Mention the name "picture book", for today's children, I probably don't know what it is. However, it was the first children's book in the 1960s and 1970s, bearing the best memories of a generation.
As the name implies, "picture book" is a book with "villain" painted on it. It is called "picture book" because the folio of this book is only 64 pages. The characters in the book are naturally small, but they are all portrayed in proportion. There are few exaggerated paintings like the big-headed son and the small-headed father in popular children's books. A "picture book" is a kind of comic book that tells stories in a rough way. There are not only characters in the book, but also everything. There are rivers and lakes, sun, moon and stars, flowers, birds, insects and fish, swords and halberds, one book and one universe, one book and one river and lake, simple lines and summarized words. Forty or fifty pages tell a complete story.
At that time, children in rural areas rarely saw extracurricular reading materials except mathematics and Chinese textbooks. The "picture book" undoubtedly shouldered the function of enlightening rural children and increasing knowledge. At that time, the "picture book" with the theme of war was a vivid teaching material for children's revolutionary traditional education. At present, the titles of picture books that are easy to remember include The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, The Water Margin, The Journey to the West, A Dream of Red Mansions, The Biography of Yue Fei, Yang Jiajiang and other complete story books adapted from famous books or storytelling, as well as Private Zhang Ga, Tunnel Warfare, Plain Guerrilla, Flying Tigers and Gunfire Before Dawn.
Mom and dad are well-educated people in the village and attach great importance to their children's enlightenment education. "Picture book" has naturally become a tool for parents to educate us before school. I remember when I was a child, every time my parents took me shopping in Sanchahe, they would put me in front of the booth for renting "picture books" in front of Xinhua Bookstore. I sat on a small bench and read a picture book by myself. They did everything they had to do and dragged me away from the stall when I came home. At that time, reading a "picture book" cost 2 cents. If I haven't read enough, I will beg my parents to buy me some copies, usually 90 cents or more than 10. Every time my father goes to the bookstore in town or county, I hope he will come back soon. On the one hand, dad will buy us some delicious things, such as twist, oven fruit, candy and apples. On the other hand, my father will definitely buy us some "picture books" to add some treasures to my bookcase.
My little bookshelf is very delicate. I don't remember whether my father bought it or asked a carpenter to build it when I was playing furniture at home. The box looks about 50 * 40 * 40cm, and its thickness is about 1cm. Like the cabinets at home, a little more than two-thirds of the top of the box is nailed, and the other small board is movable. Two small wooden strips with a width of about 1cm and a thickness of about 1cm were nailed under the edge of the board as "wooden sticks". Insert the two "sticks" on the movable cover obliquely under the fixed cover in the upper part of the box, and then close the two covers tightly, so that the "ruthenium pin" on the cover with the "sticks" just falls on the other ruthenium pin with a "nose" on the board in front of the box, and lock it with a small lock, and my box of treasures will be safe.
At most, there are more than 60 "picture books" in my small bookcase, each of which I keep. Only my best friend is lucky enough to see my "picture book", and be sure to wash your dirty hands before reading it. Sometimes even if you find small wrinkles, you should use a soldering iron to heat them in a brazier or pit, and then cover them with a layer of paper and iron them carefully.
At that time, there were very few books that could be seen in the countryside, so people with "picture books" in the village were simply scholarly families. Because there are many books, I usually have the capital to show off to my friends. Generally, if the other party has no picture books to exchange, I won't borrow them. If I really want to see it, I will tell him my own story, so that the other party will be fascinated and want to see it. I was enjoying this feeling,
Until I graduated from junior high school, I kept the box of "picture books". Later, I went to high school in a small town and went to a technical secondary school in the provincial capital. The frequency of coming back is less, and nephews and nieces have reached the age of literacy, and those "picture books" have become their playthings. I don't know whether they love it as much as I do and regard it as a treasure. I only know that not only can I find picture books, but even book boxes have become storage boxes for common tools at home.
I found this collection of Romance of the Three Kingdoms in my hand, and the back cover of each book is covered with a red seal "XXX Library". I wonder how my brother got it. I know that my nephews don't treat "picture books" as treasures like me, so I let my brother collect them and keep them until now.
A small "picture book" left too many memories, how can you not love it!