Grandfather’s Garden

Original Title
祖父的园子

Text by 
Xiao Hong

Illustrations by 
Gong Yanling

Pages
40

Age
6+

Published
Magic Elephant Books
April 2021

It’s a small garden but a big world where I can happily play and grow up. My grandfather farms and works here, and I always make him laugh. My grandfather is my favorite playmate here, and he also looks after me. I’m having a good time in this garden, where flowers bloom and fall, insects leave, and birds fly. My grandfather inadvertently creates a natural and free paradise where imagination can flourish in this garden.

• The text of the book is excerpted from Tales of Hulan River by Xiao Hong, one of the most talented female literary figures of the Chinese Northeastern Writers Group. 
• Selected into 2021 Bologna Illustration Exhibition

Gong Yanling, a freelance illustrator. She has published several excellent picture books and has achieved lots of international awards: 
Grandfather's Garden, selected into Bologna Children's Book Fair Illustrators Exhibition, 2021; 
Perfect Needle, selected into the Exhibition of Original Chinese Illustrations of Bologna Children's Book Fair, 2018; finalist of the 5th Feng Zikai Chinese Children's Picture Book Award, 2017; selected into the Frankfurt Book Fair, 2016;
A Fish Swimming Towards East, finalist of BIB, 2015 (China).

小小的园子，大大的天地，我在这一方天地中玩耍、快乐成长，祖父在这里耕种、劳作；我是祖父的“开心果”，祖父是我的童年玩伴，也是我的“保护伞”，陪伴、呵护着小小的我。在孩子的世界里，风来雨去、花开花落、虫儿走、鸟儿飞，别有一番趣味；在祖父的世界里，他无意间为孩子创造了一方自然的、自由的，可供想像驰骋的美好桃花源。

• 《祖父的园子》节选自现代著名小说家萧红的自传体长篇小说《呼兰河传》
• 入选2021年博洛尼亚插画展

龚燕翎，江苏南京人，自由插画家。现已出版绘本《天衣无缝针》《一点一点靠近你》《小鸡漂亮》《骆驼寻宝记》等。其作品已获得多项大奖。