The Tale of the Evenk people breathes life into the story of the Gezhilqimuge Black Crane, while Jiu'er's illustrations meticulously depict folk life in the forests and mountains of Inner Mongolia. This lovely picture book successfully combines traditional life, traditional stories and touching plots.

This is also the second work created by a Chinese person since the Aesop Prize was awarded in the United States. Previously, "The Peacock Princess: The Story of China's Ethnic Minorities" by Professor Yuan Haiwang of the Western Kentucky University Library in the United States won the 2009 Aesop Honor Award.

The Moose of Evenk Chinese simplified version

"The Moose of Evenk" is set against the background of the life of the evenk tribe in the Daxing'an Mountains in northern China, telling the moving story of the old hunter Grishke raising the moose calf and then the two sides are dependent on each other. As a picture book based on animal novels, the works have the comprehensive expressive power of literature and painting, and complement each other to realize the creative purpose of writers and painters - beautifully showing the unique way of life of the Evenk deer tribe from ancient times to the present, recording and preserving their national culture, including conveying the natural and ecological views of human and animal solidarity and interdependence contained in their cultural traditions. As a result, the works have rich humanistic color, profound ideological background and complex human situation.

In China, "Evenk's Moose" has won many important book awards since its publication, such as the 14th Wenjin Book Award, the Silver Award of the 3rd Picture Book Times Award, the "Special Recommendation Award of the Organizing Committee" of the first Fu Lanya Picture Book Award, the 2018 Laurel Children's Book (Children's Picture Book Category), the 2018 Annual List of Original Picture Books Top2, the 2018 Influential Books (Children's Category), the 2018 Top Ten Most Beautiful Children's Books on both Sides of the Straits, and the 2019 Shenzhen Reading Month Annual "Ten Nature Children's Books • Local Care Awards" etc. The industry unanimously agrees that this is an original picture book that "has surpassed the same theme works and represents the pattern and style of local original picture book achievements". In July 2020, it also represented Chinese children's books to be included in the 2020 International Children's Book Alliance (ibby) honor list.

The editor-in-chief of the French World Way Publishing House, the first foreign publishing house to introduce the publication of The Moose of Evenk, said in a letter to Grylqimug Black Crane and Jiu'er: "This book teaches children about the harmonious and mutual relationship between humans and nature and with the entire ecosystem, which is why we like this book." We love the powerful stories and the great natural looks you paint. ”

Attached: 2020 Aesop Award, Aesop Honor Award winners Aesop Prize (1)

Aesop's Fabled Life Author: Ian Randall Illustrated by Pamela Zagaresky Publisher: Houghton Mifflin harcourt Publication date: 2020 This work recounts many famous stories of Aesop's fables, but it is more than just a famous collection of fables. Framed by Aesop's fables, the work tells the story of Aesop's slave-like life and how he gained rights and ultimate freedom through the story. In the process of reading, we see that Aesop has found a way forward in his turbulent life through these stories, and has continued to teach wisdom to those in power. This not only deepens our understanding of the story, but also gives us an understanding of the power of language. Although the story in the work is simple, it gives us an understanding of Aesop, the ancient world, power, and the power of language. The illustrator creates beautiful illustrations using acrylic wood panels, watercolors and mixed media. These works of art echo Aesop's life, language, and the different layers of the book. Aesop's Honorable Mention Works (4 works)

Author: Gezhilqimug Black Crane Illustrator: Jiu'er Translator: Helen Mixx Publisher: Greystone Kids In the mountains of Inner Mongolia, an elderly reindeer herder, Grishke, adopted a moose that had just lost its mother. After joining Gree's reindeer camp, the little moose struggled to adapt to life with humans and reindeer, but of course it also ran into many disasters. This moose is called Xiao Yan, which means little moose, and it soon becomes good friends with Gree. Despite its name as the "little moose", it soon grew into a behemoth. Although Gree loves it, he knows that moose cannot live with people forever. The genius of Evenk's Moose is that it tells an interesting traditional story while also letting people understand the customs and habits of this traditional people. This lovely picture book successfully combines traditional life, traditional stories and touching plots.

Under the Cotton Poplar Tree Author: Paul Meyer, Carlos Meyer Illustrated by Margaret Hardy Publisher: north fourth publications Publication date: 2019 This is a humorous and suspenseful fantasy work, and many characters have distinct images, such as funny rats with eight-character beards. The illustrations in the work are unique in style and emphasize the power of family and forgiveness, and both children and adults will be attracted to the cultural conflicts in the story.

"Lola" Author: J. Torres Illustrated by Albert Orr Publisher: oni press publication The author uses folklore to reflect the family's worldview. As a children's literature, this book has a strong appeal to young children. As a representative of folklore, it allows the reader to understand the life experience of a family and sympathize with the young protagonist, because his face is always tinged with anxiety and fear. Although the sources of information in the work are limited to speeches and a glossary of terms for monsters in Filipino legends and myths, it is still a rich story of Filipino folklore.

"50 Stories to Make You Sweat" Author: Angela McAlist Illustrated by Madeleine Andrnik Publisher: Frances Lincoln children's books This fun collection of stories is a collection of horror stories from around the world, including some familiar works, but for most readers, most of the stories are completely new. While these stories can give people goosebumps, they're not particularly scary, so they're fun and exciting for kids of all ages. These stories are concise and concise, but they depict many characters and the world. The illustrations are vivid and interesting, with a style similar to Eastern European folk art, which fits the story and theme perfectly.

Red Star News reporter Chen Mou tried to report to the Relay Publishing House

Edited by Li Jie

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