Get rid of the halo and be your own resounding self

“Dung Bee­tle Loud and Dan­g­dang” is a col­lab­o­ra­tion between Chi­nese fairy tale writer Tang Tang and British illus­tra­tor Nia Gould. The sto­ry revolves around a dung bee­tle that earns the title “Loud and Dan­g­dang.” Through its jour­ney through a dung ball-push­ing com­pe­ti­tion, it explores pro­found themes such as hon­or, inner ful­fill­ment, and self-accep­tance. The book is not only cre­ative in its nar­ra­tive but also unique in its illus­tra­tions, mak­ing it a live­ly, engag­ing, and cap­ti­vat­ing pic­ture book.

Dung bee­tles are a pecu­liar crea­ture of nature, famous for their abil­i­ty to push dung balls. Have you noticed? They’re a favorite of sto­ry­tellers in tra­di­tion­al and chil­dren’s sto­ries, often imbued with pecu­liar yet inspir­ing alle­gories. For exam­ple, Aesop’s Fables con­tains at least three sto­ries about dung bee­tles. In “The Dung Bee­tle and the Eagle,” the puny dung bee­tle near­ly sin­gle-hand­ed­ly wipes out the pow­er­ful eagle. Even the divine Zeus is pow­er­less, forc­ing him to resort to a workaround to save the eagle clan. The seem­ing­ly filthy dung bee­tle often push­es dung balls larg­er than itself (some­what rem­i­nis­cent of Sisy­phus push­ing a boul­der). This con­tra­dic­to­ry spir­it of per­se­ver­ance, hard work, and striv­ing offers a fas­ci­nat­ing mate­r­i­al that res­onates with chil­dren’s curios­i­ty and offers a unique sense of humor. Not only does it offer great poten­tial as a sto­ry char­ac­ter, but it can also be used to teach life lessons. Such crea­tures are tru­ly not to be under­es­ti­mat­ed.

Tang Tang’s dung bee­tle, Xiang­dan­g­dang, expe­ri­ences a life­long jour­ney: from a young, pas­sion­ate dung bee­tle, he grows to a cham­pi­on, earn­ing the nick­name “Xiang­dan­g­dang.” How­ev­er, as the bur­den of hon­or grows heav­ier and he ages, Xiang­dan­g­dang becomes anx­ious about gain and loss, grad­u­al­ly los­ing his pas­sion for push­ing dung balls. Ulti­mate­ly, after los­ing the cham­pi­onship title in a fair com­pe­ti­tion, he redis­cov­ers the joy of push­ing dung balls. Despite los­ing his nick­name and hav­ing few­er and few­er dung balls to push, he still enjoys the process, becom­ing the “Xiang­dan­g­dang” in his own heart. This sto­ry deft­ly explores the con­trast between pas­sion and hon­or, inner sat­is­fac­tion and exter­nal recog­ni­tion, con­vey­ing the impor­tance of self-reliance, the courage to face chal­lenges and fail­ure, and the impor­tance of inner peace and con­tent­ment far more pre­cious than exter­nal acco­lades. Such pro­found themes are not only suit­able for chil­dren but also inspir­ing for adults.

As a fairy tale writer, Tang Tang is renowned for her cre­ative and poet­ic nar­ra­tives. In this book, her writ­ing is imbued with visu­als and rhythm, with each sen­tence trans­port­ing the read­er to a glimpse into the sto­ry. She uses detailed descrip­tions, such as the dung beetle’s move­ments push­ing the dung ball and the tense atmos­phere of the com­pe­ti­tion, to make the sto­ry more vivid and three-dimen­sion­al. She also employs vivid metaphors and per­son­i­fi­ca­tion to con­nect with young read­ers. For exam­ple, com­par­ing the dung beetle’s dung ball to the sun and moon is both vivid and poet­ic.

As an ani­mal fairy tale, this sto­ry also unwit­ting­ly incor­po­rates fas­ci­nat­ing facts about the unique species of dung bee­tles. For exam­ple, dung bee­tles can crawl and fly; com­pe­ti­tion among them may involve push­ing dung balls; and the lifes­pan of adult dung bee­tles typ­i­cal­ly ranges from a few months to a year. The book men­tions Xiang­dan­g­dang as the defend­ing cham­pi­on for “nine con­sec­u­tive years,” but then adds, “As spring turned to autumn, he grad­u­al­ly grew into a large dung bee­tle, and then slow­ly into an old dung bee­tle.” This tells young read­ers that all these dung ball-push­ing com­pe­ti­tions actu­al­ly took place with­in a sin­gle year. Tang Tang seems to have a pref­er­ence for sto­ries involv­ing unique life cycles, as exem­pli­fied by his book “The Sun and the Mayfly,” which chron­i­cles the life of a mayfly.

This beau­ti­ful pic­ture book is also high­light­ed by the illus­tra­tions by British illus­tra­tor Nia Gould. Nia’s illus­tra­tion style is warm and bright, fea­tur­ing vibrant col­ors and clean lines, imbued with a child­like charm and fan­ta­sy. Through del­i­cate brush­strokes and rich col­ors, she vivid­ly brings the char­ac­ters and scenes of the sto­ry to life. Nia is known for her skill and pas­sion for draw­ing cats. Her book, “Por­trait of the Artist as a Young Cat,” which uses cats as a play­ful art his­to­ry, has been a hit in Europe and the Unit­ed States. In this book, the dung bee­tles and their ani­mal friends are equal­ly adorable. Nia uses soft tones and rich­ly tex­tured back­grounds to cre­ate a warm and live­ly atmos­phere. Each image is filled with detail, from the flow­ers and grass in the mead­ow to the expres­sions and move­ments of the ani­mals, each metic­u­lous­ly designed to make each page feel like a unique work of art.

As an illus­tra­tor who tells sto­ries through pic­tures, Niya has also added some new ele­ments to Tang Tang’s orig­i­nal fairy tales, notably by intro­duc­ing numer­ous oth­er ani­mal char­ac­ters, such as a mon­key, an earth­worm, a zebra, a cater­pil­lar, and a but­ter­fly. These char­ac­ters not only enrich the sto­ry’s set­ting but also enhance inter­ac­tiv­i­ty and fun. For exam­ple, the mon­key appears in mul­ti­ple scenes, act­ing as both an audi­ence mem­ber and an inter­locu­tor. Its live­ly and adorable image is par­tic­u­lar­ly cap­ti­vat­ing for young read­ers. Ani­mal char­ac­ters like the zebra, but­ter­fly, spi­der, cater­pil­lar, and bird also serve as audi­ence mem­bers and part of the back­ground, adding depth and vivid­ness to the sto­ry. The ele­phant, beloved by dung bee­tles for its feces, adds a dra­mat­ic dimen­sion to the plot. But most note­wor­thy is the pink earth­worm wear­ing a hat, which apt­ly serves as ref­er­ee and orga­niz­er, adding a sense of for­mal­i­ty and fair­ness to the com­pe­ti­tion. The earth­wor­m’s pres­ence not only adds a sense of ten­sion and order to the com­pe­ti­tion but also cap­ti­vates young read­ers with its adorable image.

The fairy tale writer’s cre­ativ­i­ty and poet­ry, and the illus­tra­tor’s exquis­ite crafts­man­ship and visu­al sto­ry­telling abil­i­ties, com­ple­ment each oth­er to cre­ate a pic­ture book full of wis­dom and fun. This is not only a sto­ry of growth and strug­gle, but also a book of wis­dom that explores how to face chal­lenges and how to main­tain one’s orig­i­nal aspi­ra­tions. Through the growth of a dung bee­tle, the cre­ator attempts to con­vey an impor­tant mes­sage to read­ers:

True hap­pi­ness lies in doing what you love. Inner peace and sat­is­fac­tion are far more pre­cious than exter­nal glo­ry and hon­or.

Argen­tine Primera División writ­ten on June 5, 2024 in Bei­jing