This small and beautiful fairy tale grew up from Tang Sulan's childhood (see my super grandmother and wonderful grandfather in the preface of this book). Warmth, cuteness and agility are the first feelings that this picture book brings to readers. Of course, you can never get tired of reading good books. If you chew it repeatedly, you will find that this book contains deep charm.
First, let's look at the title. Barbara Selin, a writer of children's books, said: "Many books are favored by readers because of their potential titles." Fox's "Treasure Box" is a nice and memorable title, especially the image of "Treasure Box" itself is magical and mysterious, which can quickly stimulate readers' curiosity and make people eager to read it.
It can be said that the little fox, as the protagonist of the story, is full of vitality and aura, which is the spirit of the writer. So, what is the function of Fox's treasure chest? With the development of the plot, it can be seen that besides the obvious collection and storage functions, the treasure chest at least has the functions of "lost and found" and "creating a new home". The bow, button and small round mirror in the treasure chest happened to be lost by Miss Squirrel, the dog and Mrs. White Rabbit respectively, and the pine ball that was neglected by Little Fox before was just suitable for ants to live in a new home! These seemingly accidental "coincidences" vividly show the ups and downs of the plot and add a lot of interest to the story.
The embedding of numbers also embodies this principle. The little fox in the story hopes to find a beautiful little thing every day, so after one day, there are the second day, the third day, the fourth day and the fifth day. The gradual superposition of numbers enhances the gameplay of the story and promotes the flow of the plot. The most striking figure in the picture book is "100" in "100 ants". "100", as the only black bold number in the book, is composed of the font "Founder Handwriting-Novice Book". Round fonts are very conspicuous, exaggerated, strange and interesting.
When it comes to text design, we have to ignore pictures. Picture books have been successfully hatched, and pictures occupy a decisive position. The pictures in this book were once painted. In the process of hand-painting, this cutting-edge illustrator, who is willing to explore, seek novelty and change, chooses mixed techniques, marks lines with traditional brush ink, and then paints with watercolor. The combined use of media makes the lines of the picture clear and extremely soft, while the consistency of warm colors enhances the warmth and brightness of the picture, and every fairy-tale image looks soft and lovely. Illustrators use a lot of cross-page layout to fully stretch the picture, and the time-space connection between frames is also handled well and naturally. Taking the first half of this book as an example, in order to strengthen the persistence and dynamics of Fox's treasure hunt, the painter tried to present the big scenes of different environments through cross-page composition, so that readers could freely follow Fox in the forest and explore. These pictures are often fixed at the moment when the little fox finds a new baby, thus forming a synchronous vibration of graphics and text.
Of course, pictures can not only reproduce the text, but also supplement and expand the text. For example, there is a place in the article where the animal who found the lost thing said to the little fox, "Little fox, your treasure chest is really good." Everything we have lost can be found in the treasure chest! " "But there is no real-time scene of talking in the picture. The illustrator drew a picture of an animal's intimate warm embrace on the cross-page frame, and the right blank space in the picture made the warmth and love more focused. Here, the picture seems to deviate from the text, but in fact it magnifies the narrative efficiency of the text.
This is Zeng's uniqueness. There are many ingenious details in this picture book. Careful readers should notice that the front and rear ring linings of picture books are very exquisite. The fairy tale images of the ring lining are all Miss Squirrel, Puppy and Mrs White Rabbit, but their expressions are quite different. In the front ring lining, the animals were anxiously looking for something, but in the back ring lining, everyone was smiling-they found it. The front ring lining and the back ring lining echo each other from a distance, and the animal model in the back ring lining comes from the picture book. It can be said that the front and back ring lining creates a lateral line outside the main story, which extends and stretches the original story reasonably.
In addition, an image other than words is added to the picture: crow. Through close reading, we can see that the crow runs through the picture book, especially at the end of the story. The frame of the picture is striking: the little fox leaves the back of youth, as if to fade out of the picture and start a new forest treasure hunt, but the center of the picture is the crow on the treasure chest. In the past, the crow followed the little fox all the way, but now it is alone, staring thoughtfully at the shiny white stone in the box.
What does the illustrator want to tell the reader? She didn't say it clearly, but came to an abrupt end, leaving readers with unlimited imagination: perhaps, she tried to form an intertextuality with the crow in Aesop's Fables, and inspired readers to sing through familiar classic stories; Perhaps, she tried to continue to write the mysterious "stone worship" complex with the eye of a crow, and opened a magical legend from the stone.
No matter what kind of reverie, it is reasonable, it can come naturally, and it is expected to be interpreted with heart and given a beautiful language.
A brief introduction to the author of this book review
Xiao Yun, female, member of Hunan Literature and Art Criticism Association, Hunan Children's Literature Society and Hunan Fable and Fairy Tale Literature Research Association. He is now a doctor majoring in children's literature, and his works are scattered in China Reading Newspaper, Guangming.com, Hunan Daily, Story King and Reading Friends.
-This article first appeared in China Publishing Media Business Daily, July 16, 202 12.
-I suggest-
Fox's treasure chest
Hunan Children Publishing House
Published on February 65438, 2020
Tang Sulan/Author Zeng/Painting
Book Introduction
There is great wisdom in short stories. Little fox has a small box. It puts everything it finds every day in a box, sometimes a white stone, sometimes a button, sometimes a small round mirror. Slowly, the small box became a treasure chest. The treasure chest on the windowsill shines in the sun, attracting many small animals. The small animals who came to watch found their lost things in the treasure chest, and one hundred small ants also found their homes in the treasure chest. Everyone is very happy. All kinds of little things that foxes usually pick up really come in handy. Do you want a treasure chest, too Then be a conscientious person in life!