{"id":1042,"date":"2008-07-13T10:41:42","date_gmt":"2008-07-13T02:41:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/?p=1042"},"modified":"2025-09-14T09:44:48","modified_gmt":"2025-09-14T01:44:48","slug":"sophies_masterpiece_2008","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/2008\/07\/13\/sophies_masterpiece_2008\/","title":{"rendered":"Chat\u00adting about the pic\u00adture book \u201cSophie\u2019s Mas\u00adter\u00adpiece\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\u95f2\u804a\u56fe\u753b\u4e66\u300a\u82cf\u83f2\u7684\u6770\u4f5c\u300b\"<\/a>
\n   
\nThe day before yes\u00adter\u00adday, I saw a moth\u00ader talk\u00ading about \u201cSophie\u2019s Mas\u00adter\u00adpiece\u201d on the Red Mud Forum. I was very inspired and joined in the con\u00adver\u00adsa\u00adtion.
\n   
\nWhen I first encoun\u00adtered the Tra\u00addi\u00adtion\u00adal Chi\u00adnese ver\u00adsion of this book, I did\u00adn\u2019t have a strong impres\u00adsion. I just thought it was a won\u00adder\u00adful pic\u00adture book, some\u00adwhat sim\u00adi\u00adlar to the sto\u00adry of Char\u00adlot\u00adte\u2019s Web, and very suit\u00adable for chil\u00addren. That was all. After the Sim\u00adpli\u00adfied Chi\u00adnese ver\u00adsion was pub\u00adlished, I often read it to my chil\u00addren, espe\u00adcial\u00adly recent\u00adly. Through inter\u00adact\u00ading with them, I grad\u00adu\u00adal\u00adly dis\u00adcov\u00adered what a beau\u00adti\u00adful book it is.
\n 
\n   
\nI haven\u2019t specif\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly stud\u00adied the back\u00adground of this book, so I\u2019m just shar\u00ading some of my per\u00adson\u00adal thoughts from read\u00ading it.
\n   
\nI have told this book to chil\u00addren of dif\u00adfer\u00adent ages, from as young as 4 or 5 years old to upper grades of ele\u00admen\u00adtary school and junior high school stu\u00addents, and their reac\u00adtions were dif\u00adfer\u00adent.
\n   
\nThere was a group of first-grade chil\u00addren (from a school for chil\u00addren of migrant work\u00aders) to whom I was unable to read the entire book, so I had to switch to a read\u00ading-aloud for\u00admat mid\u00adway, skip\u00adping some of the detailed lan\u00adguage descrip\u00adtions. But in a small moun\u00adtain vil\u00adlage in Han\u00adwang, anoth\u00ader group of chil\u00addren of about the same age were able to lis\u00adten to me qui\u00adet\u00adly to the end.<\/p>\n

   
\nI par\u00adtic\u00adu\u00adlar\u00adly empha\u00adsize \u201cread it in its entire\u00adty\u201d because I think the text of this book is very beau\u00adti\u00adful and worth lis\u00adten\u00ading to and read\u00ading qui\u00adet\u00adly and savor\u00ading care\u00adful\u00adly.
\n   
\nIn the process of talk\u00ading to the chil\u00addren, I found that many of them do hate spi\u00adders, espe\u00adcial\u00adly the girls. So this sto\u00adry sur\u00adprised the chil\u00addren a lit\u00adtle, because it was obvi\u00adous that they all liked Sophie.
\n 
\n\"\u95f2\u804a\u56fe\u753b\u4e66\u300a\u82cf\u83f2\u7684\u6770\u4f5c\u300b\"<\/a>
\n
\n   
\nThe younger grades were less like\u00adly to engage in a dis\u00adcus\u00adsion about why Sophie knit\u00adted a blan\u00adket for the baby, but I once suc\u00adcess\u00adful\u00adly got a group of sixth graders to express their feel\u00adings. One child, among them, said that it was because the young woman smiled at Sophie.<\/p>\n

   
\nSophie\u2019s image and sto\u00adry remind me of those artists who, despite their life\u00adlong decline, under\u00adstand the art of liv\u00ading (or the art of liv\u00ading for life), but no one under\u00adstands them, or they don\u2019t have the oppor\u00adtu\u00adni\u00adty to show\u00adcase this tal\u00adent (even to just one or two peo\u00adple). Young women are Sophie\u2019s audi\u00adence. It\u2019s a bit like O. Hen\u00adry\u2019s \u201cThe Last Leaf.\u201d
\n
\n   
\nThe com\u00adpar\u00adi\u00adson between \u201cSophie\u2019s Mas\u00adter\u00adpiece\u201d and \u201cChar\u00adlot\u00adte\u2019s Web\u201d is also quite inter\u00adest\u00ading. It\u2019s a long sto\u00adry. Both sto\u00adries have babies at the end, but in \u201cChar\u00adlot\u00adte\u2019s Web,\u201d Char\u00adlot\u00adte\u2019s three daugh\u00adters are left behind. This is unique in chil\u00addren\u2019s lit\u00ader\u00ada\u00adture and is full of mean\u00ading.
\n\"\u95f2\u804a\u56fe\u753b\u4e66\u300a\u82cf\u83f2\u7684\u6770\u4f5c\u300b\"<\/a>
\n
\n   
\nWhy did\u00adn\u2019t the artist make Sophie cuter? I think she\u2019s already cute enough. That\u2019s how Sophie looks. Think\u00ading she\u2019s ugly is just a human per\u00adspec\u00adtive. From a spi\u00adder\u2019s per\u00adspec\u00adtive, the land\u00adla\u00addy, the cap\u00adtain, and the cook don\u2019t look par\u00adtic\u00adu\u00adlar\u00adly pret\u00adty. :) The Ori\u00aden\u00adtal woman isn\u2019t par\u00adtic\u00adu\u00adlar\u00adly beau\u00adti\u00adful, but when she smiles, she looks quite pret\u00adty. I also think Sophie looks pret\u00adty when she\u2019s lean\u00ading on that hair\u00adpin and look\u00ading at the moon. Beau\u00adty isn\u2019t about out\u00adward appear\u00adance, but about the per\u00adcep\u00adtion with\u00adin a spe\u00adcif\u00adic con\u00adtext and per\u00adspec\u00adtive.<\/p>\n

   
\nTo like Sophie, you have to like her for who she is.
\n
\n   
\nSo the beau\u00adty of Sophie\u2019s mas\u00adter\u00adpiece lies only in this sto\u00adry, in that gray apart\u00adment, on the gray floor above, by the gray win\u00addow, beside the bed of a poor moth\u00ader, with the new\u00adborn baby cov\u00adered in a blan\u00adket that looked like a small blan\u00adket pre\u00adpared for a prince. Only those who are tru\u00adly atten\u00adtive can per\u00adceive every\u00adthing woven into the blan\u00adket, because it is invis\u00adi\u00adble to ordi\u00adnary eyes.
\n\"\u95f2\u804a\u56fe\u753b\u4e66\u300a\u82cf\u83f2\u7684\u6770\u4f5c\u300b\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 
\n\u3010About the works and creators\u3011\uff08Reprinted fromRed Mud Web\u00adsite<\/a>)
\n 
\n   
\n\u201cSophie\u2019s Mas\u00adter\u00adpiece\u201d tells the sto\u00adry of a tiny spi\u00adder, weav\u00ading a stur\u00addy life with fine silk threads. The world of spi\u00adders is tru\u00adly fas\u00adci\u00adnat\u00ading, but most peo\u00adple don\u2019t under\u00adstand them well. When they encounter them, they react with dis\u00adgust or fear, much like the land\u00adla\u00addy, the cap\u00adtain, and the cook in this sto\u00adry. Sophie per\u00adse\u00adveres, cre\u00adat\u00ading pieces with diverse func\u00adtions. Her skills are refined through repeat\u00aded set\u00adbacks, and she ulti\u00admate\u00adly com\u00adpletes the \u201cgreat mas\u00adter\u00adpiece\u201d pre\u00addict\u00aded by her child\u00adhood friend. At that moment, \u201cSophie weaves her own heart into it.\u201d Sophie not only com\u00adpletes a blan\u00adket of warmth for a new life, but also uses her final remain\u00ading strength to cre\u00adate a mas\u00adter\u00adpiece \u201clike one meant for a prince.\u201d This tru\u00adly inspires awe and won\u00adder! <\/p>\n

 
\nAbout the Author: 
\n    Eileen Sianel\u00adli
\nSpinel\u00adli, a best\u00adselling sto\u00adry\u00adteller, spe\u00adcial\u00adizes in heart\u00adwarm\u00ading, every\u00adday themes. When she was young, liv\u00ading in a rent\u00aded apart\u00adment, she met a young, impov\u00ader\u00adished moth\u00ader who, unable to afford a blan\u00adket, had resort\u00aded to using a worn, brown blan\u00adket pro\u00advid\u00aded by the land\u00adla\u00addy for her new\u00adborn baby. Years lat\u00ader, Spinel\u00adli still vivid\u00adly remem\u00adbered the inci\u00addent. She wrote the sto\u00adry of Sophie, ful\u00adfill\u00ading her orig\u00adi\u00adnal wish to give the baby a beau\u00adti\u00adful blan\u00adket. She and her hus\u00adband, also a writer, set\u00adtled in Penn\u00adsyl\u00adva\u00adnia, USA.
\n 
\n    Jane Dell
\nDyer, an award-win\u00adning illus\u00adtra\u00adtor who has illus\u00adtrat\u00aded more than twen\u00adty pic\u00adture books. She sought infor\u00adma\u00adtion for Sophie\u2019s sto\u00adry from a small herb called Pisau\u00adri\u00adna.
\nMira\u2019s spi\u00adders inspired her work. Most spi\u00adders build webs to feed, but this par\u00adtic\u00adu\u00adlar species, known for its brood\u00ading skills, uses its webs almost exclu\u00adsive\u00adly as a means of pro\u00adtect\u00ading its young. Dale suc\u00adcess\u00adful\u00adly por\u00adtrays the char\u00adac\u00adter of Sophie, weav\u00ading a del\u00adi\u00adcate and mov\u00ading sto\u00adry\u00adline. She cur\u00adrent\u00adly lives in Mass\u00ada\u00adchu\u00adsetts, USA. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u524d\u5929\u5728\u7ea2\u6ce5\u5df4\u8bba\u575b\u91cc\u89c1\u4e00\u4f4d\u5988\u5988\u804a\u300a\u82cf\u83f2\u7684\u6770\u4f5c\u300b\uff0c\u5f88\u53d7\u542f\u53d1\uff0c\u4e5f\u63ba\u548c\u7740\u804a\u4e86\u51e0\u53e5\u3002 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u6700\u521d\u63a5\u89e6\u5230\u8fd9\u672c\u4e66\u7684 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1038,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,23,12],"tags":[5,26,68,66,65,67],"class_list":["post-1042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book-review","category-timemachine","category-ajia-review","tag-5","tag-26","tag-68","tag-66","tag-65","tag-67"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/5881300c451def20095e7.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1042"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1042\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1196,"href":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1042\/revisions\/1196"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1038"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}