Last weekend, I participated in two groups at a children’s classic book study workshop in Hefei, which was quite rewarding. I’ve been busy since returning to Beijing, so I took a break today to write a few notes.
The Rainbow Fish Group held its first formal discussion on the afternoon of August 21st in the conference room on the second floor of Tunxi Road Primary School. The books discussed included: Where the Wild Things Are, The Zhu Family Story, Feifei Got Angry, and Crazy Tuesday.
I’m deeply grateful to Teacher Ziyouzizai of Shuguang Primary School. She courageously took the lead and clearly prepared thoroughly. Her speech truly gave me hope. Ziyouzizai systematically reviewed the book “Where the Wild Things Are,” and her statement that “fantasy is the only path to mental maturity” resonated deeply with me. An independent American researcher (and mother of two) also strongly affirmed a similar point in her book “The Magic of Children’s Books.” It’s not easy to grasp this depth. Many people often view fantasy as an obstacle to mental maturity, but they don’t realize that prematurely abandoning fantasy only leads to a cold and icy world—or, in Ende’s writing, even one on the verge of destruction (“The Neverending Story”). Ziyouzizai’s analysis of the book also uncovered a clue: the young protagonist, Max, gradually reaches the pinnacle of power and desire through his wild fantasies, only to realize that these aren’t his ultimate goals. He longs to return to the habitat of love, and upon his return, his mother’s love melts him.
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The wild beasts have begun!
Mr. Qingfeng from Tun Primary School then gave a long and engaging review of “Wild Beasts.” His speech was incredibly long, but it was so long that I had to interrupt him midway. Mr. Qingfeng had prepared thoroughly: he bought a copy for himself, shared it with his sixth-grade daughter, and read it over six times, reminiscing about his childhood as he went. He also found the film adaptation of the book, “Where the Wild Things Are,” and shared it with his daughter. Perhaps because of this, he seemed to have endless things to say about the book. He even recounted the eight methods he devised for making bait while fishing as a child! If you delve deeper into the book, you won’t be surprised. Sendak spent eight years conceiving and completing it, and it had a lifelong impact on the artist. This picture book truly holds a certain magical power. The collections of papers published by researchers on the book could tower over Sendak!
Teacher Qingfeng focused on the connection between the wildness in “Beasts” and his own childhood memories. He described the book as “very wild,” with the protagonist typically speaking only single words. By examining childhood (including his own childhood memories) through this wildness, he discovered a connection between this destructive nature and creativity. If wildness isn’t channeled but excessively suppressed, it actually undermines creativity. Qingfeng’s thinking was quite diverse, and he offered two examples that left a deep impression on me: one about a mother restraining her boy on a bus, and the other about the moderately thick adobe houses built by Native Americans (to be honest, I didn’t understand the logical connection between these examples at first, haha). He emphasized the importance of “degree” in guiding children: tolerating wildness means maximizing their creativity. Qingfeng was most proud of the fact that Max’s wildness in “Beasts” pales in comparison to the wildness of his own childhood. O(∩_∩)O Haha~
Another teacher from Tun Primary School then offered a different perspective. He argued that the book “Beast” initially depicts a boy experiencing extreme depression and a lack of release, as evidenced by the shadows and frame size. The protagonist then descends into fantasy, finding strength and release within it, ultimately returning to peace. This brings to mind works like “Angry Soup,” which actually help children learn how to relieve negative emotions. The teacher’s cross-disciplinary interpretation is highly interesting. Other books in this genre, such as “Fei Fei Gets Angry” and “Angry Arthur,” offer both fascinating and insightful reading.
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Changes to the frame size of Where the Wild Things Are
Happy Bird, a teacher at Hyosung, added a further comment. She pointed out that the relationship between text and images in “The Beast” is particularly noteworthy, especially the careful and ingenious shifts in frame size. Regarding the story as a whole, Happy Bird believes the true core lies in the line, “He wants to be where someone loves him most.” She believes the entire story’s emotions originate from this point and ultimately culminate in this. This insight deeply touched me!
I clearly remember how I pondered over and over again the translation of this sentence when I first translated this book (about six years ago), because it was so important! At that time, I translated it just for my own entertainment, to tell my daughter, and to read it to my mother who was in her seventies. The original text of this sentence is “(he)
wanted to be where someone loved him best of
I prepared several different translations for the phrase, and while it could have been more fluent, I felt that if it were too fluent, readers might simply pass it by and overlook it. So, I ultimately chose this translation, which isn’t quite as smooth to read but has a clear meaning. I believe it will leave a deeper impression on readers. Later, when I told stories to children, I often paused at this point, and I couldn’t help but curiously ask them, “Do you know where ‘someone loves themselves the most’?” They never let me down, and almost always answered without hesitation, “Home!” Although I’ve heard this answer many times, I can’t help but feel excited every time.
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He wants to be where someone loves him the most…
Teacher Dayu from Shuguang Primary School led everyone in a detailed explanation of “The Zhu Family Story.” Everyone shared a self-sufficient interpretation process, moving from primarily explaining the illustrations to incorporating text, and finally drawing on their own life experiences. Teacher Dayu was incredibly thorough, explaining so many details that it’s difficult to summarize them here.
As for why “The Zhu Family Story” ends with the mother repairing the car, there are several different opinions: it emphasizes that roles in the family are interchangeable, with men doing “women’s work” and daughters doing “men’s work”; it uses the car as a metaphor for the modern family, as it initially had some problems and the mother ultimately completed the repair…
Wu, a teacher at Taihu Road, followed up on this topic by suggesting that renowned artists like Sendak and Anthony Brown often leave their works with unexpected endings, enriching the possibilities for interpretation. So, we don’t necessarily need to find a fixed answer.
Ms. Yu from Shuguang then shared her page-by-page interpretation of Crazy Tuesday. She proposed that the creative technique of this book is what painter Zhu Chengliang (the painter of Flame and Reunion) called the “movie-making” method. The book has created a very strange atmosphere from the cover and endpapers. It uses very realistic-looking pictures to tell the story, constantly raising questions (surprises) in the process of development, and then giving answers, and then raising surprises again… The rhythm of the story is well grasped, sometimes tense, sometimes calm.
However, for a book that tells a story almost entirely through pictures, everyone in the workshop seemed to have a hard time finding their groove and finding it difficult to connect. Regarding David Wisner’s similar works, you can also look to “The Three Little Pigs,” “Dream Factory 7,” “Secrets of the Sea,” and “June 29, 1999.” Delving deeper into these works can help us quickly improve our ability to read stories from pictures. Children are relatively adept and enthusiastic about this approach.
Teacher Liwo Qianxiao from Tun Primary School shared her interpretation of “Feifei is Angry.” Her experience as a preschool teacher gave her a unique perspective. She noted that the illustrations in the book aren’t her favorite style, but the book clearly depicts the process of a toddler’s tantrum, from the initial desire to attract attention to genuine anger, to the venting of emotions through crying, shouting, and fussing, all before abruptly ending. This is the general process of children’s emotional outbursts. Several teachers shared their opinions on how to handle children experiencing such situations, and most agreed with the “cool down” strategy adopted by the adults in Feifei’s family.
During his presentation, Teacher Dayu carefully read “Fei Fei is Angry” and said the images in the book reminded him of Wang Guowei’s line in “Human Words”: “I view things through my own eyes, so everything is colored by my own.” This association was deeply inspiring. Indeed, reflecting on this picture book through this quote, the American female artist’s creative process becomes clear. Borrowing from Western principles, this is Arnheim’s most extensive analysis of art psychology, while from an Eastern aesthetic perspective, it represents a state of enlightenment. Teacher Dayu’s ingenious use of this quote in his analysis of this picture book left a lasting impression on me and reminded me of the intriguing term “mental imagery.”
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Feifei slammed the door in anger and left. The trees were all dyed red, leaning and about to fall, with sharp edges.
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After the rage, Feifei was depressed and dejected, and the hillside, trees, flowers and leaves seemed to change accordingly.
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Feifei regained her composure. This was probably the reverse effect of “seeing things through my own eyes, and seeing them through my own eyes.”
During the discussion of “Fei Fei Is Angry,” Mr. Wu offered another insight. He suggested that the emotional adjustment process depicted in this picture book is something most adults have experienced. Could it be that this book reflects a more adult mindset, making it more appealing to adult readers, while not necessarily appealing to children? This is indeed a question that we should explore when sharing with children and observing their reactions.
On the afternoon of August 22, the first preparatory discussion of the newly formed Flying Pig Group was held in the conference room on the fourth floor of Weigang Primary School. The book discussed was “The Story of the Zhu Family”.
As a preparatory discussion, it is mainly a process of everyone gradually getting to know each other and trying to experience reading a book together. The discussion is roughly divided into two parts: “Who am I” game; reading and discussing “The Zhu Family Story” together.
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The “Who Am I” game is an adaptation of picture books such as “I Don’t Know Who I Am” and “The Zhu Family Story.” In “The Zhu Family Story,” the Zhu family father and sons gradually transform into pigs before finally returning to their original forms. Artist Anthony Brown successfully depicts this transformation through his paintings, capturing the unfolding events, the characters’ personalities, forms, and movements, achieving a coherence between concept and image. The “Who Am I” game first asks participants to associate themselves with another image (such as an animal), preferably with their entire family (as the artist does in the picture book), and to strive to rationalize their associations. Then, the host, anonymous (or perhaps unsigned), reads out a random image and invites everyone to guess who it is.
Before starting the game, first-timers often assume it’s incredibly difficult, with little chance of guessing. However, as everyone relaxes during the game, most of the answers naturally become clear. The most fascinating part is when seemingly absurd and illogical answers become plausible after explanation. The saying “the unexpected, yet within reason” is precisely what brilliant storytellers bring to the table. This kind of game is actually about experiencing the psychological process of creation and interpretation. As readers, what we read in a work is clearly ourselves!
The undisputed champion of the riddle-guessing competition that day was Principal Jin from Taihu Road. When a certain image (especially a group of images of a family) was first read out, she could accurately call out the answer. I believe this was partly due to her exceptional understanding of her colleagues and partly a demonstration of her unique ability in visual thinking.
Many sparks were generated during the process of reading and discussing “The Zhu Family Story” together, but I was also focused on participating in the reading and did not take any notes, so I can only record a few sparks that were the most inspiring and impressive to me.
In the first picture, we see a very modern and seemingly happy home, but the text mentions a wife, but there is no wife in the picture. The way this father stands is somewhat similar to the way the father stood on the page “My father is as tall as a house” in “My Father”.
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The first one
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Compare the illustrations in My Dad
In the second double-page spread, two sons open their mouths and shout, “Mom, where’s breakfast?” The text says their father is also shouting, but his face is obscured by the newspaper. The people in the newspaper (including a gorilla) are also shouting. Several interesting observations are made here: the shouting figures’ faces have pig-like features (especially their noses); several food boxes have pig images; and the gorilla reminds me of Anthony Brown’s other book, “Gorillas.” (In fact, the shouting figures in the newspaper also remind me of the famous painting “The Scream.”) But I was particularly surprised when one teacher suggested that the shouting figures in the newspaper (rather than Mr. Zhu) imply that the idea that “women should make breakfast and serve men” is a public voice, a mainstream social consciousness! This interpretation is truly surprising, but on reflection, it makes sense. It seems Anthony Brown may be addressing a traditional mainstream consciousness, rather than the “isolated phenomenon” of certain families.
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The second picture
On the third spread, everyone noticed the somber colors and the mother’s (Mrs. Zhu’s) face, which we never see. Particularly interesting, one teacher pointed out that the mother appears to take the bus to work, as the shadow of a bus stop sign can be seen in the inset in the lower right corner, and Mrs. Zhu is likely searching her bag for her bus pass (or change). This discovery helped me solve another mystery: the two small white patterns on the right side of the inset. The lower one is clearly a pig’s face, but what about the upper one? It now appears to be a car steering wheel, suggesting that the mother could have driven to work herself. (This naturally echoes the mention of a car on the first page and the repairs on the last page.)
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The third picture
In the fourth spread, the teachers made two discoveries I hadn’t previously noticed. One was the color of the children’s clothes and the color of their father (Mr. Zhu)‘s socks: red for the former and blue for the latter. It’s unusual for adult men to wear pure blue socks, and in this picture book, the red and blue clothing likely symbolizes importance. Following this line of thought, in the sixth spread (Watching TV After Dinner), the blue of the father’s socks and the red of the lamp above the TV stand out. By the fourteenth spread (Dad Cooking with the Children, Mom is also happy), the father’s blue has changed from socks to kitchen gloves, the child’s red has become an apron, and Mom’s outfit is heavily red (sweater) and blue overalls (car repair work clothes)!
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The fourth picture
Based on this line of thought, in the fourth spread, the child occupies red, the father occupies blue, but what about the mother’s color? While the mother herself isn’t in the picture, logically, she must be present. The reading teacher at Weigang Primary School then made a revealing discovery: the sofa Mr. Zhu was sitting on! The pattern on the sofa immediately reminded people of the pattern on the mother’s pajamas in “My Mother,” a book that also depicts a very similar sofa (on the page “As comfortable as a sofa”). This discovery offers two clues: first, the sofa in the fourth spread and in subsequent paintings is likely a symbol of the mother; second, the primary color of the mother is yellow (sometimes pink).
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The sofa in “My Mom”
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Picture 6 — Please note the sofa, Dad’s socks, and the lamp on the TV.
The changes in the piglet’s image in this book are relatively easy to notice, and almost everyone has noticed them, so I won’t go into details here.
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Picture 8 (Look at the changes in the pig shape)
The story progresses to the eleventh spread, where Mr. Zhu and his two children are sniffing for food on the floor when Mrs. Zhu enters. Everyone immediately recognizes the mother’s shadow as an image of the Virgin Mary. However, following the previous clue of “sofa = mother,” we also notice that on this page, the sofa is deliberately left empty, unoccupied (compared to the fourth and sixth spreads), perhaps hinting at the mother’s absence, leaving the family without support.
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Picture 11 — Look at the empty sofa and mother’s shadow
The thirteenth spread shows a father and two children doing chores. The image is refreshing and brightly colored, suggesting that they are skilled at housework and that doing housework can be enjoyable. The color shift is noticeable compared to the previous illustrations of the mother doing chores and the father helping the children after the mother’s departure. Furthermore, there’s no hint of a pig on this page. As the inspector held up the book to show everyone the pictures, I could faintly make out the outline of a face in the right image, with the two beds as eyes and Mr. Zhu and the ironing board as the nose and mouth. Of course, this could be a complete illusion.
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Thirteenth
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Picture 14 — Pay special attention to the relationship between red and blue and pictures 4 and 6
However, Teacher Shu from Weigang raised a different question: “Can the situation completely change just by having the mother leave?” Everyone agreed that this wasn’t the case, and generally, it was recommended not to leave the family easily (after all, we need harmony and stability). This is a children’s book (still with fairy tale qualities). The story expresses a point of view, and while it may not necessarily offer specific, effective solutions, the important thing is that it encourages us to never give up hope.
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Regarding the final image, “She fixed the car,” the Flying Pigs’ interpretation bore striking resemblance to the Rainbow Fish’s interpretation from the previous day. However, a teacher from Taihu Road’s final, slightly playful interpretation amused everyone: If the red car represented the school, then Mrs. Zhu, repairing and driving it, represented the female principals! Any interpretation is possible, O(∩_∩)O, haha~
When we were together, we read books, read each other, and read ourselves.
Related links
[Sharing] How to Build a Picture (Unveiling the Secrets of Picture Book Narrative)
[Study Group Homework] Some Experiences on Getting Started with Picture Books
[Study Session Topic] How to read stories from pictures in picture books?
[Postscript] Why I Like Where the Wild Things Are
[Reading Notes] Letter from the Editor of Where the Wild Things Are to the Painter
Artists who tell stories for children (VIII) — Sendak’s story
Argentine Primera División was compiled on August 26 and 27, and the chart was added on August 31.
