Original Title 变变变 Text by Cao Wenxuan Illustrations by Alessandro Sanna Pages 48 Age 4+ Published Citic 2023
Birds, kites, clouds, rain, roses, trees, boats, seas, lighthouses, lanterns, dogs, cats, rivers, melon fields… Every character in the book is unhappy with his or her situation and wishes to be someone else.
What do you wish you could be if given the chance, and why?
I WISH I COULD BE provides a wonderful opportunity to think about who you are and find out what you can do, with text by Cao Wenxuan, an internationally renowned author whose work have been translated into more than 10 languages, and illustrations by Alessandro Sanna from Italy, his beautiful paintings take us to far far away places…
Cao Wenxuan grew up in rural China and is now a professor of Chinese literature and children’s literature. He is the author of several celebrated books for young readers, including the novel Bronze and Sunflower, which received three starred reviews. His fluid, poetic prose depicts honest, sometimes raw, and often melancholy moments of life. He has also received significant recognition for his academic research and teaching in the field of children’s literature, and he was the first Chinese author to win the Hans Christian Andersen Author Award.
Alessandro Sanna A much-celebrated Italian illustrator in Europe, whose watercolour paintings are known for its natural and unrestrained style as well as his wild imagination. Alessandro is now teaching at Accademia di Belle Arti di Bologna. He has been working on a long-term basis for magazines such as Vanity Fair, the New York Times Book Review and New Yorker and delivered over 70 incredible paintings so far. Alessandro is the winner of Hans Christian Andersen Award of Italy for Art Books and Illustration, German International Youth Library White Raven Award, Bologna Ragazzi Award for the most recommended book,and short-listed in the 2016 Hans Christian Andersen Award for Illustration.
安徒生大奖儿童作家曹文轩，携手水彩造梦大师亚历山德罗·桑纳
当你羡慕他人的境遇，想要变成他人时，殊不知自己却是他人艳羡的物件。
刺猬、自行车、男孩、马、鸟、风筝、云、雨、玫瑰花、树、船、大海、灯塔、灯笼、狗、猫、河流、瓜田……书中出现的每一个角色都对自己的境遇感到不满，渴望变成下一个角色。它们都有想变成他人的充分理由。但在仰望他人时，常常忘了欣赏自己的境遇。
我们都想或者曾经想过变成另一个人，但是如果变成了另一个人，问题就解决了吗？一个人境遇的好坏取决于自己怎么看，如果总是仰望他人，就会忘了欣赏自己的境遇。
曹文轩，中国著名儿童文学作家，2016年国际安徒生奖获得者。北京大学中文系教授、博士生导师。作品先后荣获国家图书奖、“五个一工程奖”优秀作品奖、全国优秀儿童文学奖、中国图书奖、宋庆龄儿童文学金奖、冰心文学奖大奖等奖项。作品被译介到英、法、德、日、韩等国家。
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