[Repost] Parents’ Must-Read & Red Mud’s 2015 Recommended List of Chinese Original Picture Books

In 2015, Par­ents Must Read Par­ent­ing Media and Red Mud Read­ing Club estab­lished a rec­om­men­da­tion list par­al­lel to the chil­dren’s book rank­ings — the orig­i­nal pic­ture book rec­om­men­da­tion list, which was com­plet­ed through a three-dimen­sion­al par­al­lel eval­u­a­tion process of open read­er online vot­ing, expert review and edi­tor rec­om­men­da­tion.

Excel­lent local orig­i­nal pic­ture books make chil­dren feel more at home and more iden­ti­fied with them, just like eat­ing Chi­nese food, which is com­fort­able and famil­iar. We can use excel­lent local orig­i­nal pic­ture books to con­vey unique Chi­nese val­ues to chil­dren and edu­cate them with the most beau­ti­ful Chi­nese ele­ments.

Par­ents Must Read & Red Mud

2015 Rec­om­mend­ed Orig­i­nal Books List

(Rank­ing in no par­tic­u­lar order)
“cig­a­rette”

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Text｜Cao Wenx­u­an Photos｜Yu Rong

21st Cen­tu­ry Pub­lish­ing House

About the Author:Cao Wenx­u­an, a Hans Chris­t­ian Ander­sen Award nom­i­nee, is one of Chi­na’s most influ­en­tial chil­dren’s lit­er­a­ture writ­ers. His works include Feath­ers, Crazy Chick­en, and Chrysan­the­mum Doll.

Rec­om­mend­ed rea­sons:This is a pic­ture book that per­fect­ly com­bines text and pic­tures. The text is play­ful and humor­ous, the pic­tures are exag­ger­at­ed yet ele­gant, and the beau­ti­ful life fables touch peo­ple’s hearts, leav­ing them with long rever­ie after clos­ing the book.

Spring Fes­ti­val in Bei­jing

Text｜Lao She, Photos｜Yu Dawu

Com­ic Book Pub­lish­ing House (Pop­u­lar Pic­ture Book Library)

About the Author:Yu Dawu is good at using metic­u­lous brush­work to depict clas­si­cal lit­er­ary themes and express the beau­ty of tra­di­tion­al Chi­nese paint­ing.

Rec­om­mend­ed rea­sons:The col­lab­o­ra­tion between the painter and the writer across time and space brings read­ers into the rich fes­tive atmos­phere of old Bei­jing and evokes the col­lec­tive mem­o­ry of the “Spring Fes­ti­val” in the hearts of the Chi­nese peo­ple.

Grand­pa’s Tin­der­box

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Text｜Xu Lutu｜Zhu Chengliang

Chi­na Juve­nile and Chil­dren’s Pub­lish­ing House

About the Author:Xu Lu is a famous Chi­nese poet, writer, and pub­lish­er. Zhu Chengliang, the illus­tra­tor, is a famous Chi­nese chil­dren’s painter.

Rec­om­mend­ed rea­sons:The primeval for­est, the for­est ranger, the old tin­der­box, the naughty and clever fox… a sto­ry full of imag­i­na­tion, told by the poet and slow­ly unfold­ed by the painter with film tech­niques, the nat­ur­al and sim­ple feel­ings make peo­ple linger in the mem­o­ry for a long time.

Mulan

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Pic­ture of Chaobei Folk Songs｜Cai Gao

Tomor­row Pub­lish­ing House (Xinyi Orig­i­nal Pic­ture Books)

About the Author:He is ded­i­cat­ed to pic­ture book cre­ation, and his rep­re­sen­ta­tive work “Bo’er” won the Gold­en Apple Award at the 14th Bratisla­va Inter­na­tion­al Illus­tra­tion Bien­nale in 1993.

Rec­om­mend­ed rea­sons:A Yue­fu poem that has been sung through­out the ages, accom­pa­nied by illus­tra­tions with a strong ancient charm and inte­grat­ed with the unique nar­ra­tive tech­niques of pic­ture books, restores a hero­ic sto­ry with a fra­grant breath, which is vig­or­ous and sim­ple, and evokes peo­ple’s deep nos­tal­gia for a peace­ful and beau­ti­ful life in sub­tle con­trast.

The Twen­ty-Four Solar Terms

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Writ­ten and illus­trat­ed by Xiong Liang

New Star Pub­lish­ing House (Time Dif­fer­ence Pic­ture Book Library)

About the Author:Xiong Liang is a con­tem­po­rary ink artist, book cura­tor, and chil­dren’s art edu­ca­tor. He was nom­i­nat­ed for the 2013 Dan­ish Hans Chris­t­ian Ander­sen Award.

Rec­om­mend­ed rea­sons:Using the most beau­ti­ful tra­di­tion­al paint­ing tech­niques, com­bined with a dream­like and beau­ti­ful fairy tale, it shows the ele­gant cycle of the 24 solar terms, bring­ing read­ers end­less enjoy­ment.

8 vol­umes of Chi­nese Folk Fairy Tales Series

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Adapt­ed by Xiang Hua

Photo｜Picture Book Cre­ation Stu­dio

Bei­jing Unit­ed Pub­lish­ing Com­pa­ny (Warm House Pic­ture Book Library)

About the Author:Xiang Hua is com­mit­ted to chil­dren’s cre­ative edu­ca­tion, as well as the cre­ation and teach­ing of pic­ture book texts.

Rec­om­mend­ed rea­sons:This is a set of orig­i­nal pic­ture books that uses authen­tic folk lit­er­a­ture as mate­r­i­al, re-exam­ines it from a child’s per­spec­tive, and is care­ful­ly cre­at­ed for chil­dren. Its sophis­ti­ca­tion and fun are not infe­ri­or to any oth­er coun­try’s folk sto­ry pic­ture books.

Lit­tle Fish’s Spring

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Text｜Bao Dong­ni Photos｜Yu Pianyi

Peo­ple’s Edu­ca­tion Press (The Most Beau­ti­ful Chi­na Series Pic­ture Books)

About the Author:Bao Dong­ni is a chil­dren’s lit­er­a­ture writer. Her fairy tales and pic­ture books have been pub­lished in over 100 loca­tions across Main­land Chi­na, Hong Kong, Macau, and Asia.

Rec­om­mend­ed rea­sons:This beau­ti­ful work full of nos­tal­gia takes read­ers back to the tran­quil home­town of Jiang­nan, allow­ing them to expe­ri­ence the sim­ple and nat­ur­al coun­try­side with a child­like heart.

“Mon­ster Moun­tain”

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Text｜Peng Yi Photos｜Jiuer

Com­ic Book Pub­lish­ing House(Pop­u­lar Pic­ture Book Library)

About the Author:Peng Yi is a renowned fan­ta­sy nov­el­ist, pic­ture book researcher, and pro­mot­er. The illus­tra­tor, Jiuer, whose real name is Yang Hongli, is a sculp­tor and painter. His rep­re­sen­ta­tive works include “My Sis­ter’s Big Pump­kin” and “Is It Rain­ing?”

Rec­om­mend­ed rea­sons:A fan­ta­sy sto­ry full of ten­sion, pre­sent­ed in a real and illu­so­ry way with the help of exquis­ite and del­i­cate pic­ture book nar­ra­tive tech­niques, takes read­ers into a spir­i­tu­al explo­ration, dis­cov­er­ing and walk­ing out of the “Mon­ster Moun­tain” hid­den deep in their hearts.

Is Mr. Mouse at home?

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By Zhou Xiang

Tomor­row Pub­lish­ing House(Xinyi Orig­i­nal Pic­ture Book Series)

About the Author:Zhou Xiang, pic­ture book cre­ator,

His works have won numer­ous awards: “A Gar­den of Veg­eta­bles Became a Spir­it” won the Judge’s Rec­om­mend­ed Pic­ture Cre­ation Award at the First Feng Zikai Chil­dren’s Pic­ture Book Award, and “Morn­ing in Lotus Town” won the First Feng Zikai Chil­dren’s Pic­ture Book Award.

Rec­om­mend­ed rea­sons:This is a rare inno­v­a­tive explo­ration. The text uses old Bei­jing nurs­ery rhymes, but the pic­tures tell a new fairy tale of cats and mice full of mod­ern life inter­ests, absurd, humor­ous and full of child­like fun.

The Sto­ry of Water and Ink

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Author: Liang Pei­long

Zhe­jiang Juve­nile and Chil­dren’s Pub­lish­ing House

About the Author:Liang Pei­long, a mem­ber of the Chi­nese Artists Asso­ci­a­tion, has had his works select­ed for nation­al art exhi­bi­tions 13 times and exhib­it­ed in Italy, Japan, the Unit­ed States and oth­er places.

Rec­om­mend­ed rea­sons:The fairy tale about water, ink and brush told with tra­di­tion­al water and ink tech­niques tells chil­dren the beau­ty and exquis­ite­ness of tra­di­tion­al art in the most enjoy­able form, mak­ing read­ers of all ages love it.

About the annu­al top 10 chil­dren’s booksIn 2005, Par­ents Must Read Par­ent­ing Media and Red Mud Book Club joint­ly launched the “Top 10 Chil­dren’s Books of the Year”—a chil­dren’s book list unique to Chi­nese media, themed “Read­ing Illu­mi­nates Child­hood.” For 11 years, the “Top 10 Chil­dren’s Books of the Year” rank­ings, through a mul­ti-dimen­sion­al selec­tion process, have high­light­ed the pro­fes­sion­al­ism and acces­si­bil­i­ty of the books select­ed. Their unique cred­i­bil­i­ty and influ­ence have res­onat­ed deeply with thou­sands of young par­ents, becom­ing a guid­ing light for a grow­ing num­ber of Chi­nese par­ents in their chil­dren’s book choic­es. For over a decade, Par­ents Must Read Media has rec­om­mend­ed thou­sands of excel­lent chil­dren’s books to mil­lions of Chi­nese fam­i­lies, dis­sem­i­nat­ing new insights into par­ent-child read­ing from experts in var­i­ous fields, includ­ing child psy­chol­o­gy, edu­ca­tion, read­ing, lit­er­a­ture, art enlight­en­ment, and pic­ture book cre­ation. Fur­ther­more, it has pro­vid­ed a valu­able plat­form for com­mu­ni­ca­tion and dis­cus­sion among par­ents, ear­ly child­hood edu­ca­tors, and pub­lish­ers.