Our new book series was reported by China Daily (Chinadaily is the largest English portal in China) last week!
This is a series of five standalone short stories, connected by the author Xiangmei’s whimsical storytelling and characters. Many of the stories touch upon the interaction of humankind and nature, as well as relationships formed between different entities. Other than spot illustrations and full spread illustrations, this series Is uniquely illustrated in a way that every page comes with a color and atmosphere to go with the words.
Long's stories are imaginative. Interesting characters find adventure in inconspicuous corners of familiar surroundings of cities or rural areas, carrying their own longings or worries. The stories do not always end happily, but often with inevitable departures and acceptable changes. That's life.
Long employs a simple poetic language to create these stories about love, history, environmental protection, friendship and growth, imparting them with a seasoning of melancholy. That explains why some grown-up readers had moist eyes after reading these stories. (Yang Yang, China Daily)
About the author:
Born in 1976, Long spent her early years moving around with her father, who helped build hydropower stations. Before her first birthday, she left her hometown with her family for the west of Central China's Hunan province. In the following years, the family traveled between the countryside and cities, the two different worlds in her eyes where people spoke two languages and lived completely different lifestyles.
Scenes of wharves, stations, streets, hotels, coaches and trains filled her memories. Although at that time the family was poor and travels were a toil, Long says she experienced more fun, beauty and innocence, especially when schools and parents did not demand that she study hard, allowing her to spend time playing with friends on mountains and in rivers, hiking or conceiving pranks.
However, she also has a clear memory from when she was 4 years old of a flood washing away their home, and at 6, witnessing a big fire as if half of the sky was burning. Her deepest memory about life when she was 8 years old was the fear of seeing "small figures" after dark and the family's constant moving.
She said:”Writing a fairy tale, one often needs to go back to one's childhood to use a child's eyes and mind to see and think about the world." She also states that since childhood, she have had a lot of questions about the world and loved everything around her. The arduous travels somehow gave her a tender heart with much sympathy and compassion.
For the complete news on China Daily website , click here